Learn how to cook or heat up raw or precooked wings perfectly in your air fryer straight from frozen. They come out deliciously crispy with just a little bit of olive oil, all with just 10-15 minutes of hands-off cooking.
Crispy Wings Straight From Your Freezer
Crispy chicken wings are my #1 favorite snack food - hands down! If they're on the menu - I'm having them.
I always have a bag of frozen chicken wings in my freezer, and often heat them up as a quick snack with buffalo ranch or a simple meal together with one of my favorite sides for wings.
Since getting my air fryer, that's the only way I cook them. They come out crispier than baked, and it's so much easier.
What Type of Wings Can You Use?
This guide is for any type of frozen chicken wings. They can be pre-cooked or not, seasoned or not, and they can even be breaded.
The instructions also work for other similar cuts of chicken, like drumsticks. If you have other types of frozen chicken to cook, I recommend checking out this guide to air frying all different kinds of chicken.
Just Add a Bit of Oil & Air Fry!
1. Add a Bit of Oil
Get out your frozen wings & rub them with a little bit of oil. You can skip this step as well, but I find it makes for the juiciest, crispiest wings.
If your wings are not pre-seasoned, air fry 5 minutes first, to thaw. Then add oil and seasoning before air frying again.
2. Air Fry Until Crispy & Done
Air fry 10-15 minutes, until crispy and cooked through. Both raw and pre-cooked wings should be heated to an internal temperature of at least 165°F (74°C).
If you want to add sauce, do it with about 5 minutes left until they are done. Remove the wings from the air fryer basket, mix with the sauce, and place back in the basket.
How Do I Make My Wings Crispy?
There are a few things you can do to ensure your wings come out nice and crispy:
- Don't overcrowd your air fryer basket - cook the wings in a single layer and leave some space between them as well for the hot air to circulate.
- Turn the wings at least once - the circulating air should give them an even crisp regardless, but I like to flip them once just to be sure.
- Drain excess liquid from the bottom of the basket - if there's a lot of liquid there (this especially happens if you cook raw wings) the wings can come out more steamed than crispy.
What to Do with Leftovers
Storing: Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Freezing: I do not recommend re-freezing leftovers.
Reheating in air fryer: Reheat chicken wings by air frying for 5 minutes at 300°F (150°C).
Best Sauces to Dip Them In
- Homemade Buffalo Sauce5 Minutes
- 5-Minute Blue Cheese Sauce5 Minutes
- Buffalo Dipping Sauce2 Minutes
- 2-minute Gluten Free BBQ Sauce2 Minutes
More Guides to Air Frying Food From Frozen
And don't miss my complete guide to cooking frozen foods in air fryer.
- Frozen Meatballs in Air Fryer11 Minutes
- How to Air Fry Frozen Steak12 Minutes
- Air Fryer Dumplings10 Minutes
- How To Cook Frozen Food In Your Air Fryer
Recipe
Frozen Chicken Wings in Air Fryer
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 10 frozen chicken wings raw or pre-cooked
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or neutral cooking oil / cooking spray; optional
Seasoning (optional)
- ½ teaspoon paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ lime juice only
Instructions
Pre-cooked frozen chicken wings
- Pour the olive oil over the frozen chicken wings and mix to spread the oil all over the pieces.10 frozen chicken wings, 1 tsp olive oil
- Place chicken wings in air fryer basket and air fry at 400°F (200°C) for 10-15 minutes, flipping them once halfway. Check to make sure they are done, and if not add a few more minutes.
Raw frozen chicken wings
- Place chicken wings in air fryer basket and air fry at 400°F (200°C) for 5 minutes.10 frozen chicken wings
- Remove the chicken wings from the air fryer and drain the liquid from the bottom. Pour the oil over the chicken wings and season as desired.1 tsp olive oil, ½ tsp paprika powder, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp ground black pepper, ½ lime
- Place the chicken wings back in the air fryer basket and air fry at 400°F (200°C) for 7-10 minutes, flipping them halfway. Check to make sure they are done, and if not add a few more minutes.
Equipment (may contain affiliate links)
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate and automatically calculated, and should only be viewed as an indication.
Doc Glidewell
I used 350 deg so my times were slightly longer but, using Foster Farms pre-cooked wings (from Costco USA) the results were perfect.
Thanks for the recipe.
Mik
Takes far longer then 10 minutes to cook frozen wings. I followed this recipe and the time is a joke.
Emmeline Kemperyd
Hi Mik! Did you use pre-cooked frozen wings or raw frozen wings? This recipe is for pre-cooked wings which cook much quicker. Cook times will still vary with the specific air fryer model you use but mine are definitely done after 10 minutes. 😊