Lemon Pepper Wings – Air Fryer

Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Wings are crispy, juicy, and will leave you drooling for more. Perfect for game day or any get-together with friends and family!

Who loves chicken wings? I’m all about the chicken wings when it comes to our party spread. I can’t get enough!

We used to spend all day in the kitchen making wings for our game day snacks – until I got my first air fryer many years ago. It was a complete game-changer and makes making wings so incredibly easy.

These lemon pepper wings are so simple to make. Just toss in the seasonings mixture and then pop them in the air fryer. The hardest part is having to do them in batches because I eat them almost as fast as they come out of the air fryer.

If you love chicken wings as much as we do – I know you will love these. No more having to go to the local wing restaurant, you can enjoy them in the comfort of your own home – quickly and easily.

air fryer lemon pepper wings

Here are some commonly asked questions

How Air Frying Works

While air fryers are relatively new to the market, the technology isn’t really a new concept. They basically work like tiny convection ovens that you can use on your countertop.

Similar to a convection oven, it circulates the hot air within the cooking area using a high-powered fan. This helps evenly distribute the heat around the food which not only creates more evenly cooked food but also reduced cooking times.

By circulating the hot air, which contains the fine oil droplets from adding a light mist layer before cooking, and allows you to remove the need for submerging our foods in heavy oils to create the deliciously crunchy foods we all love.

What are the benefits of air frying?

Healthier

It’s no secret that fried foods are more fattening – but did you know that there are 9 calories in every gram of fat? With air frying, we can reduce the fat by removing most of the oils usually needed to create crunchy foods. This helps to drastically reduce fat intake and calories.

Convenience

I love being able to cook with my air fryer and eliminate the need for large baking sheets and lots of pots and pans. Most of my air fryer recipes can be made with just a mixing bowl or two or a small saucepan in addition to my air fryer.

Energy Efficient

Someone said to me once, “why make this in the air fryer if you can do it the conventional way in the same amount of time?” Well, air frying helps eliminate the need for a conventional oven.

Not only can you keep your home cooler in the summer by not using the oven, but you are saving money with reduced energy consumption costs as well.

Time Saver

I don’t know about you, but if I can avoid turning on the oven and having to wait 20 minutes for it to preheat, I’m happy about that. Most air fryer recipes either don’t require that you preheat the fryer – or the preheat time is 5 minutes or less. That is a huge time saver over using the oven.

Take it on the go

I love that the air fryer is compact and easy to take along on trips. We pack ours in our RV and find that air fryer cooking while camping is so much easier than trying to deep fry foods on a small RV stove or camping burner.

Can these be tossed in sauce?

You bet – just keep the sauce layer light. You don’t want to drown the wings in the sauce because then the nice crispy outside will soak up too much and they will become soggy.

No one likes soggy chicken wings. We prefer to just dip the wings in the preferred sauce as we eat them so they maintain their crispiness.

chicken wings lemon pepper

What oil sprayer do you use?

First, let me say that I highly recommend that you do not use cooking spray. It will leave a residue on your air fryer basket & cause it to smoke when you use it.

I really like this spray bottle – because it gives a nice mist & sprays consistently each time using just olive, vegetable, or canola oil. I couldn’t air fry easily without it.

Can lemon pepper wings be cooked in the oven or stovetop?

Lemon pepper wings can also be cooked in the oven by baking or cooked stovetop by frying in oil. You can also cook them on the grill if you desire. Be sure to check out our other wing recipes here for directions on these other methods of making wings.

• Garlic Parmesan Wings
• Crispy Seasoned Chicken Wings
• Grilled Chicken Wings
• Pellet Grill Chicken Wings
• Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Sweet Thai Chili Wings
• Honey Chicken Wings

Ingredients for Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings

• chicken wings medium size, raw
• cornstarch
• lemon pepper
• garlic powder
• Sea salt – to taste

Can I use flour instead of cornstarch?

Yes – you can use flour, but keep the coating very light and thin. We use cornstarch in this recipe because it has a lighter texture and gives a better crisp on the chicken.

This is very important because we are not frying them in oil – so we don’t want the “breading” to be too heavy, which can result in a soggy texture if not cooked long enough.

Why use a shallow container to store the leftovers?

Well, when the container is shallow, the contents chill faster than if you were to use a large, deep container. Ideally, you don’t want it to take too long for the leftovers to get to their chilled/stored temperature.

If the food remains above about 35 degrees for more than 1 hour after cooking, the bacteria starts to grow.

lemon pepper wings recipe

How to Make Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings in the Air Fryer

1. Place the chicken wings in a large bowl and pat them dry with a paper towel to soak up any moisture that may be on them.
2. Preheat the air fryer to 360 F | 180 C.
3. Spray the air fryer basket with a light mist of cooking oil. (not non-stick cooking spray – see notes)
4. Sprinkle the wings with cornstarch, sea salt, lemon pepper and garlic powder.
5. Toss and make sure all wings are coated.
6. Place the seasoned wings in the air fryer basket in a single layer. I cooked in 3 batches.
7. Spray the coated wings with oil.
8. Cook for 12 minutes. Toss, spray that side with oil and cook for another 10 minutes.
9. Increase the heat to 400 F | 200 C and air fry until crispy. About 4 minutes.
10. Serve immediately with your favorite dip.

How to prevent sticking in the air fryer

Sticking can often happen when using an air fryer. I understand that most would think to add non-stick spray to the basket to prevent this. I strongly encourage you to not do that.

Non-stick spray leaves a coating that won’t come off, even when washed. Over time – this will build up and cause smoking when you use our air fryer.

I also do not recommend putting down a sheet of foil. The idea behind air frying is to allow the air to circulate around the food.

This is why the basket or tray has holes in it. If you put foil down – this prevents the air from reaching all of the areas it needs to in order for it to cook properly.

Instead – I recommend spraying the basket with olive oil using this spray bottle. You can line the air fryer with perforated parchment paper.

Or you can use one of these really great silicone liners that still allow for airflow but are reusable and easily cleanable.

Why is my food dry, chewy, or not crisp?

Most people think that air frying is done completely without oil. However, you need just a little bit of oil so the machine can circulate those tiny oil droplets, which is what makes air frying create deliciously crisp and crunchy food.

So when your food isn’t turning out as expected, it is usually that you aren’t actually adding enough oil to the recipe. If those oil droplets aren’t present, all you are doing is baking your food, resulting in a less flavorful taste and texture. Be sure to not skip the step of spritzing the food with oil if the recipe calls for it.

Can this recipe be doubled?

I usually like to double this recipe when having friends over. I also like to double this recipe so we have lots of leftovers in anticipation of a busy week ahead. It is so nice to not have to cook for a night or two.

That being said, because of the space constraints of the air fryer – it does take a bit longer to double the recipe and cook all of the batches of wings.

air fryer chicken wings recipe

How many calories air fried chicken wings?

Lemon pepper chicken wings are 201 calories for 5 lemon pepper chicken wings.

How do you reheat chicken wings?

To reheat chicken wings, you should place them back into the air fryer. Cook at 350 for several minutes or until hot again! This will ensure that they remain crisp and do not get soggy like they would in the microwave.

Air Frying Doneness Tip

Every air fryer is a bit different and they all cook at different rates – so in general, all cooking times are approximate based on the pan and temperature.

You can always cook the recipe longer if needed and reduce the heat a bit. If needed, you can tent the top if it is browning too much.

I have a bake option and other special features on my air fryer, is that the setting? Or do you put it on “air fry” setting?

All of my recipes were created with an air fryer that had only a temperature & timer setting – since not all air fryers have all the additional settings.

You can use the bake setting when making recipes that you would traditionally bake – but if possible, please just set the temperature & time for this recipe.

lemon pepper wings

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If you love this easy chicken wing recipe in the air fryer, you’re going to love these other air fryer recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

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