Air Fryer Fried Chicken is truly one of the best meals you can make and it always turns out amazing! Let’s get started on learning how to make it, so you can have a scrumptious homemade dinner tonight.
Now that you have your air fryer and you want to make more meals in it, I have the perfect dish for you.
What type of chicken should I use?
There are many air fryer recipes of fried chicken that use lots of different parts of chicken. Some use chicken drumsticks, chicken legs, dark meat, breast meat, boneless chicken breasts or even chicken strips. This air fryer chicken recipe avoids the deep frying and still leaves the chicken with a delicious golden brown exterior. The air fryer cooks fried chicken with way less oil than the traditional recipe. I use olive oil spray oil to get the desired crispiness.
I make this recipe so often in my house I almost forgot the correct ingredient measurements! I tend to serve this fried chicken with french fries (also done in the air fryer) or yellow rice. As always it’s important that you heat the air fryer from room temperature so that it’s ready to cook the chicken, this usually takes around 4 minutes.
This easy recipe requires that you make a buttermilk mixture and a flour mixture to dip the chicken in before putting it in the air fryer. You will use little oil in this recipe and for the best results you will have to run the chicken halfway through cooking.
What I love most about Air Fryer chicken is that it’s so much healthier than traditional fried chicken. You aren’t going to need as much oil to make fried chicken. You’ll also save money because you won’t be wasting any ingredients.
Ingredients for Air Fryer Fried Chicken
The ingredients for this Fried Chicken recipe is actually very simple! I will walk you through some of the ingredients, so you know what you need to make this dish.
- Boneless chicken thighs – Did you know that you can find boneless chicken thighs on sale a lot of times? The next time you see this chicken on sale, make sure you grab it!
- Buttermilk – If you have never used buttermilk to make fried chicken, then you are in for a real treat. Buttermilk brings so much flavor to fried chicken.
- Hot sauce – If you like your fried chicken spicy, then this hot sauce is a must. You can leave it out if you want.
- Spices – You will use the right amount of spices for this dish. The flavors all mix together perfectly. You will use spices like paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
Make sure you check out the recipe card and instructions to help you make this recipe. The breading is my favorite. Once you learn how to make the breading, you won’t want to make your Air Fryer Fried Chicken any other way.
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Tasty Air Fryer Fried Chicken Recipe
This air fryer fried chicken recipe is so good! It's just like buttermilk fried chicken but without of the extra oil!
Ingredients
- 2 lb. boneless chicken thighs (use can use your favorite cuts of chicken with skin if that is your preference)
- 1 cup buttermilk *
- ¼ cup hot sauce (we like Cholula)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- For the breading:
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup corn starch or replace with more flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Oil for spraying chicken Canola, Peanut, Vegetable, or olive oil (we use olive oil spray from Trader Joe’s)
Instructions
- Combine buttermilk, hot sauce, and spices for the marinade in a large bowl. Add chicken and mix to combine. Cover and marinate up to 24 hours or use right away.
- Pre-heat air-fryer to 375F for 4 minutes.
- In a medium shallow bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, and spices for breading. Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of the buttermilk batter into the flour mixture and mix it through with a fork.
- Working with 1 piece at a time, dredge chicken the flour mixture and press flour on the top chicken to form a thick crust. Transfer chicken to a Pre-heated air fryer in a single layer without overlapping. You may need to work in batches if needed.
- Generously spray chicken with oil. Set the Air-fryer to 30 minutes and start.
- After 15 minutes, flip the chicken and lightly spray the other side with oil.
- Continue cooking for 10 minutes or until chicken is golden and the internal temperature reaches 165°. Repeat with the remaining chicken as needed.
Notes
If you do not have buttermilk on hand, add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the buttermilk (alone) and let it sit for at least 5 minutes as a replacement.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 549Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 199mgSodium: 1072mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 47g
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