30 Air-Fryer Chicken Recipes We Love
Updated: Dec. 01, 2023
Step aside, baked chicken. Tonight, shake up dinner with one of our favorite air-fryer chicken recipes.
Thanks to the air fryer, cooking vegetables, fish, steak or, well, anything has never been easier. What we especially love, though, are crispy air-fryer chicken recipes. With only a small amount of oil, the air fryer cooks dishes faster and with the same crispy texture as your fried favorites, like homemade chicken tenders and the air-fryer sides that go with them…hello, air-fryer french fries!
Get inspired with recipes your whole family will love. By the time you serve dinner and clean your air fryer, you’ll be craving the next crispy chicken recipe on the list (or at least an air-fryer dessert, since, you know, it’s already out on the counter).
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Air-Fryer Chicken Tenders
Crushed cheese crackers, panko bread crumbs, potato sticks and bacon take these chicken strips to the next level. If you don’t have sour cream or potato sticks, try making buttermilk chicken tenders and adapting them with the air-fryer cooking methods.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Thighs
Believe it or not, you only need a tablespoon of olive oil to achieve crispy skin. And with this recipe, you don’t even need to flip the chicken to brown it evenly.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Cutlet
Cook a batch of chicken cutlets in advance, then eat them for weeknight dinners for the next three to four days. You can also freeze cooked chicken in freezer-safe bags for up to four months.
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General Tso’s Chicken Sandwich with Broccoli Slaw
While you could easily use store-bought sauce in a pinch, you won’t regret whipping up this six-ingredient sauce made with honey, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red pepper flakes and garlic.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Wings
To ensure the crispiest wings possible, pat them dry before you apply any oil and don’t overcrowd the basket. This way, the hot air can circulate properly throughout the air fryer.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Taco Pockets
Thanks to store-bought crescent rolls and rotisserie chicken, dinner can be on the table in only 25 minutes. Serve with guacamole and sour cream.
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Air-Fryer Lemon Chicken Thighs
This classic feels fancy enough for date night, but it’s quick and easy enough for any night of the week. While this recipe calls for thyme and rosemary, use any herbs you have on hand, like sage, oregano or even dried Italian seasoning.
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Game-Day Thai Chicken Meatballs
Whether you serve them with toothpicks during the holidays, on a snack plate for game day or on a piece of crusty bread for an everyday snack, these Thai-inspired meatballs are total winners. Serve with extra-sweet chili sauce for dipping.
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Asparagus-Stuffed Air-Fryer Chicken Rolls
Asparagus-stuffed chicken rolls look fancy, but the air fryer makes them so easy. In only 35 minutes, these gorgeous roulades will be on the table and ready to eat. They’re great for company or a romantic date night in.
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Air-Fryer Nashville Hot Chicken
Nashville hot chicken is coated in spices and hot sauce before it’s fried—or in this case, air-fried—then coated again in additional hot sauce. Include a dash of brown sugar or use up leftover pickle juice for an added depth of flavor.
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Easy Chicken Pesto Stuffed Peppers
With only six ingredients, these flavorful stuffed peppers are decidedly quicker and easier to make than many of the stuffed pepper recipes out there. If you have any extras, one reader recommends storing them in the fridge and reheating them for lunch.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Parmesan
If “chicken parm” conjures up memories of messy dredging and frying followed by endless baking, this air-fryer version will change your life. In only 20 minutes, this simplified chicken Parmesan will be ready to eat.
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Air-Fryer Crispy Curry Drumsticks
You can use frozen chicken legs to make crispy curry drumsticks. Just anticipate a longer cooking time and use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 170°F.
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Air-Fryer Fiesta Chicken Fingers
This chicken dish will make any night feel like a celebration. There’s an extra crispy crust thanks to crushed corn chips and a richer flavor thanks to buttermilk.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Fajitas
If fajitas are your favorite Mexican restaurant order, you can now make them in the air fryer anytime. Serve with a Mexican street corn bake, black beans and more of our favorite Mexican-inspired side dishes.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Cordon Bleu
After making this showstopper, your family will be convinced you’re ready to open a restaurant. It can be our secret that it took only 30 minutes to prep and cook.
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Air-Fryer Chicken Legs
If there are any leftovers, you can store these drumsticks in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. You can also freeze the cooked drumsticks without sauce for up to four months, then make a new batch of sauce whenever you’re ready to eat them.
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Air-Fryer Almond Chicken
If you’re gluten-free or looking to cut carbs, fried chicken is usually off limits. This chicken, however, is crusted with chopped, slivered almonds instead of flour (aka, it’s an even tastier alternative). Find more of our favorite gluten-free chicken recipes here.
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Air-Fryer Sweet Potato-Crusted Chicken Nuggets
It doesn’t get more interesting than these crunchy nuggets, which are breaded with ground sweet potato chips and flour. The more dipping sauces—like honey mustard, barbecue sauce and spicy ketchup—the better.
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Air-Fryer Southern-Style Chicken
The secret ingredient to this irresistibly crunchy air-fried chicken recipe is crushed Ritz crackers. That’s a pretty genius way to use up pantry snacks. Pair this chicken with your favorite Southern sides like green beans and corn fritters.
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Spicy Air-Fryer Chicken Breasts
To make this recipe, you’ll first need to make soft bread crumbs. Tear three to four pieces of bread into pieces and place them into a food processor. Cover and pulse until crumbs form. That’s it!
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Air-Fryer Fajita-Stuffed Chicken
Once you’ve gotten the hang of making fajitas, it’s time to take things up a notch. These impressive-looking stuffed fajitas are a complete meal, and they’re secretly easy to pull off.
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Air-Fryer Southwestern Chicken Enchiladas
Yes, you can cook enchiladas in the air fryer! You don’t even have to preheat them. Just line the fryer basket with foil, grease the foil, then place batches of three rolled-up enchiladas in the air fryer at a time to cook.
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Air-Fryer Everything Bagel Chicken Strips
There are so many ways to use everything bagel seasoning, but these chicken strips actually use the bagel itself to create the breading. Serve with your favorite ketchup.
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Air-Fryer Lemon Feta Chicken
Tangy lemon and zippy feta cheese give this dish plenty of flavor with absolutely no butter or oil. The result is a protein-packed main dish with only 142 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving.
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Chicken Yakitori
This Japanese-inspired chicken dish is all about the yakitori sauce, which is typically made of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Give your sauce a teriyaki twist by adding garlic, ginger or Sriracha to spice things up.
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Air-Fryer Hoisin Chicken Wraps
These quick wraps are based on the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. They’re an easy, portable choice for lunches or for a snack spread at a party.
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Air-Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings
Store-bought Louisiana hot sauce and cayenne pepper give these wings quite a kick. Serve with extra hot sauce (or cooling ranch dressing).
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Air-Fryer Whole Chicken
Yep, you can pop an entire chicken in the air fryer. Just use a three or four pound chicken, and make sure your air fryer has a five-quart capacity. It will be all ready to eat in a little over an hour.
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Air-Fryer Pecan Chicken Sliders
You’ll want to slather the recipe’s homemade bourbon berry jam on everything. Make it with a package of frozen unsweetened mixed berries, sugar and bourbon—and maybe save some for pancakes tomorrow morning.
Originally Published: October 01, 2021
