High-Crunch, Air-Fried Chicken Wings with a Gochujang-Maple Glaze and Ginger-Lime Crema. I mean, come on. Does that not say it all and then some?

Restaurant Quality

They’re not Buffalo wings, and they’re not what you’d expect if you ordered barbecue wings. But if you’re familiar with Korean BBQ, or if you know gochujang, you know that these wings have an addictive quality that you just can’t beat. The rich, velvety, sticky, glossy glaze has an earthy sweetness and little bit of lingering heat. The cool, rich, tangy crema complements the gochujang sauce just perfectly.  

I love wings. I order them at restaurants all the time. And I could not be happier with these.

The wings themselves are crunchy and delicious. The only way I can tell that they weren’t deep fried is that they’re not heavy with grease. But between the juiciness of the chicken, and the sticky-licky sauce, you don’t miss the oil at all. But I notice the difference only because I know how the wings were cooked. If I didn’t know, I don’t think it’d occur to me. 

Ingredients

• Word on the street is that the baking powder alters the skin’s surface pH to break down protein bonds, creating microscopic blisters for maximum crunch.

Method

Pans

• My air fryer is a Breville BOV900. If you use the BOV900’s roasting pan as the drip pan, 1½ lbs of wings is about as many as air fryer basket will hold without exceeding the capacity of the roasting pan to catch the drips, due to the pan’s wide lip. 
• Be careful when aligning the roasting pan with the air frying basket in the oven. You have to push the roasting pan in further than you might think, in order to align the chicken with the pan and not the lip. Not far enough, and the grease dripping from the back of the basket will miss the pan completely.
• However, I like to use the bottom of the roasting pan, including the lip, as a mold for a makeshift aluminum foil drip pan. Using the roasting pan as a mold guarantees that your makeshift pan won’t be too big. You don’t want to disrupt airflow in the oven. Molding around the roasting pan’s lip results in a makeshift pan whose entire area is useful. This, plus placing the wings as close as they can be without snuggling them up to one another, allows you to fit a full 2½ pounds of wings into the basket. You won’t need to increase either of the sauces. Note that this idea may not be sanctioned by the oven’s manufacturer.

Safety

• Do not cut your veggies on the same cutting board you used for your chicken unless you’ve thoroughly sanitized it.

Sauce

• No need to heat the sauce. The residual heat from the freshly air-fried wings will warm it when tossed.

Smoke

• I strongly suggest that you open all your windows while frying the wings, and turn on all your fans. Otherwise, you’re going to get a fried-food smell in your house. I’ve heard that you can dust the drip-catching pan with baking soda. I’ve also heard that if you dry off the wings before coating them, they’ll release fewer airborne particles. I haven’t tried these.
• Another trick: start the wings at 350ºF for the first half of the bake, and increase to 425ºF for the second. This helps keeps the rendered chicken fat beneath its smoke point. I’ve tried this. It works, but you may need to increase the timing of the 450ºF portion of the bake significantly to get the right browning. 

Cleanup

• After you’ve cooked the wings, the fryer basket and roasting pan are going to need to be soaked in hot, soapy water. Don’t wait long to do this. The oven, once it’s cool, it going to need a thorough wipe-down. Really. Don’t underestimate this. The cleanup is significant.
• If you use the roasting pan as your drip pan, lining it with foil will make cleanup easier. Compare that to the biodegradation time of aluminum foil, which is 500+ years. I won’t to this for the sake of cleanup. However, I am all in favor of using foil to create a more effective drip pan, for the sake of making more wings. So there you have it.

Serving Sizes

Main course: 6 to 10 for some people, 10 to 12 for others. Appetizer: 4 to 6. Nutritional standard: 4 to 5 three-ounce wings (weighed before cooking). I’m OK with a 6- to 10-wing (normal size, not jumbo) main course, but I’ll want sides and a dessert with it.

Leftovers

I wouldn’t know. The Make It Like a Man! crew has never not eaten all these in one sitting. 

Social Learning

Air Fryers

Is an air fryer just a toaster oven with a convection setting? In a sense, but there is a distinction. A traditional oven relies on natural, slow-moving air currents. A convection oven uses a fan to circulate air, creating more consistent heat. However, as food cooks, it naturally releases moisture, creating a cool, humid “boundary layer” of air that clings to the food’s surface and insulates it from the heat. A traditional convection oven thins this layer slightly, but an air fryer completely obliterates it. Because an air fryer circulates air at a dramatically higher velocity within a much tighter space, it aggressively strips away that insulating pocket of moisture. This allows the (typically intense) heat to contact the food directly and dry out the surface almost instantly, accelerating the browning process so efficiently that it mimics the rapid, crispy results of deep frying.

Is an air fryer a fad that’s eventually going to fade? Maybe. But the trend appears to be moving in the opposite direction. It may well become a standard appliance, like your microwave. I am very picky about single-use appliances, especially if they occupy permanent residence on the countertop. That’s why I only just now bought an air fryer. It’s part of a smart oven that I bought to replace my toaster oven, which has needed replacing for years. 

Making Wings at Home

Making wings at home is new to me. Here are my impressions so far:

I’m under the impression that wing enthusiasts use fresh wings rather than frozen, because you get a crisper skin and juicier texture. However, fresh wings have a short shelf life, which forces you to have to plan more carefully. 

Here’s what I’ve discovered so far about buying wings:

• If you buy “party wings,” the drumettes will already be split from the flats, and the tips will have been removed. I get the impression that they’ll be pretty much ready to fry. If you buy whole wings, you may pay less per pound, but you’ll have to do some home butchery. My go-to grocery sells whole wings and calls them “fryer wings.”
• Read the label for additives or enhancements. Decide whether this is something you do or don’t want. 
• When it comes to wing sizes, the packaging will either be silent on the issue, or will say “jumbo.” Smaller, or “normal-sized” wings will give you a good ratio of crispy to meaty. Jumbo wings take longer to cook, and with that, you run the risk of under- or over-cooking them. (Under, because you’ve crisped the outside perfectly, but the inside isn’t done yet. Or over, because by the time you cooked them all the way through, the skins are burnt.) But hey, if you get it right, jumbo wings are so indulgent. At the moment, I’m focusing on regular-size wings.   

The Backstory

This is the only time I’ve ever developed a recipe, and had it come out restaurant quality the first time – no do-overs, no adjustments. 

High-Crunch, Air-Fried Chicken Wings with a Gochujang-Maple Glaze and Ginger-Lime Crema

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #2 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs. 

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