Cooking Spray
Thoroughly pat dry the wings.
Combine dry rub marinade ingredients (garlic and onion powder, pepper, and kosher salt) in a small bowl. Then add wings and thoroughly coat and let marinate for at least 15 mins.
While wings are marinating, prepare the sauce in a medium sized bowl by combining the dark brown sugar, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, water and jalapeños. Mix until sugar has dissolved and set aside.
Next, combine the starches and baking soda in a bowl, add the wings, thoroughly coat and dust off as much excess coating as possible before placing the wings in a single layer onto the tray.
Preheat oven or air fryer to 425 degrees.
I ran a test to see which method, air fryer or oven, would provide the crispiest wings. I placed half the wings on an air fryer rack lined with foil and the other half on a baking sheet lined with parchment for the oven and sprayed both with some cooking spray to help with crisping up the wings.
I placed the wings into the oven and air fryer,.When using the oven, I baked for a total of 30 minutes and when using the air fryer, I cooked for 25 minutes, turning the wings over halfway through cooking. The goal is to have golden, crispy wings so cook until this desired result is achieved. What I learned from my test...both cooking methods provide amazing results so go with your preferred method!
Serve immediately by tossing 2 tablespoons of the sauce and the cilantro or thai basil onto the wings. Add more sauce if needed but be careful not to over-sauce because you want to keep the wings as crispy as possible. Any remaining sauce can be served as a dipping sauce on the side.
Tranfer wings to a platter or bowl and dig in immediately!