Name: Air Fryer Fried Chicken
Prep time: 4 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 29 min
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

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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

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.

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 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.

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, 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.

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

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.

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 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!

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 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