Kasim Hardaway

Who doesn't love a flavorful batch of crispy chicken wings? Bone-in or boneless, I'll enjoy both, & so will you with this e-cookbook. It's the first volume of my love letter to all things crispy & poultry-based. 

With it, you get 5 original wings recipes, including my all-time fave––garlicky, salt, vinegar & ranch wings, as well as 5 original chicken bite recipes. Yes, original. love to stress the originality of my recipes. Each requires hours of brainstorming, recipe development + testing in addition to shooting + editing the visual content. They are created from scratch with intention & innovation in mind. 

Now onto the recipes, for the crispiest wings & bites, each recipe features two essentials: 

(1) baking powder –– its alkaline properties raise the pH of the chicken skin's protein resulting in a crispier end result. It also helps to draw out excess moisture aiding in that process.

(2) air fryer –– if you don't have one, stop & get one asap. I would attribute 70% of the work to my air fryer, it is a total game changer. 

If you've made it this far, thank you for indulging me & I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I enjoyed creating them.


all things wings volume I.

If you love a good martini, you’ll love my extra dirty martini wings.

Inspired by the timeless cocktail but given a savory backdrop, this recipe is a show-stopper. It features an ‘extra dirty’ martini sauce made with the olive trio: whole olives, olive oil & olive brine. A splash of botanical gin, sprigs of rosemary & dijon mustard help round out the flavor profile.

Enjoy with or without a martini & serve with blue cheese or the extra dirty martini sauce for dipping. 

Extra Dirty Martini Wings 

Pat the wings dry, add to a ziploc bag & cover with olive brine. Shake to coat wings. Refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours.

In a bowl, combine baking powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garlic powder & black pepper. Set aside.

Remove wings from brine & pat completely dry. Add to a bowl & drizzle with avocado oil. Toss. Sprinkle with seasoning mix. Toss again. Place wings in air fryer, at 205°C for 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through–you want them extra crispy. While chicken is frying, prepare dirty martini sauce.

Pour 1/2 to 3/4th of sauce over fried wings. Toss to coat. Serve immediately alongside blue cheese dip or the extra dirty martini sauce.

To a food processor, add all ingredients. Blend until well combined. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

sprigs rosemary, stems removed + roughly chopped

This recipe was fully inspired by the oleato line at Starbucks –– velvety smooth coffee beverages infused with Sicilian Partanna EVOO.

I thought it would be fun to create wings with that flavor profile in mind. 

The wings are coated in a savory coffee rub, air fried to crisp perfection then tossed in a silky oleato (coffee + evoo) sauce. Truly some of the best & most flavorful wings I’ve ever made.



Smoky Oleato Wings

Make the coffee rub by combining all of the ingredients. Set aside. Pat the wings dry. Lightly drizzle with oil. Coat with baking powder followed by 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons of coffee rub. Ensure that the wings are well coated.

Place the wings in an air-fryer at 205°C for 15-20 minutes, flipping them halfway through. While the wings cook, prepare the oleato sauce. Add the wings to a bowl, drizzle with sauce & toss well to coat. Pair with ranch or your favorite dipping sauce.

In a skillet, melt the butter on low heat, add coffee rub & combine. Remove from heat & add olive oil. Whisk well to combine. Add additional dry rub and/or salt, to taste.

Growin’ up one of my guilty pleasures was dipping salt & vinegar chips in ranch–& today I bring it to you in chicken wing form: garlicky salt, vinegar + ranch (GSVR) chicken wings.

My favorite part of this recipe? The sauce. It's a tangy, punchy concoction of ranch seasoning mix, malt vinegar, white vinegar, flaky salt & dill.

Garlicky Salt, Vinegar & Ranch Chicken Wings

Pat the wings dry, add to a ziploc bag & pour in three-fourths of the marinade. Shake to coat wings. Refrigerate for 6 hours, or up to overnight.

Remove the wings from the marinade & gently pat them dry. Add the wings to a new ziploc bag, pour in dry rub & shake until the wings are well coated. Place wings in the air-fryer at 400°F for 15-20 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Add the wings to a bowl, drizzle with leftover sauce & toss well to coat.

Garnish with additional flaky sea salt & fresh dill. Serve with ranch for dipping.

Combine all of the marinade / sauce ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until well combined. Set aside.

Combine all of the ingredients for the dry rub in a bowl. Whisk until well combined.

Say hello to my agave, jalapeño & lime (AJL) wings! They’re tangy, a bit spicy & subtly sweet.

While the key ingredients are agave, jalapeño & lime, chipotle (flakes & powder) play a supporting role adding a hint of smokiness.

Agave, Jalapeno & Lime Wings

In a bowl, combine baking powder, onion powder, chipotle chili powder, garlic powder, pepper & salt. Set aside. Pat wings completely dry, add to a bowl & drizzle with avocado oil. Toss. Sprinkle with seasoning mix. Toss again.

Place wings in air fryer at 205°C for 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through–you want them extra crispy. While chicken is frying, prepare AJL butter sauce.

In a sauce pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add in jalapeno, garlic, chipotle chili flakes, lime zest, lime juice & agave. Whisk well. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Pour sauce over wings & toss. Serve hot & garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.

These wings are a part of my soulful sunday series — celebrating everything black & delicious.

I wanted to create a dish that celebrated the rich diversity that is Africa & a culinary poem unifying it in one bite ✊🏾

These Pan-African wings include spices from all over the continent featuring Nigerian crayfish powder, Cameroonian poivre de penja & dark muscavado sugar from Mauritius. They're air-fried to perfection then tossed in a savory, spiced palm oil. Instead of a butter-based sauce, I mixed a bit of the spice rub with palm oil, creating another ode to Africa.

And of course, wings aren't complete without a dipping sauce. Included in the recipe is a 10 minute peri-peri dipping sauce. If you've had a traditional peri-peri sauce, my rendition packs a little less heat.

I wanted to ensure that the flavor of the wings could shine through.


Pan-African Wings with Peri Peri Sauce

Make the dry rub by combining all of the ingredients. Set aside. Pat the wings dry. Lightly drizzle with oil (1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons). Coat with baking powder followed by 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons of dry rub. Ensure that the wings are well coated.

Place the wings in air-fryer at 400°F for 15-20 minutes, flipping them halfway through. While the wings cook, prepare the wing sauce. In a skillet, melt the palm oil on low heat, add dry rub & combine. Add the wings to a bowl, drizzle with sauce & toss well to coat.

Roughly chop the red pepper & onion then broiled until charred. Roughly chop & set aside. Heat oil in a skillet & sauté garlic with paprika for 4 minutes. Add to a blender along with all of the other ingredients. Blend until smooth.

dark muscovado sugar (sub dark brown sugar)

The most bangin’ bang bang chicken bites –– air fried to crisp perfection, tossed in a 4 ingredient bang-bang sauce then garnished with fresh chives! 



Bang Bang Chicken Bites

Slice three chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes. Set aside. Set up a dredging station: in a bowl whisk the eggs & in another bowl mix the panko, cornstarch & spices. Dip the chicken into the egg then panko mix; ensure that all sides of the chicken are well coated. Air fry the chicken at 190°C for 15 minutes. Prepare sauce while chicken cooks.

Once cooked, drizzle chicken bites with bang bang sauce. Toss well to coat. Garnish with chives & flaky salt, if desired.

In a bowl whisk together all ingredients until well combined.

Growin’ up one of my guilty pleasures was dipping salt & vinegar chips in ranch–& today I bring it to you in chicken bite form: garlicky salt, vinegar + ranch (GSVR) chicken bites.

It may sound familiar because it’s a variation of my viral GSVR wings.

My favorite part of this recipe? The sauce. It's a tangy, punchy concoction of ranch seasoning mix, malt vinegar, white vinegar, flaky salt & dill.

Garlicky Salt, Vinegar & Ranch Chicken Bites

Slice three chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes. Set aside. Set up a dredging station: in a bowl whisk the eggs & in another bowl mix the panko, cornstarch & spices. Dip the chicken into the egg then panko mix; ensure that all sides of chicken are well coated. Air fry the chicken at 375°F for 13 minutes.

While the chicken is air frying, make salt-vinegar & ranch sauce. In a bowl, mix all of the vinegar ingredients until well combined. Lightly drizzle sauce over wings & toss. Air fry again at 375°F for 8 minutes.

If desired, drizzle the bites with sauce again & toss. Garnish with fresh dill & chives. Finish with flaky salt & serve alongside ranch for dipping.

These agave, chipotle & lime chicken bites are tangy, smoky & subtly sweet. When I first developed this recipe, I inhaled the first batch in minutes.

To cut through the heat, I whipped up a simple 6-ingredient chipotle aioli. It layers on the smokiness without setting your tastebuds ablaze. 

Agave, Chipotle & Lime Chicken Bites

Slice three chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes. Set aside. Set up dredging station: in a bowl whisk eggs & in another bowl mix panko, cornstarch, salt + pepper, garlic powder & smoked paprika. Dip the chicken into egg then panko mix; ensure all sides of the chicken are well coated. Air fry chicken at 375°F for 13 minutes.

While chicken is air frying, make agave-chipotle lime glaze. In a bowl, mix agave, adobo sauce, lime juice, chipotle chili flakes & 3 tablespoons of water. Dunk the chicken into glaze & give it a quick toss. Air fry again at 375°F for 8 minutes.

While the chicken is air frying, add all ingredients for chipotle aioli to a food processor. Process until smooth. Season with additional salt & lime juice to taste.

Drizzle the chicken bites with agave & serve alongside chipotle aioli.

Meet your new bff: my honey sesame chicken bites. They’re crispy, saucy & so dang easy to whip up. From start to finish, the recipe only requires 15 minutes of your time.

The honey sesame glaze will be your new go-to sauce. It’s savory, sweet & only requires 4 ingredients — most of which are pantry staples.

Goma dare, a Japanese sesame sauce, is served alongside the bites as a dip. It’s creamy, umami packed & comes together in a couple of minutes.

Honey-Sesame Chicken Bites

Slice three chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes. Set aside. Set up a dredging station: in a bowl whisk eggs & in another bowl mix panko, pepper & garlic powder. Dip the chicken into the egg then the panko mix; ensure that all sides of the chicken are well coated. Air fry the chicken at 375°F for 13 minutes.

While the chicken is air frying, prepare honey-sesame glaze. Dunk the chicken into the glaze & give it a quick toss. Air fry again at 375°F for 3 minutes.

Drizzle the chicken bites with additional honey sesame sauce & garnish with sesame seeds. Serve alongside goma dare.

In a pan over medium heat, combine the honey, sesame oil, tamari & rice wine vinegar. Bring to a boil then reduce heat & simmer for 2 minutes. Allow to slightly cool before tossing with chicken.

While the chicken is air frying, add all of the ingredients for the goma dare to a bowl & mix until well combined.

Spice up ya life with my 5-spice chili crunch chicken bites!

Like all of my chicken bite recipes, it comes together in no time: 15 minutes is all you need to air fry the chicken, whip up my chili-crunch sesame sauce for tossing & a 5-spice yum yum sauce for dipping.

If you're unfamiliar with 5-spice it is a Chinese spice blend whose ingredients vary greatly from region to region but typically includes star anise, fennel seeds, szechuan pepper, clove & cinnamon.

It has a subtle sweetness while also being earthy with a hint of a licorice flavor. Paired with the chili crunch-sesame sauce, the flavor of these bites is out of this world.

5-Spice Chili Crunch Chicken Bites 

Slice three chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes. Set aside. Set up a dredging station: in a bowl whisk the eggs & in another bowl mix the panko, cornstarch & spices. Dip the chicken into the egg then panko mix; ensure that all sides of the chicken are well coated. Air fry the chicken at 375°F for 15 minutes. Prepare sauces while chicken cooks.

Once cooked, drizzle chicken bites with chili crunch-sesame sauce. Toss well to coat.  Serve alongside yum yum sauce.

In a bowl whisk together, chili crunch & sesame oil until well combined. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, ketchup, five spice, smoked paprika, garlic powder, rice wine vinegar & water. If you prefer a thinner sauce, add additional water. Chill for 5-15 minutes.