Seed Oil Free Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Wings
Crispy, golden wings with a bright, buttery lemon pepper sauce — this air fryer recipe delivers everything you want from a classic wing night without a drop of vegetable, canola, or seed-based oil in sight. The secret to that shatteringly crisp skin is baking powder, which draws out moisture and helps the skin blister beautifully in the air fryer without any frying oil at all. Once the wings come out hot and golden, they get tossed in a simple sauce of real unsalted butter, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and coarsely cracked black pepper — clean, recognizable ingredients from start to finish. Most restaurant wings and even store-bought sauces are loaded with industrial seed oils, so making these at home puts you fully in control of what goes on your plate. The air fryer does the heavy lifting here, circulating heat to get that deep, crackling exterior that usually only comes from a deep fryer. Finished with a scatter of fresh parsley and a squeeze of lemon, these wings are punchy, satisfying, and genuinely hard to stop eating.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 2 lbs chicken wings, split into flats and drumettes, tips removed
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
For the lemon pepper sauce
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
- 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
For serving
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)
- lemon wedges, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Pat the chicken wings thoroughly dry with paper towels. In a large mixing bowl, toss the wings with the baking powder, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and garlic powder until evenly coated.
- 2
Preheat the air fryer to 400°F (205°C) for 3 minutes. Arrange the wings in a single layer in the air fryer basket, leaving a little space between each piece — work in two batches if needed to avoid crowding.
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