When it comes to pub grub, finger foods, and game-day goodies, chicken wings always reign supreme. Deep-fried wings were once king, but a new air-fried contender has come to challenge the crown.

To air fry foods successfully, you need to play to your air fryer’s strengths. You can’t prepare foods the same way you would if you were deep frying—at least not if you want the same kind of crispy, crunchy, tender, and juicy results.

So our first step is to dredge and pre-bake the wings. The breading mixture contains baking powder, which raises the pH of the skin, breaks down the proteins, and enhances the Maillard reaction (it will amp up browning when the wings are “fried”). Baking powder also makes the air frying more efficient, because it pulls moisture from the skin, which dries out the surface of the chicken wings, enhancing the final texture and increasing crispiness. Baking hydrates the starches in the flour so they gel, which means that crust will get crispy when air-fried, instead of dried out and sandy. Cooking the wings in a moist environment (created by sealing them in foil) also helps convert collagen into gelatin, which will make the the wings succulent and nearly fall-off-the-bone tender.