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Hot honey chicken wings are a delicious and flavorful twist on the classic game day snack. By using an air fryer to cook these wings, you can achieve that perfect crispy texture without all the extra oil and grease. The combination of spicy heat from the hot sauce and sweet kick from the honey creates a great flavor profile that is worth making.
In this article, we will walk you through how to make these mouthwatering hot honey chicken wings in your air fryer, so you can enjoy a tasty and healthier version of this popular dish at home.
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Ingredients
- Chicken Wings
- Honey
- Hot Sauce of Choice
- Salt
- Pepper
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Dry each chicken wing thoroughly. If you want smaller, traditional wings, cut the tip off and cut in the center to seperate into two.
- Add the spices, honey and hot sauce directly onto the chicken and mix until thoroughly mixed together.
- Put wings onto the air fryer tray, making sure none of them are overlapping.
- Air fry at 370F for 25 minutes. My air fryer has two trays stacked, so I switched them about halfway through.
Hint: Having the skin be as dry as possible and getting no overlap on the wings will allow you to have the crispiest, most delicious skin. It also makes sure that the wing is cooked through all around.
Substitutions
If you don’t have a hot sauce on hand, you can substitute with pepper spices. Add 1-2 tablespoons of paprika, or mix in some cheyanne if you’re craving a big kick!
If you don’t have an airfryer, you can also bake the chicken wings. Try it at 375F for 30-45 minutes, once they are crispy and the internal temperature is reached. You can also put them on the grill.
Variations
- Kid friendly – Put in less hot sauce and a little more honey to compensate. They’ll love the sweet flavor of the honey wings.
- International – Want to make this a little more international? Try a different culture’s hot sauce. Some suggestions are Gochujung (Korean), Adjika (Georgian) or Harissa (Middle Eastern).
- Baked – If you don’t have an air fryer, you can also bake these in the oven. With the same recipe, bake in an oven. Set at 400 degrees, it should take about 40 minutes (check for internal temp at 165F at the thickest part using an instant read thermometer) but could take up to an hour.
Equipment
You need an air fryer for this specific recipe. You can also modify to bake it- see above in the variations. I have an Instant Pot air fryer that looks like modified toaster oven, but you can use any air fryer, including ones that have a single basket.
I also highly recommend using a good instant read thermometer anytime you are cooking chicken. I used to have the little thermometers from the store, but I felt like it took forever to tell me the temperature and I want never sure what it really was. It turned out for a couple dollars more, I could have a good thermometer that gave me the temperature quickly. It’s optional to use this, but it’s the quickest and easiest way to check if your chicken, fish and other meat is fully cooked through.
Storage
This is best eaten the same day. Store the leftovers or freeze within 2 days of making it. Reheat in the airfryer, oven or microwave for a few minutes.
Top tip
Don’t be afraid to experiment with the sauce! As long as you are cooking the wings through, there are so many options
FAQ
This simple recipe uses only honey, hot sauce, salt and pepper to make the wing sauce.
The Honey Hot Chicken Wings are a bit sweet and have a little bit of a hot kick to them. To make it spicy, use more hot sauce before or after baking.
Make sure your wings are totally dried before putting the sauce on. When you are cooking, make sure that the wings aren’t touching anywhere so the hot air can get to every part of the wing and crisp it.
To make this sauce more mild, use less hot sauce or try a milder hot sauce.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try checking out a cookbook with other great recipes:
Recipe
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Honey Hot Chicken Wings
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 Large Wings or 16 Small Wings 1x
Description
These hot honey chicken wings are perfect as an appetizer or the main course for dinner. They’re sweet with a slight kick and so easy to make. The air fryer allows you to get a crispy skin with little effort, perfect for an easy dinner or to pop in right before guests come as an appetizer!
Ingredients
- 8 Whole Chicken Wings
- 1 cup Honey
- 2 tbsps Cholula (or your hot sauce of choice)
- ½ tbsp Salt
- ½ tbsp Pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat airyfryer to 370F.
- Pat wings as dry as possible.
- You can keep them whole, or if you want smaller pieces, you can cut them now. Cut off the tip and through the center, seperating the drumette and the flat.
- Add to a bowl. Cover wings with honey, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add wings onto the tray, making sure that no pieces are touching and overlapping.
- Air fry for 25 minutes. If you are using an air fryer with two trays, make sure to switch them halfway through. Otherwise, make sure the tray goes in the center. If you have an air fryer with a basket, you don’t have to do anything but make sure none of the pieces are touching.
- Use an instant read thermometer to make sure the thickest part of the wing has reached at least 165F.
- Let it cool for a couple minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
If you want to make it more or less hot, you can add or subtract the amount of hot sauce. I find this amount gives a nice kick without being spicy, but my husband adds more hot sauce on top to get to his extra-hot flavor.
Making sure that the pieces of chicken don’t overlap is important in air frying. Making sure that air can touch every inch of the wing will make sure it’s nice and crispy everywhere.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Air Fry
- Cuisine: American
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