While quality wings are a year round thing, the heady mix of chicken, spices, lime, and cilantro makes for a delicious entry into the summer season. There’s few things that satisfy like chicken grease on your fingers, some friends with cool drinks, happily squealing kids in the yard, and a bright but friendly summer sun.

The air fryer gives me the freedom to relax while the flavorful, tender, and delicious chicken cooks. No grill or oven to hover over and tend to. A generous swim in a well-seasoned marinade, 25 minutes in the air fryer, and then it’s time to enjoy these amazingly juicy, full-flavored citrus and spice chicken wings.

If this marinade isn’t enough to set the mouth to watering, I don’t know what could. The colors alone are eye-catching. This marinade is the key to creating the most delicious wings.

I like to use the three joint wings because they are inexpensive, won’t over or undercook in the air fryer, and limit potential arguments between people’s preferences for flats or drums! The recipe’s marinade mix easily covers 8-10 of these wings, which is good for a couple of pounds of tasty chicken that cook up simply in just one or two batches.

A personal note: before serving, take the wings out a few minutes early to reapply some of the marinade, then pop them back into the air fryer. I’ve found that this not only creates a stickier surface (often a desirable quality in chicken wings) and definitely adds more of that amazing citrus flavor to the finished product.

These air fryer lime cilantro chicken wings are an easier, tastier method of cooking up a brilliant appetizer on game day, or a stress free family dinner if you’re keeping things small and simple. I guarantee that you won’t want to stop licking your fingers!