For a hot minute, I have been trying to make wings using my air fryer. I love ordering wings whenever we get takeout from our local pizzeria – compared to almost every other cut of chicken besides the thigh, wings have a ton of flavor. They are annoying to eat, and you probably will have a mess on your face and hands, but the meat is succulent and flavorful from being cooked along with the wing bones. My one reservation with making wings at home was deep frying them – fortunately, I have air fryers at home, so really I had no excuses to not try making these. While buffalo wings are one of my personal favorites, I wanted to try something with chili crisp, so I was making a bunch of that at home. Chili crisp or oil is made by pouring hot oil over chilies and other ingredients like sesame seeds and garlic, to create this super flavorful oil that has crunchy bits running through it. It is a fun flavor and texture additive, and the thought of tossing chicken wings in that sounded too delicious of an opportunity to pass up on! For garnish, I went with a “kale-slaw”, which is made with kale and a creamy sesame dressing, as well as shaved rainbow carrots. I also pickled some radishes and cucumbers, just to bring in some acidity to cut through the richness of the wings.

In terms of prep, the sesame dressing and the pickles can be made in advanced, so I recommend just doing that to get them out of the way. As I mentioned before, the bones can be a bit wonky to eat through when it comes to wings, so I actually turned mine into chicken lollipops! I did this with the wing flats be removing the smaller bone and rolling the rest of the meat to one side of the remaining bone, and with the drums by frenching the bone and pushing that meat to the end of that bone as well. I like how much easier to eat lollipops are, but they still have the same tasty meat that a wing does! They do require a bit of butchery to make the wings into lollipops, so you can totally skip that step and just do wings if that is easier. With the brine for the wings, I only did a quick 30-minute brine in the marinade on them, but you can absolutely go longer if you want to! To season my wings, I used a quick brine made from soy sauce, shio koji, and mirin. Koji is a rice-based bacteria that is used to make miso paste, and it adds a ton of umami into whatever you cook it in. The one downside is that it makes anything you sear, fry, or roast turn pitch black – it is by no means burnt, but it will definitely make it look like that. I also used cornstarch and baking soda to dredge the chicken wings in prior to air frying, just to give the exterior of the wings a crispy finish, and a coating for the chili crisp to cling to! Make sure that your air fryer is lined with enough cooking spray, or else the chicken can stick and burn to the bottom. The chili crisp, I like making that while the wings are air-frying, just so that the flavor stays relatively fresh. I recommend tossing the chicken straight into the chili crisp before serving to optimal crispiness on the chicken itself.

Makes 4 servings:
For the sesame dressing:
3 tbsp tahini paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp toasted black sesame seeds

In a bowl, mix everything together until combined.

For the pickles:
2 radishes, thinly shaved
1 Persian cucumber, thinly shaved
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 tsp granulated sugar

In a bowl, mix the radishes and cucumber slices with the salt. In a pot, heat up the rice vinegar and sugar, and once the sugar is dissolved, pour that over the sliced vegetables. Allow the pickles to fully cool before using.

For the wings:
1 pound of chicken wings
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp shio koji
1 tbsp mirin
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
cooking spray

With the chicken wings, use a paring knife to French the meat off half of the bone, rolling the meat into little lollipops at one of the ends of the bones. If you are Frenching a flat, carefully use the knife to cut the connective tendons at the joints of the bones and carefully remove the smaller bone. Toss the meat with the soy sauce, koji, and mirin, allowing the wings to marinate for 30 minutes. Press the wings with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture. In another bowl, mix the cornstarch and baking soda. Toss the wings in the cornstarch and baking soda mixture. Line an air fryer with cooking spray and air fry the wings for 18 minutes at 400 degrees F, flipping the wings halfway through the process to guarantee even browning.

For the garlic chili crisp:
2oz canola oil
1oz sesame seeds
1 tsp anise seed
1 tbsp crushed chili flakes
1 clove garlic, finely minced
a pinch of salt

In a pot, heat up the canola oil until it registers to at least 250 degrees F. Put the other ingredients in a bowl. Pour the hot oil over the ingredients, and allow the oil to fully cool down before using.

For garnish:
Shaved rainbow carrots
Kale, de-stemmed and cut in chiffonade

Toss the kale with the dressing. Toss the wings with the chili crisp. To plate, start with the kale-slaw, and garnish on top with the shaved rainbow carrots and the pickled vegetables. Offsetting that will be the chili crisp wings.