I am coming to rely more and more on my Emeril Agassi Air Fryer. It’s great for toasting bread, heating up meats and veggies, cooking chicken wings and most any chore you can assign. Recently, I saw a recipe for Fried Chicken in an air fryer – perhaps the ultimate test. I was not optimistic, but I bought a half dozen bone-in, skin on chicken thighs, my favorites for real fried chicken, and the air fryer did its job.
One of the secrets is the first step – marinate the chicken in one cup of Half & Half and one beaten egg. They say to marinate for a ½ hour, but I went for several hours, maybe 4.
You can make your own breading out of flour and your favorite seasonings, but I went with a tried-and-true breading – House Autry Seasoned Chicken Breading. I added a little garlic powder for good measure then drained the thighs and coated them well in the House Autry.
A second secret is to let the breaded chicken rest on a wire rack about a half hour before cooking. This allows an even and crispy crust. Bake the chicken in a 400 oven, rotating the top and bottom pans after about 20 minutes. In 45 minutes, my thighs were a golden brown, thoroughly done, crispy and delicious. They had all the flavor of regular fried chicken but without the grease.
With 2 shelves, you can only get 8 pieces of chicken in a double air fryer but if that’s all you need, go for it. There is less clean-up, no grease and the Fried Chicken is excellent.
Air Fryer Fried Chicken
6 Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 C Half & Half
1 beaten egg
2 C House Autry Chicken Breading
1 t garlic powder
