Prep Time: 4 hours – 1 day
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: Varies
THIS RECIPE IS SUPER EASY! The longest part comes when letting it sit and marinate.
Cutting down on eating out and ordering in becomes a lot easier when you prep your meals. Whether you work from home or outside of your home, there are many ways to lunch prep accordingly. As a work-from-home freelancer, I LOVE using my air fryer. The meal we are working with today is one that can be eaten immediately or store away for a work lunch.
I love fried wings, but barely have time to deal with the setup and cleanup of traditionally fried wings as a busy mom of four. The air fryer simply provides an alternative way to achieve fried food with less cleanup and prep time, as well as requiring LESS cooking oil. in fact, our honey butter marinade will eventually double as our cooking oil. Let’s get started.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 2-3 TBS Butter
- 1-2 TBS Honey or Substitute
- 1 TSP Granulated or Powdered Onion
- 1/2 TSP Ground Mustard
- 1 TSP Granulated or Powdered Garlic
- Pepper to Taste (about 1/4 to 1/2 TSP)
Other Ingredients
- Homemade or Ready-Made Barbecue sauce
- 1 Medium-Large Onion (I always use sweet vedalia)
For this recipe, I’ll show you how I doctor up store bought BBQ sauce into my own sauce.
To prep…
In a medium bowl or pan, melt the butter in your microwave or oven, whichever you prefer.
Don’t overheat; we’re just melting it.
Stir in the rest of your marinade ingredients.
I whip it all together with a fork.
Place your raw wings, drumsticks, or both in a sealable container. I use zip-up baggies.
Pour in your marinade and work it around the chicken, ensuring the sauce is spread underneath the skin layer.
Seal it up and place it in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours, depending on how patient you are.
The longer you let marinate, the better.
To Cook…
Because I am not making a BBQ sauce from scratch, let me show you how I doctor up my store-bought BBQ sauce.
It’s simple:
Throw some in a bowl, sprinkle about 1/4 TSP (each) of Onion powder, Garlic powder, a pinch of pepper, and add honey (or substitute). I don’t measure the honey, but it’s around 2-2.5 Teaspoons.
Stir and blend your extra ingredients evenly throughout the sauce (I whip with a fork).
Set your BBQ sauce aside, as we’ll be adding it last (at 5 mins left).
REMEMBER: It’s an air fryer recipe. Trust the process.
Cut your onion in half and use one half to layer the bottom of your air fryer basket (sliced sits better than diced).
I add perforated foil to help hold a little juice and flavor, but this is NOT necessary! It cuts off some of the airflow, but still crisps it the way I like.
Now, set your marinated chicken on top of the onions.
Be sure to drizzle the leftover marinade over your chicken.
I dump the whole bag!
Layer the other half of the onion over your chicken.
Now, set the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes (set for 20 minutes if you have ADHD or mom brain).
When there is 5 minutes left, or when it shuts off after 20 minutes, use tongs to grab your wings/drumsticks and SATURATE them in your BBQ sauce.
Place them back into the air fryer basket.
Cook with the BBQ sauce layer for 5 minutes.
For the MOST flavor, stop halfway through those last 5 minutes and rotate. Drizzle the rest of the sauce over the exposed side of the chicken after rotating.
After I add the last drizzle o sauce, I’ll let it cook the rest of the way through (only 2-3 minutes more).
That’s it!
If you have leftover BBQ sauce, drizzle on top. I personally don’t need the extra, due to my stomach issues. My daughter LOVES finishing it for me.
Finishing Notes
This was my first time creating and making this recipe.
FOR BUSY MOMS – You can prep the chicken in the marinade and FREEZE for later use.
MAKE A DAY OF IT – On an off day, make time to prep some meals for the week. Almost anything can be frozen after preparation.
Texture and Juices
PERFECTION! This recipe turned out perfectly fried and crisped, yet tender and JUICY!
Questions or comments? Let’s Talk!
ENTER DISCUSSION FORUM HERE.