Homemade Crispy Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings (Recipe)

Make a batch of these delicious lemon pepper chicken wings at home in your air fryer! With only 7 ingredients, you can create chicken wings that taste delicious and even rival Wingstop.

I love to pair these lemon pepper chicken wings with a salad or my Air Fryer Truffle Parmesan Fries (Recipe). These would be a showstopper to bring to a football party or family gathering!

Where to buy chicken wings

I buy chicken wings in bulk at Costco. They come wrapped in 3 separate packages, which make them great for freezing. They come separated into flats and drums, although you could use whole chicken wings if you wanted. This recipe works great for about 15-20 chicken flats and drums, or roughly 2 pounds.

How to prepare lemon pepper chicken wings

Open the chicken wings package and pat the chicken wings dry with paper towels. This helps to get a nice crispy skin! After they’ve been pat dry, I spray them with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Air fryer chicken wings

Place the seasoned chicken wings in your air fryer basket. Cook at 375 degrees for 14 minutes, flipping them over halfway through. I love using my air fryer, especially in the summer to avoid turning on the oven and heating the kitchen up. Air frying is also a healthier alternative to deep frying chicken wings in oil.

If you don’t have an air fryer, you can also make these in the oven. Place the wings on a wire rack on top of an aluminum foil covered baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 14 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.

Prepare the lemon pepper chicken wing sauce

While the chicken wings are cooking in the air fryer, prepare the lemon pepper chicken wing sauce.

Use a small glass container to melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the microwave. Add the melted butter into a medium sized plastic mixing bowl, large enough to toss the wings in. Using a plastic or glass mixing bowl is recommended because a metal mixing bowl combined with lemon juice may cause the sauce to taste metallic.

Add the fresh lemon juice and pepper to the mixing bowl. Stir to mix the ingredients together and set aside.

Toss the cooked chicken wings and bake again for extra flavor

After the wings have cooked in the air fryer for 14 minutes, use tongs to take them out and put them in the mixing bowl sauce. Toss the wings in the lemon pepper sauce to coat. The chicken wings are fully cooked at this point, but I have a trick! My trick for helping to infuse more flavor into the chicken wings is to put the wings back in the air fryer for another 2 minutes. I think this helps the wings stick to the lemon pepper flavor. After the 2 minutes, I put them back in the lemon pepper sauce to toss one more time before plating.

Alternative flavor chicken wings

The sauce part of this recipe can easily be tweaked to create other flavor chicken wings! Here are some flavor ideas you can try out.

• Buffalo hot chicken wings: Toss the cooked chicken wings in 1/2 cup of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce for a slightly spicy and buttery flavor.
• BBQ chicken wings: Toss the cooked chicken wings in 3/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce for sticky BBQ wings.
• Garlic parmesan chicken wings: Toss the cooked chicken wings in a blend of 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder and 1/4 cup up to 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Add more garlic powder or cheese to your preference.

Delicious air fryer lemon pepper chicken wings

I love making these easy air fryer lemon pepper chicken wings at home. With the rising cost of chicken wings at restaurants, I think making them at home is an affordable way to still enjoy wings. Try these out and let me know what you think!