Marinating the chicken breast with freshly squeezed lemon juice and fresh garlic for this Air Fryer Lemon Chicken keeps the meat juicy and so flavorful. You’re going to make it often.
I love making air fryer chicken because it’s so easy and I don’t have to heat up the whole oven. This recipe is perfect if you only need one or two servings, but if your air fryer can fit more, you can make more!
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Kind Of Chicken?
For this lemon chicken recipe, I used boneless skinless chicken breast. We’re using a lemony marinade so that they stay nice and juicy, plus it’s easy to slice or chop if you want to use the chicken in a salad or wrap instead of serving it whole.
Prefer chicken thighs or another cut? Not a problem, you’ll just need to adjust the timing and possibly the temperature. Boneless skinless chicken thighs in the air fryer will take about 15 minutes at 400°F. Or you can take a look at the times for how to cook chicken in the air fryer for all cuts of chicken.
Lemon Marinade For Chicken
The trick to making chicken breast that’s packed with flavor and doesn’t dry out, is to marinate the chicken before cooking it. For the best flavor, use fresh ingredients to make your marinade and marinate the chicken for about 30 minutes. You can marinate for up to 2 hours (in the fridge) but since I’m usually trying to save time with the air fryer, I usually opt for the shorter amount. The chicken will stay juicier while cooking and be tender and full of flavor.
For this Air Fryer Lemon Chicken, we’ll be using fresh lemon juice and canola oil, along with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder. For a slightly different lemon marinade, try our Greek Chicken Marinade recipe.
Making Air Fryer Lemon Chicken
Once the chicken is marinated, cook it in your air fryer basket over the crisper. This will help it stay juicy and cook faster. You can make as much at once as fits comfortably in your air fryer in a single layer. You want a little space between the pieces of chicken so they cook evenly and get a little crispy.
It takes about 25 minutes at 350°F, check the internal temperature and cook for a couple additional minutes if not cooked to the safe temperature of 165°F. If your air fryer goes higher, you could instead heat it to 400°F and air fry for 15-18 minutes.
This lemon chicken is delicious served with a salad or over rice with a side of roasted vegetables.
More Air Fryer Chicken Recipes
Looking for more amazing dishes to cook in the air fryer? Try one of these favorites next.
Air Fryer Lemon Chicken Recipe
Marinating the chicken breast with freshly squeezed lemon juice and fresh garlic for this Air Fryer Lemon Chicken keeps the meat juicy and so flavorful.
You can easily double or quadruple the recipe without changing the timing as long as the chicken fits easily in your air fryer.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Marinate: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 (6-8 oz.) boneless chicken breast
- 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a medium bowl mix lemon juice, canola oil, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Mix well.
- Add chicken breast and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Set the air fryer temperature to 350°F to preheat.
- Put marinated chicken breast in the basket of the air fryer on top of the crisper and cook at 350°F for 25 minutes.
- When finished check the chicken breast with an instant read thermometer. It should have an internal temperature of 165°F. Add about 3 – 5 minutes to the cook time if it isn’t quite cooked through.
- Garnish cooked chicken breast with parsley.
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This post originally appeared in September 2019 and was revised and republished in January 2025.
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