When frying breaded spicy wings, how do I keep oil from degrading?!

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You can't. Toss the oil out after 2-3 batches. You can pour it into a colander lined with paper towels to remove some impurities, but the flavor won't be the same as with fresh oil.

Home cook

High heat was your enemy here. Different oils have different smoking points. In other words, some oils can handle high temperatures better than others. If you cook with regular vegetable oil (soy), get your temperature up slow (med to med-high), it will just as effectively cook your wings.
Peanut oil and Grapeseed oil are well known for having a high smoking point. They can tolerate high temperatures longer. Lard (or bacon dripping) is even more effective in this regard.
Eventually all oil will break down. Just choose a good oil for what you are preparing and watch your temp.

The only way to keep this from happening is to wipe out the crumbs before starting the next batch. It's the crumbs that burn that are making the oil black and old looking. It's a pain in the butt to do, but that's about the only way to do it! Or try lowering the heat, it will take longer for them to fry, but hopefully the crumbs won't burn as much...oil for frying should be at 350 degrees F. any lower and your wings will absorb too much oil and be too greasy.

I would try using a heavier pan than aluminum if you have it. A thermometer is really almost essential to get the right temperature on the oil too. Do you have an electric fry pan or an electric wok? I use my wok for deep frying and set it to 375 degrees. Also make sure you are doing small batches at a time. Too many items in the oil at once will reduce the oil temperature. Making sure excess crumbs are shaken off the wings before placing them in the oil will help too.

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