Air Fryer Fried Chicken Recipe

It does not take long before that smell starts to fill the kitchen.

If the weather is just right and the windows are open, anyone in the vicinity is starting to catch a whiff of what’s cooking on your stove. And it is making them hungry. It’s making them want to rush home and do the same thing – fry up some chicken for dinner.

Warm and crispy, tender and juicy fried chicken!

Almost everybody loves fried chicken and has their favorite style. My mother didn’t fry chicken nearly often enough to suit me. I loved it when I got to shake the chicken in the paper bag, otherwise known as dredging. That was lots of fun! When I was older, I would help to make the mandatory mashed potatoes, deviled eggs and salads that accompanied the main dish.

For me, this meal was all about the taste. It never occurred to me that, while it looked so simple to my young eyes, you could say that frying chicken takes a lot of effort. The cook has to continually return to the stove, check the chicken and turn the chicken, all the while dodging that hot oil that might pop up and burn them. They have to somehow know when the chicken is done.

Even in our family of four, my mother had to cook in batches. That meant she had to do a lot of standing and waiting, watching and turning those chicken pieces before we could finally sit down to eat.

Under-cooked chicken is a very bad thing to eat. Over-cooked chicken can be hard on your emotional state. (It just makes you really sad because the texture and flavor don’t match up with that gorgeous smell that was making the whole household drool with anticipation.)

What if you had a way to make fried chicken at home but did not have to worry about dodging oil splatter?

What if there was no longer a need to stand over a hot frying pan, trying to guess if the chicken was almost done, completely done, or whoops!a little too close to being burned?

Wouldn’t that make your weekly fried chicken night a lot more fun and relaxing for the chef? 

Thankfully, there are now several brands that have recently come out with a frying machine called an air fryer. An air fryer is like a smaller version of a convection oven. It will cook your food at a very high temperature using dry, hot air that circulates around the food by using a fan that’s built into the fryer.

You can easily set an air fryer on top of your kitchen counter while you’re letting it cook for you. One benefit of an air fryer is that you will not be using a large amount of oil that stove-top fried chicken uses. That will save you money but more importantly, you will not be putting all that grease into your body.

If you ever ‘fry’ your chicken in the oven, you know just how hot that oven will leave your kitchen. Gone are the days of an overly hot oven and house when you fry your chicken in an air fryer.

An air fryer will let your chicken turn out crispy on the outside but still tender and juicy on the inside.

PRO TIP:

Air fryers use a lot less oil that any deep fryer. Anything you fry with hot air will have a much lower fat content. That will reduce the amount of fat and calories your body is taking in and can even help with weight loss.

You preheat your air fryer, just like an oven. Unlike a traditional oven, though, the timer on the air fryer will turn off the machine, causing the hot air to stop circulating as soon as the cooking process is finished. This keeps the chicken from becoming dry or burning if you don’t turn it off immediately.

Air frying your chicken is really going to make a big change in your outlook on frying chicken. After you prepare the pieces of chicken and place them in the basket, you can get on with making the rest of your meal, or maybe you can put your feet up and chill out for half an hour before dinner. Wouldn’t that be a nice change?

5 from 15 votes

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Crispy Air Fryer Fried Chicken

This tender and juicy air fryer fried chicken is super delicious with crispy skin on the outside and healthy.

Course Main Course

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 pieces Chicken Legs/Drumsticks, Breast, Thighs, Wings, or Leg Quarters
• 1 cup Potato Starch (You can substitue it with cornstarch)
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/2 tablespoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/4 cup Hot Sauce (I used Red Hot)
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• Peanut Oil (In a mister or spray bottle)

Instructions

1. Prepare the marinate by combining hot sauce and buttermilk in a bowl big enough to fill with chicken. Add the chicken pieces and marinate for a minimum of 2 hours to overnight.

2. Combine potato starch, salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and paprika in a bowl. One piece at a time, add the marinated chicken pieces into the flour mixture. Chicken should be covered completely but not too thick.

3. Using a spray bottle, spray each chicken pieces with peanut oil. Be sure that each piece gets sprayed completely. (You can use store bought cooking spray)

4. Place chicken pieces in the air fryer basket. I am using the Power Air Fryer Oven Elite which is a bigger air fryer with different levels you can insert the tray. I inserted the tray at the bottom to prevent from burning the coating quickly. For regular small air fryers, just place the chicken at the bottom of the compartment.

5. Set the air fryer to cook at 370F for a total time of 30 minutes. Flip chicken pieces when time hits 15 minutes. Take your cooking spray and spray additional oil.

6. Serve hot!

Recipe Notes

Depending on the size of the chicken and air fryer, you may need to add a few minutes to the cooking time for the chicken to completely cook. Always check the meat temperature that it reaches 165F.

Bonus Air Fryer Recipe!

While I was looking around at different recipes to try with my air fryer, I was actually stunned when I saw a recipe for making a whole chicken in one of these! The first thing you have to do is check the capacity of your air fryer. I’m sure you’ll probably need to purchase a smaller bird. Anyway, this certainly shows the versatility of these machines. You may want to give this one a try after you’ve made the fried chicken two or three times.

Air Fryer Rotisserie Chicken 

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 Tbsp avocado oil, or your choice of oil
• 2 Tbsp Italian seasonings
• 1 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt

Directions

1. Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees.
2. Pat the chicken dry and then drizzle with avocado oil. Season with half the seasonings.
3. Place the whole chicken in the air fryer basket, shut the lid and set the timing to cook for 30 minutes.
4. Open the air fryer, flip the chicken and add the remaining seasoning.
5. Cook the chicken for an additional 30 minutes.
6. Once the chicken has finished cooking, open up the air fryer and remove the chicken from the basket.
7. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.