30 Air-Fryer Chicken Recipes (2024)

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Step aside, baked chicken. Tonight, shake up dinner with one of our favorite air-fryer chicken recipes.

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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.

4/30

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 Chicken Thighs

This air-fryer chicken thighs recipe creates meat that is crispy on the outside but super juicy on the inside. The paprika and garlic seasoning blend comes through beautifully. —Taste of Home Test Kitchen

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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.

10/30

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.

11/30

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.

12/30

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 Chicken Legs

For years, I tried to find the perfect bottled barbecue sauce for chicken legs. After a few years, I threw in the towel and created my own using ketchup, honey and spicy brown mustard. It works perfectly with this air-fryer chicken legs recipe. —Kathleen Criddle, Lake Worth, Florida

Explore this list of the air fryer’s cooking times!

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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.

18/30

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.

19/30

How to Make Super Easy Air-Fryer 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.

20/30

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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Air-Fryer Southern-Style Chicken

I call this America’s best-loved air-fryer chicken recipe. The secret is in the herby, golden brown breading that makes the chicken super moist and flavorful. —Elaina Morgan, Rickman, Tennessee

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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 Chicken Tenders

I added all of the components of a loaded baked potato—cheddar, potato, bacon, sour cream and chives—to my air-fryer chicken tenders recipe. Every kid will love this quick and easy dish! —Cyndy Gerken, Naples, Florida

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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.