Try this easy and delicious air fryer Korean chicken wings recipe!
Air fried chicken wings are coated with sticky and addictive Korean sauce. You can even choose the flavor you want from two of the most popular Korean fried chicken sauces I will share below!
What’s more it is super easy to make and you can start gobbling them up in less than 30 minutes.
Lastly, you get to enjoy your favorite Korean fried chicken in a healthier way. Let’s get cooking!
Korean Chicken Wings in Air Fryer
Well made Korean chicken wings are a crowd pleaser. Typically Korean fried chicken is deep fried in oil; Twice to make it extra crispy, but today’s recipe is air fried instead. So people who don’t appreciate deep fried oily chicken can enjoy the Korean fried chicken flavor too.
I have made Korean fried chicken (deep fried) many times using different parts of chicken in the past, but this time I chose chicken wings. That’s because chicken wings are a great cut to cook in an air fryer as wings are naturally greasier parts of chicken. So you don’t even need additional oil to coat.
Korean Chicken Wing Sauce
I have tasted different sauces for Korean fried chicken over the years and these two sauces are most universally known in Korea.
The first one is soy sauce based “Soy Garlic Sauce” and the other one is gochujang and ketchup based “Sweet and Spicy Sauce”.
These sauces are so easy to make. You just need to combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to boil, cool down then brush the sauce over the air fried chicken wings.
This is to minimize the chicken wings getting overly soggy. Coated chicken wings become sticky, very flavorful, and moreish. They will disappear in no time when you serve them.
How to Serve
Typically Korean fried chicken is served with pickled radishes, so they will go well with these air fried chicken wings too. I also think pickled cucumber and lemon, Korean macaroni salad, and corn cheese will make a great companion as well.
Popular Korean Chicken Recipes
Seriously, I think all Korean chicken recipes are so delicious and addictive. If you want to venture out more, check my recipes below!
Ingredients for Korean Chicken Wings (Serve 4 as an appetizer)
Tools
- air fryer
- cooking spray oil
Chicken & Base Seasonings
- 900g /2 pounds chicken wings
- 2 Tbsp rice wine (mirin)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- A few cracks ground black peppers
Soy Garlic Sauce
(Adapted from my Dakgangjeong: Soy Garlic Popcorn Chicken sauce)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce, regular
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp rice wine (mirin)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 Tbsp minced ginger
- 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
- A few cracks ground black pepper
- (optional) 30g / 1 ounce green onions, white part x2
- (optional) 3 dried chilies
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 2 tsp water
Sweet & Spicy Sauce
(Adapted from my Korean Fried Chicken Sauce)
- 1.5 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 Tbsp gochujang (Korean chilli paste)
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
Garnish (Optional)
- sesame seeds
- green onions
* 1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1 Cup = 250 ml
** Each sauce above is more than enough for 1 kg /2 pounds of chicken wings respectively, so you may have some extra sauce at hand after cooking. This extra can be used as a dipping sauce for those who like extra saucy chicken wings.
How to Make Korean Chicken Wings in Air Fryer
1. In a bowl, place the chicken wings and add rice wine. Mix them well and set aside it for 5 mins.
2. Gently shake off excess liquid from the wings and place them into a clean bowl. (Discard any residual liquid in the bowl from step.1). Add the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, ginger powder, and ground black peppers. Mix them well.
3. Spray some cooking oil onto the air fryer basket. Place the seasoned chicken into the basket without overlapping too much. Set the air fryer temperature at 200 C / 400 F and cook each side for 10 mins or until the chicken wings are crisp and golden brown outside. Just note that the cook time may vary depending on your air fryer.
4. Make your choice of chicken wing sauce following the instructions below.
4.1) Soy garlic sauce
In a sauce pan, combine all sauce ingredients (except for corn starch and water). Bring it to boil over medium low heat while stirring often. Once the sauce starts bubbling, take out (and discard) the chilies and green onion pieces. In a small bowl, combine the corn starch and water. Mix well then pour it over the sauce. Stir often. Once the sauce thickens or turns to glaze (within 1 – 2 mins), remove from the heat and cool down for 3-5 mins.
4.2) Sweet & spicy sauce
In a sauce pan, combine all sauce ingredients. Bring it to boil over medium low heat while stirring often. Once the sauce starts bubbling and thickens (about 4-5 mins), remove from the heat. Cool down the sauce for 3-5 mins.
5. Place the air fried chicken onto a lined sheet pan. Gently coat the chicken with your choice of sauce using a basting brush. Once all the chicken is coated with the sauce, serve.
Storage and Reheating Tips
One thing these air fried chicken wings are not so good for is storing and reheating. They just don’t taste the same once they get reheated (the chicken wings look sad and shrivelled.) So I suggest you make only as many as you will eat at one seating. However, if you still end up with some leftover chicken wings, they can be refrigerated for a day or two and eaten cold or reheated.
If you want to save some time on cooking, I’d recommend combining the sauce ingredients in an air tight container then store in the fridge. Make the sauce following the instruction above in step 4 at the time of air frying chicken wings. If you make the sauce all the way through in advance and refrigerate, it will thicken a bit too much to baste, particularly for the soy garlic sauce.
More Air Fryer Recipes
Do you love your air fryer and want to use it more often? Try some of my air fryer recipes below. They are so delicious and flavorful!
- Air Fryer Chickpeas (Korean BBQ flavor)
- Tuna Patties (Gochujang mayo flavor)
Love Korean food? Browse lots more Korean recipes from my easy Korean recipe collections. And subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Air Fryer Korean Chicken Wings
Ingredients
CHICKEN & BASE SEASONINGS
- 900 g chicken wings (2 pounds)
- 2 Tbsp rice wine
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- A few cracks ground black peppers
SOY GARLIC SAUCE
SWEET & SPICY SAUCE
- 1.5 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 Tbsp gochujang (Korean chilli paste)
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
GARNISH (OPTIONAL)
- sesame seeds
- green onion , thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a bowl, place the chicken wings and add rice wine. Mix them well and set aside it for 5 mins.
- Gently shake off the liquid from the wings and place them into a clean bowl. (Discard any residual liquid in the bowl from step.1). Add the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, ginger powder, and ground black peppers. Mix them well.
- Spray some cooking oil onto the air fryer basket. Place the seasoned chicken into the basket without overlapping too much. Set the air fryer temperature at 200 C / 400 F and cook each side for 10 mins or until the chicken wings are crisp and golden brown outside. Just note that the cook time may vary depending on your air fryer.
- Make your choice of chicken wing sauce following the instructions below.Soy Garlic SauceIn a sauce pan, combine all sauce ingredients (except for corn starch and water). Bring it to boil over medium low heat while stirring often. Once the sauce starts bubbling, take out (and discard) the chilies and green onion pieces. In a small bowl, combine the corn starch and water. Mix well then pour it over the sauce. Stir often. Once the sauce thickens or turns to glaze (within 1 – 2 mins), remove from the heat and cool down for 3-5 mins.Sweet & Spicy sauceIn a sauce pan, combine all sauce ingredients. Bring it to boil over medium low heat while stirring often. Once the sauce starts bubbling and thickens (about 4-5 mins), remove from the heat. Cool down the sauce for 3-5 mins.
- Place the air fried chicken onto a lined sheet pan. Gently coat the chicken with your choice of sauce using a basting brush. Once all the chicken is coated with the sauce, serve.Coleslaw salad, Korean macaroni salad, corn cheese or pickled radish will go well with these chicken wings. Leftover chicken can be refrigerated for a day or two and eaten cold or reheated.
Notes
- 1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1 Cup = 250 ml
- Each sauce above is more than enough for 1 kg /2 pounds of chicken wings respectively, so you may have some extra sauce at hand after cooking. This extra can be used as a dipping sauce for those who like extra saucy chicken wings.
Nutrition Info (per serving)
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Will the two sauces work as a marinade? Thank you!
These came out perfectly! I substituted the Korean paste with garlic chili sauce which worked really well to add a couple of chili flakes and extra garlic. Such an amazing recipe. Practically restaurant quality.
This was so good! My airfryer isn’t as powerful so had to leave it in longer, but it was so good and the soy garlic sauce was fabulous. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
My goodness! These are so good! Thank you very much for the recipe, the spicy and sweet sauce is so delicious. They are good even without the sauce though! Whenever I make these I ALWAYS get asked for the recipe. Thank you again for sharing it.
Very first air fryer recipe and it’s a family favourite brilliant recipe I missed out the gochujang because our small people (5&3) are afraid of spice. Still super delicious thank you.
What if you can’t find Korean chili paste what can I substitute that with? Thank you
There’s no real good substitute for gochujang (Korean chili paste) as it’s one of its kind. 🙂 That being said, I’ve seen some people using sriracha sauce as an alternative. It’s quite different in texture, consistency and taste. But you could give it a go. If you do, I would omit or reduce the amount of garlic used in the sauce as sriracha sauce itself is very garlicky.
I used chili garlic sauce instead of the paste. You should be able to find it at any grocery store. Came out perfectly for me.
Hi
I made these today and they turned about a bit charred after the first 10 minutes using 200d. I lowered down to 180d after for the remaining 15 minutes. Is it supposed to be slightly darkened pre-sauce? The airfryer I’m using is the Philips XXL.
Yes, the chicken wings would brown a bit after air frying. See the photo above in step 3. (But it shouldn’t be burnt.) Those brown spots are crispier part of the wings.
Is it possible to use chicken thighs? If it is, would the temperature and cook time change?
These were awesome! I’m looking to eat healthier, but love my wings. I made them with the sweet & spicy sauce and we gobbled them up. Your recipe is a definite keeper, thank you!!!
My husband and I LOVED these. The sweet and spicy sauce is to die for.
Delicious!!! Even my wife and kids loved it! Very easy to make!! Thank you so much.
Yum!! These look and sound amazing!
Wonderful recipe! I’m watching a ton of Korean series right now and the food looks so good, I want to replicate the recipes! This one is perfect, delicious and easy and makes me use my air fryer, triple win!
Another delicious recipe! I made 2.5 lbs of chicken wings tonight for dinner using our air fryer. The sauces were easy to make and both were delicious! I doubled the sweet and spicy sauce but I don’t think I needed to since I had sauce left over. My mom was Korean and I never even thought to get her to teach me to cook Korean food. I guess I just thought she’d always be here to cook it for us. Sadly, she’ passed away 5 1/2 years ago. So, thank you so much for providing these Korean recipes. I think my mom would be happy to know I’m cooking Korean food.
Hello Sue,
Hope everything and everyone are doing well. I did the chicken in the air fryer with the sweet and spicy sauce, amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe, it’s my weekend go to recipe with my family. Best wishes.
I like eat chicken dishes. Your method is simple and easy to do. I followed your instructions and I got it. Thank you for your helpful sharing. Hope you will have more good articles like this one.
Made this dish the other night. Added extra cooking time because I have a different air fryer. It was fantastic, opted for the sweet and spicy sauce. My family loved it, we even reheated and ate the leftovers the next day – still good. Will be adding to our regular go to dishes – so easy to prepare, very flavourful. Thanks for this recipe, I am always looking for ways to use my air fryer and eat healthier.
Hi! Can I coat the chicken with cornstarch or potato starch before putting them in to the airfryer? Will it be more crispy?
You can do that if you want to. Make sure you shake the wings well (to drop off excess cornstarch) before putting them into the air fryer. You will also want to spray some oil on the wings as well. I personally don’t like the flavor of starch coated wings when it’s air fried. 🙂
I already made this. I followed everything except for the cornstarch. The sweet and spicy sauce is so good! The best KFC I made according to my husband haha. I will make this again and next time w/o the cornstarch. I don’t think it’s necessary, it just made my air fryer super messy and hard to clean lol. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!❤️ Btw, I also followed your recipe on IP Galbi Jjim and Bibimbap. Everything was perfect!
I’m so pleased to hear your family enjoyed it! Yes, the air fryer gets messier when you use cornstarch. I forgot to mention that. 🙂
Hi! What can we use in place of the mirin?
You could use dry sherry, dry white wine or verjuice (non alcoholic).
I don’t have an air fryer so I just fried my wings in a wok, I made the sweet and spicy sauce and can honestly say it was the best homemade sauce I have tasted. I also made the quick carrot and daikon pickles.
Thank you for this delicous recipe.
Can you also use drumsticks in this recipe?
This is what I am looking for. Thanks for this great recipe tutorial. Can’t wait to try out this todya.
These look wonderful and I love the sauces. But wings can be baked, too. So how much do you love your air fryer? Do you use it often?
Yes, I do love my air fryer! I would use it at least a few times a week. As far as Korean cooking goes, the usage is a bit limited. But I’m sure I will find ways to get more creative.
These chicken wings can be baked for sure. But baking takes longer and also the texture I get from an air fryer is just much better. 🙂
Ahah also loved the korean drama update on the email 😊🤗