Air Fryer Buffalo Wings (Extra Easy)
These extra easy Air Fryer Buffalo Wings are delicious, super low in carbs, and can be on the table in less than 30 minutes! We devoured the wings with chunky blue cheese dressing as a dipping sauce, and both Kara and I were surprised how much we loved them!
PIN Air Fryer Buffalo Wings to try them later!
We’re entering the season for football-watching nibbles and holiday appetizers, and if you’re a fan of wings, these Air Fryer Buffalo Wings are probably going to be a recipe you’ll make over and over! This is a Buffalo Wings recipe with only 5 ingredients (plus salt and pepper), and it’s so quick and easy to make that you can whip them up any time you get the craving for spicy wings!
We absolutely loved this simple recipe that just seasons the wings with salt and pepper, cooks them in the Air Fryer while you make a two-ingredient Buffalo sauce, and serves them with a popular blue cheese dressing for the dipping sauce.
And if you’re only making one batch of wings they can easily be on the table in twenty minutes, but they’re going to disappear quickly, so you’ll probably want to make more than one batch. If you’re a fan of Buffalo Wings, I hope you try this extra-easy way of making them!
What ingredients do you need?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- chicken wings, cut into pieces
- salt and black pepper to season wings
- Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce (affiliate link)
- butter
- Litehouse Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing (or other blue cheese dressing of your choice)
- celery sticks (optional)
Are the Air Fryer Buffalo Wings Low in Carbs?
These Buffalo Wings are very low in carbs, although I do want to mention that I had a terrible time trying to calculate nutritional information for this. I tried the recipe calculator on my site and several others online and discovered that even when I put “raw chicken wings” they were giving me calculations for breaded deep fried wings. Finally I realized that the wings, Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce, Butter, and Litehouse Chunky Blue Cheese all had nutritional information on the package, so I used that information and calculated it based on four wing pieces as an appetizer serving. (I’m not known for my math skills, so I hope it’s pretty accurate!)
What do you call the chicken wing parts?
Chicken wings have three parts, and when you buy them cut up you will get the middle and top parts; the pointed wing tips are usually not included. (If you’re cutting up your own wings, save the tips to make homemade chicken stock!) The most common names for the middle part of the wing are flats or wingettes and the thicker higher wing portion are most often called drums or drumettes. If you want to know more here’s a great Guide to Chicken Wings from The Kitchn.
What part of the wing did we use for Air Fryer Buffalo Wings?
The Costco packages (and probably most other wings you buy in a package) have both the flats and drums mixed, and for this recipe we experimented with cooking the the two different wing parts separately and timing them. You can also cook both types together if that’s what works for you. (See notes in the recipe for timing.)
What is Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce?
There are a lot of recipes on my site that use Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, and I’ve mentioned how much I love that it has zero carbs. The Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce (affiliate link) that we use for this recipe is less spicy and has a slightly sweeter flavor and it also has zero carbs. Franks Red Hot has lots of different products, and some are much spicier than the sauce we used (and some definitely have carbs) so take that into consideration when choosing what you want to use.
What Air Fryer did we use for Air Fryer Buffalo Wings?
I’m crazy about the Cuisinart Convection Air Fryer Toaster Oven (affiliate link) which is the one I used for this recipe. This air fryer has a larger basket, and I was able to fit 21 wings at a time, making three rows with seven in a row. If you have an air fryer model where the basket is like a drawer, you will probably have to cook the wings in two baskets or shake them several times to get them evenly browned. For this recipe I lowered the temperature to 380F/193C which is a common Air Fryer setting. (Use Air Fryer Recipes to see all Air Fryer recipes on this site.)
Want another option for Air Fryer Wings?
I made Greek Air Fryer Chicken Wings at the beginning of the year, and that recipe is great too if you don’t mind a few more steps to the recipe. But I recently realized I had more than half of a big package of Costco Party Wings in the freezer! And when Kara and I decided to try an easier recipe for the needed-to-be-used wings, they were so amazing that we decided the recipe had to be shared on the blog!
How to Make Air Fryer Buffalo Wings:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- The first two photos show the Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce and Litehouse Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing that we used.
- Thaw wings if needed, drain in a colander, then pat dry with paper towels.
- The Costco wings are well-trimmed, but I did trim some extra skin and fat.
- The next three photos show the flats and the three photos after that show the drums.
- Preheat Air Fryer to 380F/193C if needed.
- Season wings with salt and pepper and put them in the Air Fryer basket top side down. Cook 5-7 minutes, then turn and continue to cook until they are nicely browned and crisp.
- We cooked flats 15 minutes total time.
- We cooked drums 18 minutes total time.
- If you cook mixed flats and drums I would check them and remove flats early if they’re getting too done.
- If you have an Air Fryer with a drawer-type basket you may need to cook in batches or shake the basket several times to get them evenly cooked. I also think the Air Fryer type I have cooks a bit hotter, so you might need to increase the cooking time by a few minutes if you have a different model.
- While the wings cook, melt butter and stir in Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce.
- When wings are done, put them into a bowl, add the sauce/butter mixture, and stir until all wings are coated.
- Serve hot with Blue Cheese Dressing and celery sticks if desired.
More Chicken in the Air Fryer:
Want more recipes with spicy Buffalo Chicken flavors?
Check out Franks Red Hot Sauce Recipes to see a round-up of other recipes with Buffalo Chicken flavors.
Air Fryer Buffalo Wings (Extra Easy)
These extra easy Air Fryer Buffalo Wings are so good that if you're a fan of Buffalo Wings, I bet you're going to make them over and over! We calculated the nutritional information based on four wing pieces for an appetizer serving, but I bet you'll have a hard time not eating more than that!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. chicken wings (see notes)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce (see notes)
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup Litehouse Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
- four stalks of celery, cut into sticks (optional)
Instructions
- Make sure chicken wings are completely thawed if frozen and drain them well in a colander, then pat dry with paper towels.
- The Party Wings from Costco we used seem to be pretty well-trimmed, but I still cut off some extra pieces of skin and fat.
- Preheat Air Fryer to 380F/193C if needed. (I'm a fan of Air Fryer Parchment Paper but we preferred cooking the wings without it for this recipe due to the amount of fat that was released from the wings.)
- Season wings on both sides with salt and pepper and put them in the Air Fryer basket top side down. Cook 5-7 minutes, then turn and continue to cook until they are nicely browned and crisp, checking them a few times.
- For flats, we cooked the wings a total of 15 minutes.
- For drums, we cooked the wings a total of 18 minutes.
- If you're cooking flats and drums together, I would start checking them after 14-15 minutes, and remove any flats that seem to be getting too browned.
- If you have an Air Fryer with a drawer-type basket you may need to cook in batches or shake the basket several times to get them evenly cooked. I also think that type of Air Fryer doesn't cook as hot as the one I have, so increase the time by a few minutes as needed.
- While the wings cook, melt the butter and stir in the Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce. If you want it more spicy you could add a little Cayenne Pepper, Green Tabasco Sauce, or any other type of spicy hot sauce that you enjoy. (This recipe is only slightly spicy but both Kara and I felt it was spicy enough!)
- When wings are cooked through and all pieces are nicely browned and crisp, put them into a plastic bowl, add the sauce/butter mixture, and stir until all wings are coated with sauce
- Serve hot with Blue Cheese Dressing and celery sticks if desired.
Notes
One and one-half pounds of wings was about 20-21 wing pieces.
You can make this recipe with the wing flats (middle section) or drums (top section) or a combination of both. See tips for timing if you're cookng drums and flats together.
Frank's Wing Sauce comes in a variety of flavors and levels of spiciness. We used the basic Buffalo Wing Sauce, which was only slightly spicy.
Nutritional information doesn't include the optional celery.
This recipe was adapted from Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings at the Franks Red Hit site.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
5Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 599Total Fat: 50.8gSaturated Fat: 15.5gUnsaturated Fat: 31.8gCholesterol: 137.4mgSodium: 848mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 32g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Every ingredient used in this recipe for Air Fryer Buffalo Wings is suitable for low-carb and Keto diets. Wings are probably too high in fat for low-glycemic diets or for the original South Beach Diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Air Fryer Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Danica's Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
