Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you crisp chicken in an air fryer? ›

If you happen to own an air fryer, you can certainly reheat your fried chicken in its basket. Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and let the fried chicken come to room temperature. Next, arrange the fried chicken in a single layer and cook it for about four minutes, flipping it once to ensure even cooking.

During the air frying process, if you pull out the chicken and notice any dry flour spots on the chicken, spray those spots lightly with oil. The breading will never crisp up if it doesn't have a tiny bit of oil to hydrate it.

Add a Small Amount of Oil and Place in Basket

While we wish it were possible to fry without any oil, air fryers do need a little oil to make your food crispy (but you'll use a lot less than a traditional fryer).

Dry the outside of the food properly before you add oil. Do not use too much oil, as this will make the food less crispy and more fattening. Meat or poultry can be lightly brushed with oil or marinated to get the crispiest results.

An equal amount of all-purpose flour and cornstarch provides both structure and crunch to the batter. Cornstarch is a go-to ingredient for many fried foods (think crispy chicken wings), and using it to bolster the crisping power of flour resulted in a thinner, crispier, and sturdier (yet still delicate) breading.

You also want to avoid putting food that has a wet batter, like corndogs or tempura shrimp, in air fryers. Wet batter goes everywhere, and without a proper oil bath the batter won't set, which means it won't be the crispy, fried item you hoped it would be, according to Polak.

Rice flour and cornstarch work particularly well because they fry up crispier than wheat flour. They also absorb less moisture and fat during the frying process, making the products less greasy.

Air fry at 350F for 15 minutes or until the skin is crispy. Season with your favorite seasonings! Oven Instructions: Similar to the air fryer, place a piece of parchment paper on one baking sheet and lay the chicken skins flat on the baking sheet and season with salt.

The foods are too wet

Deep fryers can expel moisture from foods like batters, but an air fryer isn't capable of that, Mumford says. “Don't put in limp, wet veggies and expect a miracle. Instead, an air fryer should be used to quickly crisp up already breaded or crunchy foods,” he says.

Air fry at 415 degrees for 10 minutes.

Preheat the air fryer and place the pieces in a single layer so they get good air flow around them (hello, browning)! Sometimes I have to do this in two batches depending on how much chicken I have. Don't overcrowd.

Why are my chicken thighs not crispy? ›

If you find the chicken thigh skin isn't as crispy as you would like, it could mean the skin may not have been dry before you added it to the oil.

When paired with all-purpose flour, cornstarch helps prevent gluten development, which makes the flour coating crispier, and absorb moisture (from the frying and the chicken), which also means a crispier coating. If you already have a favorite fried chicken recipe, try replacing a quarter of the flour with cornstarch.

The chicken is then air-dried for 10 to 12 hours before being flash-fried, then oil-poached. The skin gets its signature crispiness from 10 to 12 minutes of basting with scalding hot oil right before serving.

Air Fryer instructions

At the halfway point (i.e. 6 minutes), flip the chicken skins over so they are skin-side up. Air fry the chicken skins the remaining 6 minutes or until crispy. Add a minute or two to the cooking time if the skin is still a little flabby in parts.

When using the air crisp lid for the Air Crisp, Bake / Roast, and Broil settings, then heat comes from the top. The main difference between the cooking methods is the fan speed.

So the goal of cooking chicken breasts in the air fryer is to cook them just right, quickly, without much oil, and get the most perfect juicy and moist chicken breast! You don't want to overcook them as that can mean dry chicken. You don't want to undercook them, because that, of course, means raw chicken.