Air-fryer buffalo wings
Crispy, buttery-hot wings with blue cheese on the side. No fryer vat required.
35 min
Liner notes
Buffalo wings were invented at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, in 1964 — midnight food thrown together for a hungry crowd, deep-fried and drowned in hot sauce and butter. Sixty years later they own every Super Bowl table in America. The air fryer is the modern mother's trick: same crackle, none of the three-inch pot of oil that used to make wings a restaurant-only affair.
- Track 1 · Why it hits
- Buffalo sauce is an emulsion — vinegar-bright cayenne hot sauce mellowed by butter fat. Cold butter whisked in off the heat keeps it silky instead of broken. Smoked paprika in the dry rub isn't tradition, but it fakes the char of a deep fryer beautifully.
- Track 2 · Backstage tip
- Never sauce the wings in advance. Sauced wings go soft in minutes; toss them at the table and they stay crisp to the last one.
Ingredients
4 servings
Steps
- 1Pat the wings bone dry with paper towels — surface moisture is the enemy of crisp — then toss with the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and pepper. Rest them 20 minutes.
- 2Air-fry at 380°F for 22 to 25 minutes, flipping halfway, until the skin is deep gold and crackling. Work in batches so the air can move around every wing.
- 3Meanwhile, warm the hot sauce in a small pan and whisk in the cold butter one piece at a time, off the heat. It should gloss and cling, not separate.
- 4Dump the hot wings into a big metal bowl, pour the sauce over, and toss with a flick of the wrist until every wing shines.
- 5Serve straight away with blue cheese dressing and celery. Buffalo has rules; these are two of them.