Air Fryer Turkey Wings

If you haven’t made dry rub air fryer turkey wings yet you’ve gotta’ try these babies! Using bottled seasoning or our dry rub they are much better than baked, and fast to make. One of many easy air fryer recipes you can enjoy at Thanksgiving time and year round.

You may have wondered how to make these while making our sheet pan turkey last year. The wings aren’t usually what is chosen during the holidays but should NOT be thrown away either. You can get them super crispy with a sweet and savory dry rub on the outside like you see here!

It took a few years before I really did give them a whirl. Before the next holiday started I bought a package at the store and away I went, which led us here. I knew that if they turned out fantastic I could share how to cook turkey wings with all of you. And here we are……

Ninja Foodi Turkey Wings

If you are using this machine you can make Ninja Foodi chicken wings and these too. The temperature and cook time will be the same as any other brand. Just follow the directions in the recipe card below. The only thing you need to remember is that the lid that is attached is used to air crisp and make foods crunchy.

These definitely look different than those off a chicken. They are much larger for sure and kinda’ a funny shape if you find them at the store like this. NO worries, the flavor is just as incredible. Plus they basically are giving these away because not many realize their deliciousness. Your gain y’all….

As with any other meat in air fryer you will want to dry off the skin before adding any sort of seasonings. First though I do like to rinse them off, some like to soak them in a salt/water sort of brine for a bit of time too. It’s really just like air fryer whole chicken wings but a lot bigger as you can see.

Is marinade or dry rub better?

I like this steak dry rub or bottled spicy cajun seasoning the best, but lemon pepper chicken marinade is quite popular too for a soak if you have time to do that. The difference is the texture of the skins. When adding seasonings they will bake on to become crispier than otherwise.

If you are going to add dry seasonings you’ll want to use a few paper towels to dry the skin off first. Getting the excess moisture off is how to bake crispy chicken wings or any other types, every single time. A spray of olive oil a few minutes before the cook time is done will make the skin crunchier too.

I typically don’t like skin on any meat but these are the exception to the rule. The linked cajun goodness in the recipe card below is out of this world for sure.

What Temperature to Cook Turkey Wings in Air Fryer

I actually used the same temp. as our Baked Turkey Wings we made in the oven. 350 F. was perfect. You don’t want the outside skins to burn before the meat in the thickest part gets done and stays tender. What is nice about this is you can lift the lid or open the drawer and check on them often.

How Long to Cook Whole Turkey Wings in Air Fryer

Remember these are quite a bit larger than chicken versions. You will need about 30 minutes to cook all the way thru and get the skin nice and crispy too. If they are separated and not whole wings you may be able to decrease time by 5 minutes.

Frozen Turkey Wings in Air Fryer

In this case you would want to keep the same temperature used here. In the beginning time the heat will help the meat defrost, and then the second half will start the cooking process. You will need to increase the cook time 5 minutes longer during each period, at 350 degrees F and then once you turn it down.

What temperature are turkey wings done?

The safe internal meat temp. should be 165 F in the thickest part. Remember that when you take them out and let them rest the temperature will increase about 5 degrees too so you could take them out just shy of that.

Side dishes

I always like to integrate air fryer corn on the cob or something which takes less than 30 minutes to get done. Garlic mashed potatoes are a great choice.

• If you feel like you need some garlic rolls or air fryer bread with it, you can make that in the same machine before or after these are done too.

We didn’t stop there though. Using a simple mixture of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and Old Bay we went on to make a few air fryer turkey legstoo! Once again these were SO cheap and fed us well for lunch the next day. My husband (who is kinda’ picky) was really surprised at how much he liked these.