These air fryer BBQ chicken wings are crispy, sticky, and delicious. Coated in a simple seasoning and air-fried until crispy, they are then tossed in BBQ sauce before being returned to the air fryer, creating a sticky, caramelized coating that make these wings taste like the ones from your favorite pub. Serve with extra BBQ sauce or ranch for dipping.

Perfect for an appetizer platter or your next wing night, BBQ air fryer chicken wings are a great alternative to hot wings. Coated in your favorite BBQ sauce, these crispy caramelized wings are sticky and delicous.
Great on a wing platter with other favorites such as Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Wings, or Air Fired Honey Buffalo Wings.
Jump to:
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchase
Sticky BBQ chicken wings are the perfect addition to your next football party, wing night, or appetizer platter.
These wings are made with simple ingredients, quick to prepare, and are on the table in about 30 minutes.
Tossed in a simple seasoning, they are air fried before being tossed in your favorite BBQ sauce and heated again until the wings are sticky and caramelized.
You can use any of your favorite BBQ sauces, making them as sweet or spicy as you like.
They are perfect on a platter with other wings or chicken appetizers such as Air Fried Buffalo Turkey Wings, Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders or Air Fryer Ranch Chicken Wings.
We like to serve them with additional BBQ sauce for dipping, but other favorite wing dips such as Chunky Blue Cheese Dip, Honey Mustard Mayo, or Cilantro Dip all work well, too.
While you likely won’t have any left, leftovers are delicious served cold or can easily be reheated using the air fryer, microwave, or oven.

Ingredients & Substitutions
For a full list of ingredients and measurements, please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Split chicken wings – You will want about one and a half pounds of chicken wings with the wing tips removed. This is about 16 pieces, depending on the size and how many flats for drummettes you have. Our family does a mixture of flats and drumettes because one of us prefers flats and the other prefers drums, but you can do all drumettes or flats. This recipe will also work fine with whole chicken wings if that’s what you have.
Olive Oil – A little bit of olive oil helps the seasonings stick to the wings and aids in crisping them. You can use other oils, such as avocado oil, canola, or vegetable oil, if you prefer.
Baking powder – You will not taste the baking powder, but it aids in making the wings crispy. If you don’t have any, you can leave it out, but I don’t recommend substitutions for this ingredient.
Seasonings – While the BBQ sauce will provide most of the flavor for these wings, seasoning them before adding the BBQ sauce makes them even better. This recipe uses a blend of smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder, which adds to the BBQ flavor without competing with the sauce. You can use just salt and pepper if you like or a premade BBQ seasoning if you have it.
BBQ sauce – You can use any of your favorite BBQ sauces for this recipe. One of our favorites is a Honey Hot BBQ sauce, but we’ve used other flavors such as hickory smoked, applewood, and others in the fridge.

Storing Leftovers
We recommend that these wings be eaten the same day they are made. But if you have leftovers, they can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They should keep for about three days.
Reheating Leftover Chicken Wings
Leftovers can be enjoyed cold, but if you prefer them heated you can pop them in the air fryer at 350°F for 5-6 minutes to warm them up.
They can also be placed in an oven-safe dish, covered with foil and heated in a 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes.

More Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Printable Recipe

Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds split chicken wings about 16 pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt or ¼ teaspoon table salt
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Dry the chicken wings by blotting them with a paper towel and place in a large bowl.
- Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.
- In a small bowl, mix the baking powder, smoked paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder and salt.
- Sprinkle half of the seasoning on the chicken, toss to coat, then add the remaining seasoning and toss again.
- Place the wings in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Set the air fryer to 380°F and cook for 18 minutes.
- Remove the wings from the air fryer and place in a bowl. Add the BBQ sauce, toss to coat, then return the wings to the air fryer.
- Set the air fryer to 380°F and cook 4-5 minutes longer until the BBQ sauce is sticky and caramelized.
- Serve with Ranch, Blue cheese, or BBQ sauce for dipping as desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.