I finally understand why my chicken wings were coming out rubbery

It took me like 6 months to figure out what I was doing wrong with wings in the air fryer. Everyone kept saying just toss them in and cook at 400 for 25 minutes. But mine always came out with that weird chewy skin instead of crispy. I noticed it was because I was piling them up too high in the basket. The air needs to move around each piece or it just steams instead of fries. Now I do them in batches of 8 to 10 wings max and pat them dry with paper towels first. Total game changer. Has anyone else dealt with that wet skin problem and found a fix?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagew503d ago

Wait wait wait hold on. You're telling me you went SIX months eating rubbery wings before you figured that out? That's dedication honestly because I would have given up after like two tries. Patting them dry is huge though nobody talks about that enough. The air fryer is basically a tiny convection oven so if the air can't move it's just a sad steam bath in there. My husband used to just throw a whole pound of frozen wings in and wonder why they came out like shoe leather.

perez.willow3d ago

Honestly the point about patting them dry is the biggest thing that stuck with me. I read somewhere that moisture is the enemy of crispiness because water has to evaporate before the skin can actually brown, so if you skip that step you're basically steaming them first. Makes total sense why yours came out chewy when you had them piled up and wet at the same time.