Air-Fryer Fried Chicken

A wet batter proves difficult when you’re making air-fryer fried chicken. Before the batter can set, the air currents blow it into uneven waves or even completely off of larger cuts like bone-in chicken pieces. But coating the chicken in flour means it can hold a buttermilk marinade in the machine.

Since bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces make the best fried chicken, thighs are your best bet for a juicy, irresistible meal. Bone-in, skin-on breasts tend to be too large; the crust burns before the meat is cooked through.

That said, you can substitute bone-in skin-on breasts in this air-fryer fried chicken recipe if you lay them on a cutting board and slice each one (while raw, of course) into even halves widthwise (that is, widthwise but a bit on the diagonal to get the same amount of meat on each piece).

This recipe was excerpted from ‘The Look and Cook Air Fryer Bible’ by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. Buy the full book on Amazon. See more air-fryer recipes →