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Air Fryer Fried Chicken

4.95 from 689 votes
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This Air Fryer Chicken recipe has had rave reviews from readers for years upon years now- and for good reason! This fried chicken uses no oil and has a crispy, delicious skin over tender chicken meat that your whole family will love!

You’ll love this crispy-skinned air fryer chicken, it’s incredibly satisfying and the recipe is super simple! Don’t forget to also try my air fryer fish recipe or for something totally different, my air fryer eggs!

crispy-skinned air fryer chicken on a white plate
Air Fryer Chicken

How to Make Crispy Air Fryer Chicken

This recipe has a coating on the chicken that makes the skin crispy and perfect!

  • Preheat your air fryer to 390 degrees.
  • Whisk together the flour, salt, and the Old Bay.
  • Dredge the chicken through the flour mixture, then into the egg, then back into the flour mixture again. Shake off excess flour very well.
  • Place the 4 chicken thighs into the bottom of the cooking compartment. Cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.
  • Remove and serve.

flour coated slice of raw chicken dipped in egg on a bowl

Air Fryer Chicken Breasts

Cooking chicken breasts in the fryer is just as easy as cooking any other pieces, except that chicken breast can dry out faster. It’s better to use a batter-like my recipe to seal in the moisture. If you use skin off you can be prepared for dryer chicken, so if you don’t want to eat the skin simply cook the chicken breast with the skin on and then remove it before eating.

  • Prepare the skin-on chicken breasts in the batter according to the recipe
  • Cook the chicken breast in the Air Fryer for 25 minutes depending on how thick the chicken breasts are.
  • If you have large ones they will take longer.
  • Chicken breasts should be cooked until 165 °F.

a box of Philips brand airfryer

How Long Do I Cook Air Fryer Chicken?

These chicken thighs were done in 25 minutes, but it depends on the thickness of the meat, if you are using skin on or skin off and what cut of chicken you are using.

  • Chicken thighs – cook chicken thighs in the Air Fryer for 25-28 minutes until they reach a temperature of 180-185°F. While you can cook them to 165 °F for safety sake,  it’s a widely accepted knowledge among professional cooks that cooking chicken thighs to a higher temperature breaks down the meat fibers more and you end up with more tender chicken thighs.
  • Chicken breasts– cook chicken breast in the Air Fryer for 25 minutes depending on how thick the chicken breasts are. If you have large ones they will take longer. Chicken breasts should be cooked until 165 °F.
  • Chicken tenders – Chicken tenders in the Air Fryer will take only 15-16 minutes to cook, depending on their thickness

close up of crispy-skinned air fryer chicken on a white plate

The Air fryer cooks your food by circulating hot air around it evenly, so that means that for the cooking to happen properly all the surface of your food needs to be exposed to the hot air. I made three chicken thighs in the air fryer and they were perfectly crispy.

Look at how crispy that skin came out! My son devoured these – as 12-year-olds are wont to do – and asked for more! So while I would only place 4 small chicken thighs in the air fryer, this would also work with chicken wings!

The air fryer can only handle a certain capacity – see the manual- so it makes only a small meal, say for two people. You can stack the chicken on its side if you want, just make sure that there is lots of surface area to cook.

four stack of crispy-skinned air fryer chicken in white plate

What I really loved about this air fryer chicken is that I used no grease at all. None. I put the chicken in there and it cooked up beautifully without a drop of grease added.

flour coated raw chicken on the left side and air fry chickens on the right side

The container itself is SO easy to clean.  As you can see, you can fit another chicken thigh or random piece of chicken in there, but you want to make sure that you follow the instructions as to the amount of meat that you can place in there. You simply place the food into this little basket and away you go! It’s so easy!

container with chicken inside the air fryer

Tips and Tricks

  • Some readers put a small bit of water in the bottom of their Air Fryer to prevent smoking, you can try this at your own risk! Apparently putting a little water in the container under the basket can keep the grease from the food from causing smoke.
  • Other readers have sprayed the chicken with cooking spray with good results, but I don’t usually bother as the chicken skin has enough grease in it
  • If you are getting a floury skin, then definitely use the cooking spray on the chicken. That means that the flour isn’t absorbing into your egg layer and that you didn’t have enough moisture.

Recipe Video

Some More Recipes for You to Try:

This recipe uses one of my very favorite seasonings in the world: Old Bay Seasoning. It’s a very East Coast spice mix ( I was SO happy to have it in New Jersey when we visited) but this Alberta girl has been using it for years already. Mike and I will simply sprinkle Old Bay onto our chicken drumsticks and roast them thusly, with nothing else on it. You could easily do the same with the chicken drumsticks in the Phillips Airfryer as well if you want a gluten-free option!

So, who has an air fryer, and what do you think about it? Who has been wanting to try an Air fryer as I have?  Stay tuned for two more posts where I delve into this appliance and really try it out!

Love you more than chocolate,

Karlynn

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Air Fryer Fried Chicken

Delicious "fried" chicken done in an Air Fryer! This air fryer chicken is the best recipe out there!
4.95 from 689 votes
Prep Time
4 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Total Time
29 minutes
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
Chicken
Servings
4
Calories
327
Author
Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients
 

  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 4 small chicken thighs skin on
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
  • cooking spray if desired

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat the Air Fryer to 390 degrees.
  • Whisk together the flour, salt and the Old Bay.
  • Dredge the chicken through the flour mixture, then into the egg, then back into the flour mixture again. Shake off excess flour very well. If you want to, you can spray the chicken with cooking spray lightly at this point, but I don't bother.
  • Place the 4 chicken thighs into the bottom of the AirFryer cooking compartment. Cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.
  • Remove and serve.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Old bay is what makes this so good!

Nutrition Information

Calories: 327kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 21g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 151mg, Sodium: 686mg, Potassium: 321mg, Fiber: 1g, Vitamin A: 1405IU, Calcium: 21mg, Iron: 2.2mg

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

Site Index Air fryer Chicken Chicken breast Chicken thighs Old Bay

Reader Interactions

Comments & Recipe Tips Share a tip or comment!

  1. Jim says

    Made this recipe and followed it to a tea! Simply the best Air Fryer chicken I have had! I found that 22 minutes the chicken was ready. Used Olive Oil spray on my Ninja rack. Turned them over at about 12 minutes.
    I will never buy; KFC, Popeyes, Mary Browns or others again. 4 thighs costs about $2.50 and ingredients another 15 cents.5 stars

    • Karlynn says

      I am so glad that you enjoyed it, we make this chicken all the time! Thanks for letting us know!5 stars

  2. TableFor8 says

    I prepared the recipe as close to written as possible. My family loved it! Great alternative to plain ol’ roasted chicken. I broke down a whole chicken (skin on, bone in) and prepared it as per the recipe. All the cuts came out with a crispy breading and juicy meat! I didn’t have Old Bay and had to mix my own using a copy cat recipe. But I would love to grab some and try the recipe again with the real deal!5 stars

  3. Ezra Rudick says

    This is an awesome and simple recipe! Thank you!5 stars

    • aznnorth says

      Mixed spices brand name. Very familiar in US southern cooking esp used for fry chicken.

  4. Joanne says

    I modified the recipe a bit….soaked the drumsticks, bone in, skin on, in buttermilk, salt, pepper and cayenne for 2 hours and shook off the buttermilk, coated in flour, let sit for 10 minutes, dipped it back into the buttermilk and then again the flour, to make an extra thick crust. Let is sit again for 10 minutes. I cooked for 25 minutes at 375F, and I’m in Canada, so rather than trying to find the Old Bay spice, I just found a recipe on line and mixed it up. I added a bit of Montreal Chicken Spice, I didn’t have seasoned salt? I did spray with coconut oil to make sure all the crust would be nice and crispy. and it turned out amazing.5 stars

    • aznnorth says

      Dont know where you live but Old Bay is available at major grocery chains in Canada. I found 1 liter bottles at No Frills.

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