Korean-Style Air Fryer Wings (Yangnyeom)

Tempo

22 min

Picante

Dificuldade

Fácil

Rende

4porções

Ingredientes

Wings

1 kg

asas de frango (chicken wings), separated into drumettes and flats (discard tips, save for stock)

2 tbsp

cornstarch (amido de milho)

1 tsp

salt

½ tsp

black pepper

1 tbsp

neutral oil

Yangnyeom glaze (sweet-spicy-savory)

3 tbsp

gochujang (Korean chile paste — Liberdade, SP) *(or middle-path: 2 tbsp Cepera Sriracha + 1 tbsp tomato paste + 1 tsp brown sugar + ¼ tsp paprika defumada — different but workable)*

2 tbsp

soy sauce

2 tbsp

brown sugar (or honey)

2 tbsp

rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

1 tbsp

sesame oil

garlic cloves, grated

1 tbsp

fresh ginger, grated

1 tbsp

gochugaru (Korean chile flakes — optional, increases heat)

Garnish

spring onions (cebolinha), thinly sliced

2 tbsp

toasted sesame seeds (gergelim torrado)

Modo de preparo

01**Dry the wings.** Pat very dry with paper towels. Wet wings = no crisp.
02**Coat.** Toss wings in a bowl with cornstarch, salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp neutral oil. The cornstarch is the secret — it absorbs surface moisture and creates the glassy shell.
03**Preheat the basket air fryer to 200°C** (3 min empty).
04**First cook.** Arrange wings in a single layer, skin-side up where possible. **200°C for 12 minutes**, shaking the basket twice (at 4 min and 8 min).
05**Make the glaze while wings cook.** In a small saucepan over low heat, combine all glaze ingredients. Whisk until smooth and bubbling. Simmer 2 min until slightly thickened. Set aside.
06**Second cook (the crisp).** Increase temp to **220°C** if your air fryer goes that high (most do); otherwise stay at 200°C. Cook **10 more minutes**, shaking once. Wings should be **deep mahogany-crisp**, juices run clear, internal temp 75°C+.
07**Glaze immediately.** Tip hot wings into a large bowl. Pour over the warm glaze. Toss vigorously to coat every wing. The glaze will lacquer as the wings cool.
08**Plate.** Pile on a plate. Scatter spring onions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Korean-Style Air Fryer Wings (Yangnyeom)

The famous double-fried Korean wing technique, adapted for the basket air fryer with no oil submersion. The wings come out glassy-crisp from the high-temp circulating heat, then get tossed in a sweet-spicy gochujang glaze that lacquers as it cools.

Heat: 3/5. From gochujang. Easy to scale down.

Tame it

Heat 2: halve the gochujang to 1.5 tbsp + add 1 tbsp tomato paste; skip gochugaru
Heat 1: use only 1 tsp gochujang + 2 tbsp tomato paste + 1 tbsp paprika doce + 1 tsp Cepera Mexicano
Heat 0: make a "soy-honey-garlic" glaze instead — same recipe but no chile components, double the soy + sugar

Sub: bottled chiles only

The gochujang substitute given inline (Cepera Sriracha + tomato paste + sugar + smoked paprika) works. Result is a Korean-leaning glaze rather than authentic yangnyeom, but tastes great.

Serving

Pile of wings, cold beer, side of pickled radish or kimchi to cut the richness. Often eaten with chopsticks because it gets so messy.

Notes

Cornstarch dredge is the basket-air-fryer trick that mimics deep-frying. Without it, the wings are baked rather than fried-feeling.
Glaze AFTER cooking, not before. Sugar in the glaze burns at high temp. Pre-glazed wings = burnt-bitter wings. The trick of double-fry-then-toss is fundamental.
Single layer in basket. Stacked wings steam each other; the bottom layer goes pale and rubbery.
Wings vs drumsticks: this recipe scales to drumsticks (asa de coxa, or full coxa de frango). Cook 4-5 minutes longer in stage 2 for thicker meat.
Storage: glazed wings keep 2 days in fridge. Reheat in basket air fryer at 180°C for 4 minutes — restore crisp.
Freezer kit version: raw wings tossed with cornstarch + salt + pepper + oil can be frozen flat in a single layer (then bagged). Cook from frozen, add 5 min to first stage. Make the glaze fresh.
Wine/beer: cold lager (Korean OB beer if you can find it; otherwise Heineken). Or makgeolli (Korean rice wine) for a cultural match.