Abstract: The effects of water retaining agents and marination methods on the water-holding capacity (WHC) of microwave spicy chicken wings were explored in this study, and it provided a full theoretical framework for the study of WHC in microwave-type seasoned meat products. The optimal formulation of water retention agent was investigated in this research with the addition of complex phosphate, k-carrageenan, and maltodextrin as influencing factors and pH, myogenic fibrin hydration characteristics, shear force, centrifugal loss rate and microwave loss rate as indexes. After optimization, the optimal water retention agent formulation was 0.33% of compound phosphate, 0.21% of k-carrageenan, and 0.24% of maltodextrin, with pH, solubility, hydrophobicity, shear force, centrifugal loss rate and microwave loss rate of chicken wings being 6.34, 57.29%, 25.76 μg, 25.76 N, 19.06%, and 24.57%, respectively, and the normalized composite scores reached a maximum value of 0.9846. A static marination group was used as a blank control, and indicators such as marinade absorption rate, yield, sensory scores and moisture distribution were used to study the effect of marination methods on the water retention of chicken wings. When the marination time was increased to 2 h, the absorption rate of marinade, yield, sensory scores, P₂₁, and P in the tumbling marination group increased by 56.44%, 7.56%, 10.73%, 10.18%, and 14.95%, respectively, when compared to the static marination group, and the relaxation time T₂₁ was 25.708 and 21.465 ms in the static and tumbling marination groups, respectively, indicating that the water retention of the tumbled-cured chicken wings was greatly improved. The microwave spicy chicken wings produced under these conditions were moderately firm, elastic, and tender.