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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!
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 four chicken thighs into the bottom of the cooking compartment. Cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.
- Remove and serve.
Air Fryer Chicken Breasts
Cooking chicken breasts in the fryer is just as easy as cooking any other pieces, except that chicken breasts 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
- Depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts, cook them in the Air Fryer for 25 minutes.
- If you have large ones, they will take longer.
- Chicken breasts should be cooked until 165 °F.
How Long Do I Cook Air Fryer Chicken?
These chicken thighs were done in 25 minutes, but the time depends on the thickness of the meat, whether you use skin on or skin off, and what cut of chicken you use.
- 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’s 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.
The Air fryer cooks your food by circulating hot air around it evenly, which means that for the cooking to happen properly, all the surfaces of your food need 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 four 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 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 on.
What I loved about this air fryer chicken is that I used no grease. None. I put the chicken in there, and it cooked up beautifully without adding grease.
The container itself is SO easy to clean. As you can see, you can fit another chicken thigh or a random piece of chicken in there, but you want to make sure that you follow the instructions regarding 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!
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 floury skin, then definitely use the cooking spray on the chicken. That means the flour isn’t absorbing into your egg layer and you didn’t have enough moisture.
Here are some More Recipes for You to Try:
- Butter Roasted Chicken – The Only Roast Chicken Recipe You’ll Ever Need Again.
- Better-Than-A-Restaurant Rosemary Lemon Butter Chicken
- Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
- How To Make Homemade Cajun Seasoning
- Baba Ganoush
This recipe uses one of my 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 them. You could also easily do the same with the chicken drumsticks in the Airfryer if you want a gluten-free option!
So, who has an air fryer, and what do you think about it? Who has wanted to try an air fryer like 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
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.
Notes
Nutrition
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Sophie Spataro says
I made this tonite with chicken tenders ( no skin ) but it came out floury and not brown ( some )
So you have any recommendations?
James Smith says
You didn’t shake off the excess flour. There’s no reason it should come out floury. Flour egg flour and shake off the excess. That’s very important
Bob says
I followed the recipe, but it was to well done. need to cut down on the time
Brit says
Two stars for the crispness. But WAY too salty, these were almost inedible. We love salt and I’m always adding more to my dishes, however this was so salty that everyone was picking off the breading to try and salvage the chicken. Old Bay seasoning’s first ingredient is celery salt, so adding an extra teaspoon of salt was overkill. Not to mention that Old Bay is primarily made up of red and black pepper and so this was super spicy for my kiddos. Won’t be making this again.
Lara Vella Wallbank says
To be fair the recipe asked for seasoning salt, which also has garlic and paprika so replacing it with just salt would be too much.
James Smith says
My personal opinion would be that it’s your own fault for not looking at the ingredients of old bay before using it. My kids love Old Bay. Every chef or even mom or dad who cooks for the family should always look at the ingredients before they cook. Just saying….
Cjd says
If I’m making this for 8 people can I keep it warm in the oven and it will stay crispy?
Sarah Locken says
If you put a slice of bread ripped in half under the grill,it will soak up the grease and not make smoke.
Chris says
Amazing recipe thank you! I put double the salt in accidentally but it was brilliant and will do it on purpose next time!
Sonja Lillie says
I do not have a air fryer so can I make this chicken dish in the oven ?
Betty Jo Harmon says
This recipe is just the easiest, quickest and best fried chicken recipe ever! So much flavor from so few ingredients. Comes out juicy and with a nice crust! You’ll never go back to KFC once you make this! Thanks Karlyn! Go Oilers!
Bob says
I followed the recipe, but it was to well done. need to cut down on the time
Cindy B says
This recipe was great! The chicken was crispy and juicy. My thighs must have been larger as I had to cook an additional 12 minutes. I will add more seasoning next time, most likely some cayenne and salt. Thank you for this recipe! I will be adding it to the routine.
Lee says
This was the first recipe I did in my new air fryer. I love fried chicken!
The chicken thighs were absolutely perfect. Thank you so much.
Danielle Johnson says
I shook off all the excess but my chicken never turned golden. The flour just stayed on the outside of the chicken and all I could taste was flour
MoJo says
Omgee this recipe was the bomb! Thank you so much 🥰
Randy says
Very easy to make and turned out awesome. Thank you for this recipe.
Sophie Spataro says
I made this tonite with chicken tenders ( no skin ) but it came out floury and not brown ( some )
So you have any recommendations?
Irla says
When I cook my chicken pieces that have been floured, I always let sit on a cooling rack for 15 min which give the breading time to rehydrate.
Dawn C says
Huge hit at our house. Husband kept saying, “This chicken is so good…” No leftovers for me ☹️😂. No modifications, perfect as is. Old Bay — who knew?
Karlynn says
Old Bay is magical! I have a crispy old bay chicken thighs recipe on this website too if you want to search for it (It’s hard to leave a link in the comments here) And it is our go to barbeque chicken!
Lili says
This is a good recipe, but you must get some pretty big chicken thighs – mine are done in 12 to 15 minutes, flipping half-way through. I have probably the first Philips air fryer (turbo) that came out and it’s still going strong, with manual Celsius controls. I start at 200C first half, finish at 180C second half. If the thighs I get were thicker I would, of course, have to air fry them longer. I think we live in the same city, and I’m going to hunt down your cookbook! (By the way, I get my Old Bay spice at my local grocery store).
Annie says
Can I use gluten free flour and get close to the same results? I use Bob’s Red Mill.
Scott Kirlin says
I’ve tried several different recipes for the air fryer, but this one by far is the easiest and the best tasting. Thank you.
Brandi says
I’m sure user error so I’m going to go ahead and give a 5 star. My chicken tasted like ramen noodle seasoning and I did not like how it turned out. I don’t know what I did wrong but see a lot of positive reviews so I will just chalk it down to user error.
Karlynn J says
I don’t mind helping you troubleshoot it, was it the flavour of the bay seasoning that you didn’t like? Or did the chicken just not turn out?
Matthew says
Hands down the best fried chicken of ANY technique I have tried in 40 years of cookery.
I usually air fry thighs with skin on and bone in with a steak house rub and some canola until it hits 190F internal, but this, THIS was magnificent….
Never have I had such a wonderful, crispy, succulent fried chicken and that INCLUDES The Colonel (whose Wicked Wings I truly love)…
Followed the recipe and DIDN’T spray the coated thighs…
Now I’m gonna read all the comments…
Karlynn Johnston says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for letting us know!
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.
Karlynn says
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, we make this chicken all the time! Thanks for letting us know!
Karlynn Johnston says
That makes me so happy to hear! Saving money for the win!
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!
Ezra Rudick says
This is an awesome and simple recipe! Thank you!