Boneless Wings
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Make the best homemade Boneless Wings with this easy recipe, featuring my secret ingredient that truly makes these the best boneless chicken wings ever! They’re easy to make in an air fryer, oven, or pan fried, and they’re even better than what you get in a restaurant.
Try this recipe for crispy, boneless buffalo wings at home and never go back to take-out again!
Table of contents
There are people out there that will say you’re either on “team traditional buffalo wings” or “team boneless wings”. I say, I’m on the team of anything that I can toss in buffalo sauce!
While I love a good batch of air fryer chicken wings, there’s just something so satisfying about dunking a saucy boneless wing into a big bowl of blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing.
They’re easy to eat, and luckily, this recipe is also easy to make! You can batter the chicken ahead of time and store it in the fridge or freezer, so anytime you want boneless wings, you can just pop them in the air fryer, oven or fry them up.
When it comes to cooking boneless wings at home, I’m actually a huge fan of using the air fryer or oven. It’s less messy, healthier, and with this recipe, it’s just as crispy and delicious, as fried boneless wings!
While I love tossing boneless wings in buffalo sauce, (I have been nicknamed “the queen of buffalo sauce” and have over 70 recipes with buffalo sauce to prove why!) you can also toss these wings with other sauces, like bbq sauce, garlic parmesan sauce or general tso’s sauce.
This recipe for boneless wings has been tested and perfected in my kitchen, so it’s ready for your next game day party, afternoon snack or weeknight meal!
Ingredients
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – the difference between chicken nuggets and boneless wings (because I know you’re curious!) is that chicken nuggets are usually composed of ground chicken formed into a nugget shape. Boneless wings consist of pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into wing size pieces.
- Eggs – you’ll need 4 large eggs to make the egg wash to bread the boneless wings.
- All-purpose flour – for breading the boneless wings.
- Chicken wing seasoning – the SECRET INGREDIENT that makes these better than any other boneless wings you’ve ever had! Click the link above to whip up this simple 6 ingredient seasoning mix that adds so much flavor to these boneless buffalo wings. The combination of chili powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and cayenne pepper is perfect for this recipe!
- Panko breadcrumbs – to bread the boneless wings and give them an extra crispy texture!
- Cooking spray – if air frying or baking the boneless wings, I always recommend spraying them with cooking spray first, so they get brown and crispy on the outside. If pan frying the boneless chicken wings, you’ll need 1 cup (or more) canola oil or vegetable oil. The section below on “how to pan fry the chicken” will go into more detail on this.
- Buffalo sauce (optional) – these boneless wings are so crispy and flavorful, you might just want to dig into them without sauce. But I will say, to get the full buffalo boneless wing experience, you’ll want to toss them in buffalo sauce. I love Frank’s, but feel free to use your favorite brand of buffalo hot sauce.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Bread the chicken
- Prepare the breading station. Whisk 4 large eggs in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, add all purpose flour. In the final shallow bowl, add panko breadcrumbs.
- Season the chicken. Cut the boneless skinless chicken breasts into approximately 1 inch cubes. Toss the cubes of chicken with the chicken wing seasoning, until they’re fully covered.
- Bread the chicken. Start by placing each piece of seasoned chicken in the egg mixture. Once it’s fully covered in the egg, allow any excess to drip off before transferring the chicken to the bowl of flour. Cover the chicken completely in the flour, then add it back to the bowl of whisked eggs. Once fully covered in the egg again, dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs, pressing down slightly on all sides to make sure the chicken is fully covered in the breadcrumbs. Transfer the breaded chicken to a cutting board, then repeat with all of the remaining pieces of chicken.
Air fry the chicken
- Add the boneless chicken wings to an air fryer basket, making sure there’s room around each piece of chicken for the air to circulate.
- Spray the boneless wings with cooking spray, then cook at 400°F for 4 minutes.
- Open the air fryer, flip the chicken, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
Bake the chicken
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. If your oven has a convection setting, I recommend using that.
- Place the pieces of breaded chicken on a wire rack, on top of a foil-lined baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Because you’re cooking them on a wire rack, you don’t need to flip them throughout the cooking process. If you’re cooking them directly on a baking sheet, I recommend flipping them halfway through the cooking time.
Pan fry the chicken
If you prefer fried boneless wings, you can either deep fry them if you have a deep fryer at home, or pan fry them. To pan fry them, follow these instructions.
- Add enough canola oil (or vegetable oil) to a large skillet, so that you have 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom of the pan. The amount of oil will vary depending on how large of a pan you’re using. I recommend starting with 1 cup of oil, then adding more if needed.
- Place the pan of oil on the stove over medium-high heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces in batches, making sure there’s room around each piece of chicken. If you overcrowd the pan with chicken, it won’t cook properly and get crispy on the outside.
- Fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes per side.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the boneless wings from the oil when they’re golden brown and transfer them to a wire rack, with paper towels underneath the rack. This will allow any excess oil to drip off the pieces of chicken through the wire rack, and will keep the chicken nice and crispy while you pan fry the remaining batches of chicken.
Sauce the chicken
After all of the chicken is cooked, place the boneless wings in a large bowl. Pour room-temperature, or warm buffalo sauce over the boneless wings in the bowl and use tongs to gently toss them in the sauce, until they’re fully covered.
Do not sauce the boneless wings until you’re ready to eat them. Once sauced, the wings should be eaten immediately or they will get soggy, and lose their deliciously crispy texture.
In addition to buffalo sauce, you can toss the wings with bbq sauce, garlic parmesan sauce, white bbq sauce, or general tso’s sauce.
What’s the best way to cook boneless wings?
- Fastest: the oven is the fastest way to cook boneless wings, since you’re able to cook dozens of wings at a time. If you’re looking for a fast way to cook a bunch of boneless chicken wings, definitely go with the oven!
- Best texture: honestly, I have to say it’s a tie on this one. Usually pan fried food wins in the texture department, but using my perfected methods for breading and cooking the wings in the air fryer and oven, gives them just as good (if not better) texture than frying them!
- Best overall: I have to go with a tie between the oven and air fryer. The air fryer is perfect for making a smaller batch of boneless wings with a great texture. And they’re much healthier than fried wings. The oven is perfect for making a big batch of boneless wings with great texture. They’re just slightly less crispy than the air fryer.
What to serve with them
Boneless wings are delicious served with blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping, and celery sticks and carrots on the side. This makes an awesome party or game day appetizer!
If you want to serve the boneless wings as a meal, I recommend pairing them with any of these side dishes.
Recipe tips
- When breading chicken, always use one hand for the wet ingredients and one hand for the dry ingredients. This will prevent clumping, keep your hands from becoming coated in the breading, and it will help keep the breading ingredients separated. My Dad taught me this trick growing up, making his famous Captain Crunch Fried Chicken together!
- Do not toss the chicken in the sauce until you’re ready to eat it! If you plan to eat the chicken in batches, just toss however much you want to eat in the sauce, and save the rest for later. After the chicken is tossed in the sauce, it needs to be eaten quickly, or it will loose it’s wonderfully crispy texture!
- Do not toss the boneless wings with cold sauce. That will cool down the wings. Instead, either place the sauce on the counter before you start this recipe to warm it up to room temperature, or microwave the sauce for 30 seconds before tossing it with the boneless wings.
- To make gluten free boneless wings, replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend, or rice flour. Use gluten-free panko breadcrumbs, instead of traditional panko.
Storage and reheating
This recipe makes approximately 5 dozen boneless chicken wings. Battered, uncooked boneless wings can be stored in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
The frozen boneless wings can be cooked directly from frozen in the air fryer or oven. In the air fryer, add 2 minutes to the cooking time. So the boneless wings will need to cook for 5 minutes per side at 400°F.
If cooking them in the oven, add 2 minutes to the cooking time, for a total of 14 minutes at 425°F.
Cooked, boneless wings (that have not been sauced) can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Reheat them in the air fryer at 400°F for 2-3 minutes to keep them crispy, or in the oven at 425°F for 4-5 minutes.
I do not recommend microwaving cooked boneless wing leftovers, as they’ll lose their crispy texture. I also don’t recommend saving any sauced boneless wings, for the same reason. Once the wings are sauced, they should be eaten immediately.
More game day recipes
Make these boneless wings part of an epic game day spread by pairing them with these other delicious appetizers!
Boneless Wings
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, whisked
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons chicken wing seasoning, click link for the recipe
- cooking spray
- 1 cup buffalo sauce, optional
Instructions
Bread the chicken.
- Whisk 4 large eggs in a shallow bowl.
- In another shallow bowl, add the all-purpose flour.
- In a third large shallow bowl, add the panko breadcrumbs.
- Cut the chicken breasts into approximately 1 inch cubes.
- Toss the cubes of chicken with the chicken wing seasoning, until they’re fully covered.
- Place each piece of seasoned chicken in the egg wash.
- Once it’s fully covered in the egg, allow any excess to drip off before transferring the chicken to the bowl of flour.
- Cover the chicken completely in the flour, then add it back to the bowl of whisked eggs.
- Once fully covered in the egg again, dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs, pressing down slightly on all sides to make sure the chicken is fully covered in the breadcrumbs.
- Transfer the breaded chicken to a cutting board, then repeat with all of the remaining pieces of chicken.
- Once all of the chicken is breaded, either air fry, oven bake, or pan fry the boneless wings.
Air fry the chicken.
- Add the boneless chicken wings to an air fryer basket, making sure there’s room around each piece of chicken for the air to circulate.
- Spray the boneless wings with cooking spray, then cook at 400°F for 4 minutes.
- Open the air fryer, flip the chicken, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
Bake the chicken.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. If your oven has a convection setting, I recommend using that.
- Place the pieces of breaded chicken on a wire rack, on top of a foil-lined baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Because you’re cooking them on a wire rack, you don’t need to flip them throughout the cooking process. If you’re cooking them directly on a baking sheet, I recommend flipping them halfway through the cooking time.
Pan fry the chicken.
- Add enough canola oil (or vegetable oil) to a large skillet, so that you have 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom of the pan. The amount of oil will vary depending on how large of a pan you’re using. I recommend starting with 1 cup of oil, then adding more if needed.
- Place the pan of oil on the stove over medium-high heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces in batches, making sure there’s room around each piece of chicken. If you overcrowd the pan with chicken, it won’t cook properly and get crispy on the outside.
- Fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes per side.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the boneless wings from the oil when they’re golden brown and transfer them to a wire rack, with paper towels underneath the rack. This will allow any excess oil to drip off the pieces of chicken through the wire rack, and will keep the chicken nice and crispy while you pan fry the remaining batches of chicken.
Sauce the chicken (optional).
- After all of the chicken is cooked, place the boneless wings in a large bowl.
- Pour room-temperature, or warm buffalo sauce over the boneless wings in the bowl and use tongs to gently toss them in the sauce, until they’re fully covered.
- Do not sauce the boneless wings until you’re ready to eat them. Once sauced, the wings should be eaten immediately or they will get soggy, and lose their deliciously crispy texture.
- Serve the wings with blue cheese, or ranch dressing for dipping, if you'd like.
Notes
- Sauce options: in addition to buffalo sauce, you can toss the wings with bbq sauce, garlic parmesan sauce, white bbq sauce, or general tso’s sauce.
- When breading chicken, always use one hand for the wet ingredients and one hand for the dry ingredients. This will prevent clumping, keep your hands from becoming coated in the breading, and it will help keep the breading ingredients separated. My Dad taught me this trick growing up, making his famous Captain Crunch Fried Chicken together!
- Do not toss the boneless wings with cold sauce. That will cool down the wings. Instead, either place the sauce on the counter before you start this recipe to warm it up to room temperature, or microwave the sauce for 30 seconds before tossing it with the boneless wings.
- To make gluten free boneless wings, replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend, or rice flour. Use gluten-free panko breadcrumbs, instead of traditional panko.
- This recipe makes approximately 5 dozen boneless chicken wings. Battered, uncooked boneless wings can be stored in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- The frozen boneless wings can be cooked directly from frozen in the air fryer or oven. In the air fryer, add 2 minutes to the cooking time. So the boneless wings will need to cook for 5 minutes per side at 400°F. If cooking them in the oven, add 2 minutes to the cooking time, for a total of 14 minutes at 425°F.
- Cooked, boneless wings (that have not been sauced) can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Reheat them in the air fryer at 400°F for 2-3 minutes to keep them crispy, or in the oven at 425°F for 4-5 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
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