Healthy Air Fryer Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings
Today, I share my healthy version of CRISPY Vietnamese Chicken Wings tossed in a sour and savory garlic sauce – using the air fryer. You NEED to give these refreshing and crispy Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings a try; they are perfect for the summer! If you love wings but want to eat healthy, you still can enjoy these tart, crispy Air Fried Vietnamese wings.
Vietnamese Inspired Fried Chicken Wings
This recipe is inspired by my favorite restaurant in Vancouver – Phnom Penh! Their Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings is the best out there. I had to make my own, but without all the deep frying. This Air Fried Vietnamese Chicken Wings has all the best qualities of those wings I love, with less of the grease!
These Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings pair perfectly with a side of rice, salad, or steamed veggies. Or, as a snack with a can of beer. If you don’t mind multiple batches, they’re also a great option for a potluck dish!
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Chicken Wings and Drumettes
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 0.5 tbsp Garlic Powder
- Salt and Pepper to season
- 1/2 cup Rice Flour
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Oil
Sauce
- 6 cloves Garlic minced
- 3 tbsp Fish Sauce
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 0.5 tbsp Chicken Powder
- 1 tsp White Pepper optional
- 2 Lime’s Juice
- Cilantro
What Makes Vietnamese Chicken Wings Extra Crunchy?
I am using baking powder today to give these Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings an extra crunch. Baking powder has Alkaline, which helps the chicken, brown and crisps up faster. Adding a little bit goes a long way. When I am not deep frying, I always add a pinch of baking powder to give the wings an extra crunch.
Air Fry For Healthy Crispy Wings
Who says healthy food can’t taste good? Since my wedding is just around the corner, I am inspired to make healthy dishes that also taste amazing! Everyone’s definition of “HEALTHY” is different; for me, healthy means less sugar, more whole foods, and no deep-frying. With this recipe, it takes 12 minutes to get the crispiest chicken wings – without getting splattered with oil or having to baby sit each piece!
You can adjust my recipes based on your dietary restrictions as well. For example, if you are cutting out sugar, I recommend using monk sugar. This recipe uses rice flour, so it’s already gluten-free.
The Most Addicting Vietnamese Chicken Wing Sauce
These Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings are tossed in an extra flavorful sauce that makes this recipe so addicting! All you need is fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, ALOT of garlic, chicken powder, chili flakes, and cilantro. If you never worked with fish sauce before and are intimidated by the smell, don’t worry! The sugar cuts out the saltiness of the fish sauce, and the garlic and lime juice gives it a refreshing kick. Fish sauce provides the dish with the ultimate umami flavor that will get you craving for more!
How To Make Air Fried Vietnamese Chicken Wings
- Mix chicken wings, baking powder, garlic powder, cornstarch, fish sauce, oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Make sure that every piece of chicken is coated in rice flour; add more if needed.
- Preheat the air-fryer to 350F for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, spray the air fryer to prevent the chicken from sticking, and add in the chicken. Spray oil on top of the chicken (optional), and fry at 350F for 12 minutes.
Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to do this in batches. Leave space between the chicken so it can be crispy up easier. - After 12 minutes, toss the chicken around, spray a little more oil (optional) and bring the temperature up to 400F to fry for another 10-15 minutes. Every air fryer is slightly different, so keep an eye out to prevent it from burning.
- Add minced garlic, fish sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, chicken powder, white pepper (optional), and lime juice in a large mixing bowl. Mix and taste; if you find the fish sauce too salty, add in a little bit more sugar.
- Once the chicken is fried, add the chicken to the sauce and toss with chopped cilantro.
Make it a MEAL with some delicious and HEALTHY sides that I promise you will love,
- Two Types of Asian Cucumber Salad (Spicy Garlic, Sweet and Sour)
- Air Fryer Lemongrass Chicken with THE BEST Scallion Oil
- Lemon Honey Syrup – Daily Detox or Friday Night Cocktails
- Pan-Fried Mackeral (Healthy 10 Minute Recipe)
- Shrimp and Egg Stir-fry (10 Minutes ONLY!)
Vietnamese Inspired Chicken Wings
By Tiffy Cooks
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Chicken Wings and Drumettes
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 0.5 tbsp Garlic Powder
- Salt and Pepper to season
- 1/2 cup Rice Flour
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Oil
Sauce
- 6 cloves Garlic minced
- 3 tbsp Fish Sauce
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 0.5 tbsp Chicken Powder
- 1 tsp White Pepper optional
- 2 Lime’s Juice
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Mix chicken wings, baking powder, garlic powder, rice flour, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Make sure that every piece of chicken is coated in rice flour; add more if needed.
- Preheat the air-fryer to 350F for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, spray the air fryer to prevent the chicken from sticking, and add in the chicken. Spray on some oil on top of the chicken (optional), and fry at 350F for 12 minutes.
- Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to do this in batches. Leave some space in between the chicken so it can be crispy up easier.
- After 12 minutes, toss the chicken around, spray a little more oil (optional) and bring the temperature up to 400F to fry for another 10-15 minutes. Every air fryer is slightly different, so keep an eye out to prevent it from burning.
- Add minced garlic, fish sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, chicken powder, white pepper (optional), and lime juice in a large mixing bowl. Mix and taste; if you find the fish sauce too salty, add in a little bit more sugar.
- Once the chicken is fried, add the chicken to the sauce and toss with chopped cilantro.
These wings are amazing!!! Super easy and a must-try. My boyfriend loved them as well and said they were “heavenly”.
These wings are amazing and that sauce. Whole family kids included loved them. They will be on high rotation in our house. Thanks for such a great healthy tasty recipe
Looks delicious! I don’t have rice flour at home — what’s a good substitute?
Corn starch works great as well!
Hello, these wings look great! In the instructions, you mention rice flour, is that supposed to be corn starch? Or is there supposed to be rice flour in the ingredients list? I can’t wait to make these 🙂
hello 🙂
you can use corn starch or rice flour, either works well 🙂 hope you enjoy!!
You mentioned rice flour in step 1 of the instructions but rice flour is not on the ingredient list. Do you mean cornstarch?
Hi, you can you either! sorry for the confusion!
let me know if you give it a try 🙂
Cornstarch or rice flour? Description says latter, ingredients say cornstarch.
either one will work!
Seriously so good. The wings themselves were super crispy and light. My air fryer tends to overdo things often so I just checked often and turned the temp a little lower than the recipe. The sauce was so good. Will be making this over and over for sure. A must try!
If you don’t have to wait an hour to get into Phnom Penh to have these chicken wings then you can make this recipe instead. I followed the recipe exactly and these came out perfect.
Tidy, have you figured out how Phnom Penh makes the sauce that comes with the wings?
Thanks Tiffy for this awesome recipe! A couple questions:
1. Can I use sweet potato starch for this instead of corn starch?
2. Can I use a convection oven (with a metal rack) instead of the air fryer?
Thank you so much in advance!
Hi Larry! You can use rice flour instead of corn starch, I haven’t tried sweet potato starch before, so feel free to experiment and let me know how it goes. For a convection oven, you would probably have to increase the time and temperature of this recipe.
Hi Tiffy!
Would you personally recommend the rice flour or cornstarch for these wings? I’d love to give these a proper try but want to know what you’d recommend! Is there a rice flour brand you’d recommend as I’m also a Vancouver local? 🙂
For this recipe, either one works!
Tiffy you amazing human. These are a family all time favourite. Thank you for sharing all your wonderful experiences with us. Absolutely love how crispy, delicious, fresh and tasty these are. Keep up the way you are xo