This Crispy Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings recipe is delicious, sweet, sticky, and a little bit spicy. The Air Fryer provides the perfect crunch to these wings without all the added fat from frying. This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclosure here.
So here’s a fun fact about me…I am not the biggest fan of traditional fried chicken. Only a few close friends know this fact because I live in the South and in the South, everyone loves fried chicken. However, fried chicken should be doused in a delicious sauce after it’s fried to perfection. This must be why I love Korean fried chicken so much.
What is Korean Fried Chicken
Korean Fried Chicken is fried chicken that has a super crunchy exterior, yet juicy interior. Therefore, the chicken is usually double fried in oil and then covered in a delicious spicy, sweet and sour type sauce. Any part of the chicken can be used to make Korean Fried Chicken.
Korean fried chicken is popular for the spicy sauce that it is covered in. The main ingredient to this sauce is a spicy Korean paste known as gochujang. The good thing about this paste is there are different heat levels. I used the mild for this recipe so I could enjoy the flavors more but the paste can be extremely spicy if you are not careful.
Why make these chicken wings in an Air Fryer?
Most Korean fried chicken is double fried in oil. Part of me wanted to find a healthier alternative but another part of me didn’t want to do all that work. Blame it on the baby, work, life…but if I can simplify a delicious recipe then that’s what I’m going to do.
Coating these chicken wings in cornstarch and frying them for 30 minutes in the air fryer was easy, fast, and healthy.
How to Make Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings?
Creating Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings is easy. You don’t even need to preheat the air fryer. Just set the temperature to 390 degrees, season the chicken wings, cover them in a corn starch, and cook in air fryer for 30-35 minutes.
Make sure when coating the chicken wings with cornstarch, that you shake off the cornstarch from each piece really well. You want the chicken wings to be completely covered but you don’t want too much excess corn starch. Pick up each chicken piece with a pair of tongs, tap it against the side of your bowl before placing it in the air fryer basket.
As with any air fryer recipe, make sure the bottom of your air fryer basket is properly seasoned with oil so your chicken does not stick.
Never use aresole can sprays in your air fryer. Invest in a good quality spray oil bottle. I use this brand.
As always, enjoy.
If you like this recipe, check out my general Air Fryer Chicken Wings from Fresh or Frozen post or my Honey Mustard Chicken Wings recipe.
Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken wings
- ¾ cup corn starch
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp salt
Korean Air Fried Chicken Sauce
- 2 Tbsp gochujang Korean chilli paste
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp ginger minced
- 1 tsp garlic minced
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Rinse and dry chicken wings with a paper towel. Place in a large bowl and season with garlic powder, onion powder, and ½ tsp salt.
- Cover chicken with corn starch and use kitchen tongs to stir, ensuring all chicken pieces are coated. Tap each piece of chicken on the side of the bowl (to remove excess starch) and place it in the air fryer basket.
- Close the basket and cook chicken wings at 390 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, turning and rotating chicken about every 10 minutes.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce.
Korean Air Fried Chicken Sauce
- Add the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk until combined. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Once chicken is done cooking, add sauce to the wings and toss to cover all wings. Enjoy 🙂
Notes
Suggested Tools for Korean Air Fried Chicken
Air Fryer
Kitchen Tongs
Large Bowl
Nutrition
Notes on Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings
- The sauce provided in this recipe is enough to lightly coat 2 lbs of chicken wings. If you desire more sauce, feel free to double the sauce ingredients.
- I’d suggest serving Korean Air Fried Chicken with a nice quick pickled carrot.
Step by Step Photos of Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings
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- Season chicken wings with garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Then cover with cornstarch. Use plastic tongs to stir and fully coat the wings.
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- Shake each chicken wings to remove excess starch.
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- Place wings in air fryer basket. Cook at 390 for 30 minutes, shaking and rotating chicken every 10 minutes.
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- Make sauce while chicken is cooking in air fryer.
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- Your chicken will look like this when done. Don’t worry about the starch showing, it will be gone when covered in sauce.
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- Place wings in big bowl and toss with sauce.
Pin Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings for Later
Looking for more Air Fryer recipes? Try my Perfect Air Fryer Steak or Healthier General Tso’s Chicken in the Air Fryer.
Cristina Brondial says
Can you do this with frozen wings and not thaw them out?
Tanya says
Hi Christina, Not exactly. You would have to skip the cornstarch step and cook the wings naked from frozen and then add the sauce. They would still have the same great flavor, they just won’t have that extra crunch.
Joyce Rozek says
I made these for my husband tonight, he absolutely loved them!!!
Tanya says
Awesome! So glad he loved them and thank you for the feedback 🙂
Jill says
These were amazing! I wouldn’t change a thing (except to make more next time)
Saunya says
These wings are awesome!! I brushed the sauce on a few wings for my husband to try, he loved it! I was only going to glaze half the wings but he wanted it on all of them, these were delicious!
I should mention that I did not have chili paste and looked up a substitute with ketchup and cayenne pepper and because of my husband’s diet, I reduced the garlic but I tried the sauce and the sauce did not lack in flavor at all!! The crispness of the wings was a big hit!!