Air Fried Fried Chicken

So here’s a wild notion. Fried chicken in an air fryer. While I have roasted a LOT of chicken in mine, and certainly have done a few fine pork chops. And a whole pile of naked chicken wings. I don’t think I’ve ACTUALLY air fried fried chicken. Today I had a hankering for fried chicken, but didn’t want a story-bought oil fried chicken.

Thus…

I pulled two leg quarters out of the freezer earlier in the day and at dinner time they were ready for me. I divided them so I had two legs and two thighs. I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and set them aside. My dredging station is a classic. Seasoned chicken, a buttermilk mix (with no buttermilk, I mixed 1 cup of milk with 1 Tbsp white vinegar and then added two eggs, blended with my immersion blender) and my flour mix. This is one cup of flour, one teaspoon salt, one Tbsp pepper, one Tbsp garlic powder, one Tbsp onion powder, one Tbsp poultry seasoning and about 1/4 teaspoon cayenne. Dip and coat.

With the coated chicken on a baking sheet, I sprayed some olive oil onto both sides. This is important to get the crispy crust.

The final product went into the air fryer for 20 minutes at 370°, rotated for 20 more. With the door still closed, I let it sit for 10 minutes to rest and checked the temperature to make sure it was over 165°.

The result was a perfect fried chicken without a pan of hot oil splattering all over the stove.