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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
Air Fryer Fried Chicken
- 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
Nutrition Information
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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celia says
far too much commentary before the recipe.
Fernanda Lopez says
At the very top of the page, there is a jump to recipe option. That will take you straight to the recipe. I hope this helps
Billy Bob says
I bet you’re a lot of fun at parties aren’t ya Sandy.
Kevin Stanley says
Seriously? This is a cooking video? Add water at your own risk? Decide what your recipe is – put it out there – preferably so that there are not so many ad pop-ups that you can actually view and use the recipe. You are a clown
Debbie says
Not a fan…I used much more seasoning than the recipe called for and it was still flavorless. My husband said it was the worst fried chicken he had ever had.
I don’t typically leave bad reviews but this is too highly rated for what it was.
Robert says
Great & simple recipe , I like mine SPICY for an …. i’m incorpotating 1 teaspoon of Siracha sauce beaten per egg !
Kyle says
Turned out Great. Followed the recipe to the letter and was moist and crunchy. I would make sure the airfryer is nicely pre-heated as this might help solve some of the mushiness I’ve seen on some of the comments. Also I did flip mine 1/2 thru the time. Im in Utah and Old Bay was found in the grocery store in the same isle as baking items.
Robert says
There’s a new thing called internet ….if you don’t have..you can go out of the trailer park an go to any McDonald for free Wi-Fi
holly says
it’s not a crime or a shameful thing to be poor. it is, however, shameful to be disrespectful.
Don hill says
Mine didn’t look anything like hers … mine still had some unbrowned flour on it. But did taste good and chicken was done just a bit of a look diappointment
Daniel DiMayo says
It’s such a great feeling when you try something new and fail miserably…🙄. I’m starting to think outside of breakfast food and baking, I am simply incapable of cooking. I followed these directions perfectly, yet I still struggled mightily, and even worse it seems like I’m the only one. 🤦♂️
So I just put the chicken in the flour, then the egg, I let the excess run off, but when I put it back into the flour, the coating immediately sticks anything and everything, coming completely off the chicken. How do you possibly put it back into the flour while it’s wet with egg and not experience issues? Nobody mentions it, so can someone pretty please tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Clue: it seems like there isn’t much egg left and I only cooked 2 pieces. But I let the excess run off for 30 seconds, so idk how 1 beaten egg would suffice 4 pieces?
It sure does smell good while it’s cooking though! 11 mins left (hopefully)
Thank you in advance!
CherryB says
I never heard of Old Bay and I don’t like hunting through text trying to look for clues as to what it is when I’m ready to cook.
JerryD says
You got google too the same as the rest of us.
Johanna Barker says
I found old bay seasoning at Safeway.
Robert says
Also sold on Amazon
J says
Have you received a head injury lately? What the actual F is wrong with you?
J says
This was in response to CherryB
J says
Just stick to McDonalds.
Rose says
I’ve never heard of it either .so I scrolled down to ingredients list. ,and what do ya know ,it says old bay seasoning .so the next step. since I’m Canadian ,I have to go to Google .and find out exactly what herbs are in it how much of a salt content and is it available here in Canada. Not a big deal
Val says
Delicious moist chicken without deep frying! My kids continue to request this over & over & it’s fast and easy!
Angela Waters says
Delicious!
Sarah says
I haven’t made fried chicken in years due to what a hassle it always ends up being. I think some people think the more complicated they make their fried chicken recipe, the more it’ll convince you it’s great chicken. This recipe is a testament to “the simpler, the better.” Honestly, the Old Bay is the real MVP here. It eliminates opening a billion spices and herbs only to get a flour that is half as seasoned as this one. I’ll never season flour the same ever again. I used drumsticks instead of thighs (they were on sale) and one egg was a bit too little to dredge the six drumsticks. You could add an extra egg but I just loosened it up with a splash of milk. If you do drumsticks, lower the heat to 370 and 25 minutes was perfect, flipping 15 minutes in. Really make sure to spray your chicken with cooking spray to prevent those floury bits.
This chicken was so juicy and delicious, we made it two nights in a row! Will it wow the fried chicken snobs out there? No. But they’re probably not looking around on how to air fry fried chicken in the first place, unless it’s to start fights with people about how air fryer fried chicken is blasphemy or how you can’t possibly make a good piece of fried chicken with such few ingredients.
Anne says
was going to use the recipe tonight on chicken legs. I didn’t see any instruction for doing legs. should I just follow the thigh recipe?
Karlynn Johnston says
You bet, you will just cook them for a shorter time!
Jim says
That’s d*** chicken I ever ate great recipe the only thing that really p***** me off was all the comments and the b******* any way you can just delete all of those Derogatory comments I would have really liked to be able to comment They’re comments but I didn’t see how I could Anyway reading half of them just made me real mad please get rid of them just delete them get them off your site One suggestion I did is I put it on a cooling rack to let everything dry off and get Soak in and absorb the flour when I took it out of the air fryer I put it back on the rack to rest And cool and come up to the temperature you set
D*** fine chicken I really enjoyed it and I don’t like thighs So be proud of your recipe get rid of these a******* rating please delete them
And put a rating system where I can rate the recipe and the comments
Sorry for the comment that became a story but I think it was worth it
Thank you IM FULL
Chris M Tauscher says
I live in the west. I do use old bay seasoning, but was out. But just for fun the last time I looked at a map of the united state Maryland is not in the south. How It Was Made
Old Bay, a blend of 18 spices, was invented by German refugee Gustav Brunn who came to Maryland in 1939. The spice was named after a ship line of the Chesapeake Bay and quickly grew to be very popular later during the later 20th century. McCormick & Company bought the spice in 1990 and distributed it across the state. The company still manufactures it in Hunt Valley, MD, but Old Bay is now distributed to a much wider area.
Victor says
Great recipe. Just one question. The bottom of the chicken is on the mushy side rather than the crunchy. Any advices?
Jenn says
With air fryer recipes, you usually flip half way through cook time.
Chloe says
I’m gonna cook this tonight, but I just love how everyone is roasting tf out of Sandy. Like girl you’re getting roasted by moms in a recipe comment section lol
Carole says
First time I have been on this site. A lot of aggression aka angry people. Anyway I’m going to try this chicken it sounds fab. And at the end of the day ..that’s ALL that matters
Deb says
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I made this for dinner and it’s juicy, crispy, and the way I’ll cook my fried chicken going forward. I cooked chicken breasts and one was larger than the others so I set the timer for 30 minutes and kept on top of things, checking the inner temperature several time with my meat thermometer. I’m already looking forward to the leftover chicken that’s going into sandwiches tomorrow. The seasoning mix was great too. I added my own Cajun spice mix instead of the seasoned salt mix. Tasty, juicy, crunchy outside… yummmmmm!
Kathy says
So delicious and easy to make! A keeper!!
Adam says
Will make again. Super easy. So good. I made a double batch and the last few I did a final roll in some crunched up voodoo kettle chips. Added a nice bit of crunch.
Southern bell says
This sounds like face book instead of Pinterest!!!
Karen says
I really liked this recipe. I started out with a different recipe as I marinated the chicken in buttermilk, garlic and S&P. I then decided to use my air fryer instead and looked up recipes and found this … so … it turned out yummy!!
Laurie says
I took Jeff’s comment as referring to himself and making a joke. I didn’t take it as a comment on the author of the recipe.
Vickie says
New to using an air fryer. Tried this recipe & it was delicious. Juicy & crispy. My husband gave it a big thumbs up. Had no trouble finding Old Bay seasoning in the midwest. Sometimes you might just check in the seafood dept. Also made your seasoned salt to use.
Stephanie Taylor says
Made this tonight but with potato starch instead of flour for my son who is celiac. it was amazing and turned out so much better than I expected. He wants it every night now.
I added some garlic powder and a bunch of seasoned salt and the flavor was great and the chicken was nice and juicy
Eva says
Delicious and perfect fried chicken without the oil! Made it a bunch of times and always came out perfect. Do you think it would work on skinless boneless thighs too?
Stephanie Taylor says
Made this tonight but with potato starch instead of flour for my son who is celiac. it was amazing and turned out so much better than I expected. He wants it every night now
Tim says
In what world would 4 chicken thighs feed four people (4 servings) LOL! Good recipe
Muriel White says
I googled recipe for ideas for air fryer fried chicken and saw this so tried it.
My pkg of thighs had five. I followed your recipe but not having old bay seasoning I used Dash, onion and garlic powder.
After reading some reviews I did turn them over half way through. I am new at using the air fryer so learning as I go along. (Have had one for two years lol). I use the liners for easy clean up. ***FYI my son learned the hard way. DO NOT put liner in while pre heating as it catches on fire.
Bottom line they were very juicy but needs more flavor.
Sarah says
How can you give a three star rating saying the recipe doesn’t have enough flavor when you didn’t follow the recipe? You literally didn’t use the seasoning the recipe calls for.
Nadine says
two thumbs up from my husband. I didn’t have old bay spice first time I’ve heard of it, will have to get some. Instead I used 1/2tbs of Montreal Chicken Seasoning and 1tbs of Clubhouse Garlic and Herbs. Had skinless boneless chicken thighs cooked for 27mins at 390 flipped chicken 3 times. Chicken was perfectly cooked tender and juicy. Thank you, first time trying fried chicken in the air fryer. As husband said this is now added to one of my go to meals. Went great with Thanksgiving dinner left overs.
Jeff says
Never heard of old bay? You call yourself a cook? Maybe not.
Lauren says
Seriously?! It’s a super popular seasoning, especially on the east coast. Just because you haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean this person can’t cook!? get a group dude and deal with your own crap instead of being an online bully.
Marlene M Graham says
Old Bay is also popular in the South, but don’t be rude to someone that lives in an area where it is not sold.
Sandy says
How rude, and ignorant. Not everyone lives in your little world. It is really only popular in the south, I know many of you think the world revolves around you but it so much does not.
South sucks and their food sucks. Southern food= overcooked on outside, raw in the inside, sugar coated everything, turning baked beans into candy, grits – oh boy just what I wanted to eat, sand, I think salt and sugar are the only “spices”, oh yum – fried snot – okra. Old Bay sucks. If you use it, you cannot cook without someone holding your hand how to spice things up. Sheep. Funny coming from the most uncultured group – southerners.
Also, she never claimed she could cook.
Debra says
I thought we were merely talking about a recipe here. Did the Old Bay hater even try the recipe? However, congratulations, you did manage to express the ugliest comments. Do you get paid to be a troll? Or, maybe you just needed to go off on a righteous rant, show your culinary ignorance and be the biggest bully.
On a more important note, this recipe is an absolute winner!
Have a sun-shiny day y’all!
Denise Allison says
Followed the recipe to the letter, but for some reason my chicken came out still covered in flour. Not a lot, but enough to where we felt weird about the chicken. Ended up tossing it & just frying chicken the old fashioned way. I’ll try again another time, maybe using less flour
Mary says
Wow, talk about the pot calling the kettle black…Who is the rude one here Sandy?? Why would you come on here and attempt to belittle at least 30% of the country?? I guess you think all we eat in the South is fried chicken, okra, and grits..? That would be like Southerners assuming that all Northerners/New Yorkers just eat hot dogs from carts, pizza, and grinders. How small-minded you are in YOUR little world. Not all Southerners are “ignorant”, by the way, quite far from it. Maybe the person that cooked you some Southern food wasn’t very good at it?? Additionally, we have plenty of culture in the South, thank you very much. Have you ever been to Asheville (nick-named the Paris of the South), Raleigh, Atlanta, New Orleans, Charleston, etc?? LOTS of museums, Broadway shows, fine dining establishments galore, etc. Just FYI, Old Bay is not just for Southern cooks. Having lived all over the country, I can confidently say that plenty of Northerners & people in the western states use it as well. Try being a little more open-minded. Bless your heart.
michael small says
wow….a bunch of crybaby ignorant adolescents,,,grow the hell up and act your age and not your shoe size….punks.
Mary says
Wow, talk about the pot calling the kettle black…Who is the rude one here Sandy?? Why would you come on here and attempt to belittle at least 30% of the country?? I guess you think all we eat in the South is fried chicken, okra, and grits..? That would be like Southerners assuming that all Northerners/New Yorkers just eat hot dogs from carts, pizza, and grinders. How small-minded you are in YOUR little world. Not all Southerners are “ignorant”, by the way, quite far from it. Maybe the person that cooked you some Southern food wasn’t very good at it?? Additionally, we have plenty of culture in the South, thank you very much. Have you ever been to Asheville (nick-named the Paris of the South), Raleigh, Atlanta, New Orleans, Charleston, etc?? LOTS of museums, Broadway shows, fine dining establishments galore, etc. Just FYI, Old Bay is not just for Southern cooks. Having lived all over the country, I can confidently say that plenty of Northerners & people in the western states use it as well. Try being a little more open-minded. Bless your heart.
Susan says
Thank you for your reply to Sandy, with the proper restraint and logic. Nice touch, “bless your heart”!
Sherry says
I think you won the on line bully contest. Now being a born and raised Southerner myself I take offense in your post. You need to expand your tastebuds I think. You’re missing out.
Norma says
Sandy, the last time I checked, I95 still runs North and South. Please don’t hesitate to use only the northbound lanes. Love,
Your Southern Friends and Neighbors
Mona Copeland says
If you don’t like Southerners or the south, don’t come down here! Funny, you’re the only one I’ve ever heard say that. Most people love southern cooking. You’re sad.
Shelly says
Lol old bay is popular in the north too…for seafood….sounds like you’re probably an ignorant little sh*t.
Fuck Sandy. says
Cunt.
Rachel says
Who hurt you?
Robert says
There’s a new thing called internet ….if you don’t have..you can go out of the trailer park an go to any McDonald for free Wi-Fi