Recipe: Thai chicken wings with sticky cashew sauce from the Airfryer

The Airfryer may well be the most popular new kitchen appliance of the past decade. More than 900 million units have already been sold. What few people know is that the Airfryer was invented by a Dutchman. Fred van der Weij designed the very first one. But what exactly can you make in that machine? In his book Masterclass – Airfryer, Bas Robben shares more than 50 of his favorite recipes. Our favorite: the Thai chicken wings with sticky sauce.

You can make almost anything in the Airfryer, as Bas proves in his book. From the most delicious rum cake with walnut-coconut topping to a sweet potato tarte tatin. Yet the appliance still has a bad reputation among culinary snobs. With this book, Bas hopes to change that.

The Tesla of hot-air ovens

Bas: ‘The Airfryer does not deserve the hatred it receives from culinary snobs. Granted, the marketing machines of well-known brands are largely responsible for this themselves by marketing the appliance as a deep-fryer replacement. But the Airfryer is not a hot-air fryer at all. It is the Tesla of hot-air ovens. No home oven can compete with the evenness with which an Airfryer blasts hot air at ingredients from all sides. As a result, nuts, chicken wings and bake-off rolls come out golden brown. It is a fantastic thing.’

To prove exactly how fantastic this thing is, we are sharing the recipe for Thai chicken wings with sticky cashew sauce with you. Believe us: once you have tasted these, you will never want to prepare your chicken any other way again.

How to make Thai chicken wings with sticky cashew sauce

• Pat the chicken wings dry with some paper towels and halve them. Place them in a large bowl and sprinkle with the baking powder and fine salt. Mix well, making sure the baking powder coats as much of the chicken as possible.
• Place a cookie rack in a suitable baking tray and arrange the halved chicken wings on it in a single layer. Refrigerate the wings uncovered for 1 to 2 days. This allows the skin to dry out and become crispier later. For a quicker preparation, you can skip this step.
• Place the cashews in the basket and roast them in the airfryer at 180 °C for about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Empty the basket onto a cutting board and let the cashews cool.
• Arrange the chicken wings as upright as possible along the edge of the airfryer basket, without baking paper underneath. This allows the fat to drain away as effectively as possible and gives the chicken crispy skin.
• Cook the chicken wings at 180 °C for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, grated ginger and chili-garlic sauce in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Place over low heat and slowly bring to a boil (the garlic must not burn).
• Let the sauce thicken slightly for 5 minutes, but it should still be liquid.
• Meanwhile, roughly chop the cashews. Stir in the cashews and turn off the heat.
• Arrange the chicken wings on a serving platter and spoon the sticky cashew sauce over them.