Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wings
Chicken wings are so perfect and easy to make in the air fryer - the fat from the wings drips away from the chicken through the perforated basket and there's no mess anywhere. This recipe uses a spice rub for flavor at the beginning of cooking and a BBQ sauce for more flavor at the end of cooking.
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Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wings
- Prep Time: 10 m
- Cook Time: 25 m
- Total Time: 35 m
- Servings: 4
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 pounds chicken wings
- vegetable oil or spray
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chipotle BBQ Sauce
- 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
- ½ cup tomato ketchup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup water
Cool Ranch Dip
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup light sour cream
- ½ cup light mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- ½ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Prepare the chicken wings by cutting off the wing tips and discarding (or freezing for chicken stock). Divide the drumettes from the wingettes by cutting through the joint. Place the chicken wing pieces in the bowl with the spice mix and toss well to coat.
- Pre-heat the air fryer to 400ºF.
- Spray the wings lightly with the vegetable oil and air-fry the wings in two batches for 10 minutes per batch, shaking the basket halfway through the cooking process.
- While the wings are air-frying, make the chipotle BBQ sauce. Combine the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- To make the cool ranch dip, combine the sugar and apple cider vinegar in a bowl, whisking until the sugar has dissolved. Add the buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise, chopped fresh parsley, dill and chives and stir until combined. Season the dip to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Chill until you are ready to serve.
- When both batches of wings have finished air-frying, toss the wings with the Chipotle BBQ sauce. Return all the wings to the air fryer and air-fry at 400ºF for 5 minutes. Serve the wings with the cool ranch dip on the side.
Nutrition Facts
Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 515
Calories from Fat 279
% Daily Value*
Fat 31g48%
Saturated Fat 9g45%
Cholesterol 112mg37%
Sodium 2119mg88%
Potassium 473mg14%
Carbohydrates 33g11%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 25g28%
Protein 25g50%
Vitamin A 1630IU33%
Vitamin C 6.4mg8%
Calcium 129mg13%
Iron 2.7mg15%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
How many wings (weight) should I use?
Depends how hungry you are! 😉 This recipe serves 4 (as an appetizer) and calls for 2 pounds of wings.
ML
We had these for dinner tonight. Came out perfect! We do not like the hot wings and these were so good we didn’t even use the ranch dressing!
PLease help I made these. The bar b q sauce was delicious and I really liked the rub but my wings were not crispy .They were done but no crisp to them. I have a Frigidaire Oven with an air fryer in the oven. What am I going wrong? Thank you for any help.
Hi Judy. Your expectations for “crispy” might be too high. The wings should have crispy edges, but won’t be dry and crispy all over – especially once you toss then in the BBQ sauce. To get the wings to have crispy edges, make sure you do add oil to the wings – spraying them to coat the spice rub evenly. The oil will help crisp the wings.
I’ve made these and we loved them. Making them again this weekend. I really like the sauce. It spicy but not too spicy.
What if you don’t have an air fryer? What should your oven temp be?
You can bake them in the oven at 425°F for about 30 to 35 minutes.