Making fried chicken in the air fryer eliminates all the unnecessary excess oil from the equation while still leaving you with deliciously juicy, breaded chicken.
6poundwhole chickenor individual pieces as desired
6Tablespoonsvegetable oilfor brushing onto the chicken
Buttermilk Marinade
2cupsbuttermilk
1 1/2teaspoonsseasoned salt
Seasoned Flour
2cupsall-purpose flour
1 1/2Tablespoonsseasoned salt
1/2Tablespoongarlic powder
1/2Tablespoononion powder
1/2Tablespoonpaprika
Instructions
Cut the chicken into 10 pieces: 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and cut each breast in half for a total of 4 breast pieces.
Add the chicken, buttermilk, and seasoned salt to a large bowl and toss to coat the chicken.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, or up to 24 hours.
After the chicken is done marinating, make the seasoned flour. To do so, combine all ingredients in a large, shallow bowl.
Remove a piece of chicken from the marinade and let the excess marinade drip off. Dredge the chicken on both sides in the flour mixture until well-coated. Repeat this process until all the chicken is coated in seasoned flour.
Preheat an air fryer to 360F.
You will need to cook the chicken in 3 batches: 1 batch for the breasts, 1 batch for the wings, and 1 batch for the legs/thighs. Before air frying, brush a little oil in the basket of the air fryer. Right before air frying, brush the top of the chicken pieces generously with oil. It’s fine if you want to check the chicken halfway through cooking to see if there are any flour spots so you can brush them with oil, but don’t flip the chicken.
For Breasts
Cook 23 to 28 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165F.
For Wings
Cook 15 to 18 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165F.
For Thighs/Legs
Cook 25 to 30 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165F.
Notes
Because you’re cooking the chicken in 3 batches, wait to brush oil on each batch of chicken until right before air frying it. Make sure to generously brush oil on it so that you don’t see any flour.
You can substitute the vegetable oil with avocado oil or canola oil.
To Keep the Chicken Warm: Place the cooked chicken on a wire rack on top of a baking tray, then put it in a preheated oven at 200F to keep it warm until all of the remaining chicken is cooked.
The most important tip for cooking in the air fryer is to NOT overcrowd the basket. Air fryers rely on circulation to thoroughly cook food, if it does not have enough room to circulate air, your chicken will not cook properly.