We have everything you need to know for how to cook chicken in your air fryer right here. From why you want to cook it in the air fryer to the tools and accessories that make your life easier to cooking temperatures and times for every cut, we’ve got you covered.
If you love to air fry, but are always unsure on the timing to get perfectly cooked chicken, this is the guide for you. We’re going cut by cut, so that you are as confident with air fryer chicken breasts as you are with chicken wings or even a whole chicken.
Click here to jump down to the Air Fryer Chicken Cooking Times Chart.
Video: Air Fryer Chicken
Cook Any Cut Of Chicken In The Air Fryer
Like most of the continent, I’m pretty obsessed with chicken. I can’t even tell you how often it’s on my plate. That’s why I’m always looking for new ways to prepare it, especially ways that are quicker and/or make it taste better.
In terms of the quicker-chicken situation, I thought I had it down with my Instant Pot. And while I do love cooking chicken in the Instant Pot, it’s not always the best it could be. It has more of a stewed texture. That’s great for doing meal prep things like soups and stews but less good on sandwiches or pasta, or for eating on its own. I think I’m realizing that I prefer more of a roasted texture for those things.
And voilá, I found just the thing in my air fryer! I’m loving it so much! Here’s why I love cooking chicken in my air fryer so much…
Why Cook Chicken In The Air Fryer?
1. It has great texture. Air fryer chicken has a nice firm, but juicy texture, much like roasted or baked chicken. So, if you like roasted/baked chicken, you will like the tender results of air fryer chicken.
2. It takes less time to cook. We’re not talking tons less, but quite a bit less, especially for larger pieces. A whole chicken, for instance, can be done in 40 minutes in the air fryer but that same size chicken would be closer to an hour in a regular oven. Chicken breasts take around 15 minutes in the air fryer but 20+ in the regular oven.
3. It’s energy efficient. You don’t have to heat up your whole oven to cook a batch of chicken. That’s less energy used and less heat generated in your kitchen. It’s also great if you want to cook other things in your oven. Then the chicken gets done separately.
4. Quick preheat time. The air fryer preheats in 2-3 minutes. You can put it on to preheat and by the time your chicken is out of the fridge and seasoned, you can put it right in. This saves time and also energy.
5. Oh, the caramelization! While the texture of the meat is similar to roasted, you get more browning, and thus more flavor, on the outside and it happens in a shorter amount of time. This is because the air fryer circulates the heat so well.
6. All that crispy skin! If you’ve got any chicken skin going on, like with these wings or leg quarters, oh-my-god does it ever get crispy and amazing. I will admit that this isn’t always a good thing. Why? When chicken skin is more limp, I tend to just pull it off and throw it out. When the skin is all golden and crisp, I pull it off and eat it in one bite! Mmmm. But also Ugh!
7. It’s somehow just generally perfect. I am not usually a gadget girl and tend to stick to traditional cooking utensils and techniques. But I’m seriously in love with my air fryer. I can’t even remember when I last turned my regular oven on! It preheats so quickly, it turns itself off if you forget about it, it’s easy to clean, things cook quickly, everything gets so nice and brown and delicious. It’s the perfect method for cooking so many things, and for chicken, it’s the best. The. Best.
General Tips For Cooking Air Fryer Chicken
OK, so now that you know why to cook chicken in the air fryer, it’s time to find out how. In general, you can do pretty much anything that you would do in a regular oven. The main difference is that you will not be using a pan. The chicken or chicken pieces go straight into the air fryer basket.
However, if you have something really saucy or with a lot of cheese that could melt, you can totally use a tray. The air fryer manufacturers sell a lot of accessories and accessory kits like this so you can find just the right pan for your air fryer. Or, you can use aluminum foil with the edges folded up. If you’re going to use foil, make sure you read these important tips first.
In addition to not needing a pan, the other main difference between the air fryer and the oven is that the air fryer tends to cook things more quickly. What I typically do is to set my timer for 30-40% less time than I would for a regular oven. Then I check the food and decide if it needs longer or not.
For meat and poultry, I use an instant read thermometer to check the internal temperature. You want it to read 165°F for poultry. Some people take poultry out at a bit lower temperature, like 155°F and let it rest to come up the remainder of the way. I do think you get juicier chicken this way but it is not recommended for food safety reasons, as you can see here on the foodsafety.gov website.
How To Cook Chicken In The Air Fryer
For all chicken, the basic way I cook it in the air fryer is to first preheat the air fryer to 400°F. Then I mist the chicken with olive oil all over. I use this oil sprayer. Alternatively, you can drizzle with oil and then use your hands to rub it all over. Next, season it liberally with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Finally, it goes directly into the basket of the air fryer to cook until it reaches 165°F internally.
I do usually flip the chicken over once halfway through. I prefer to start with the chicken or chicken pieces nicest-side-down. Then after it’s flipped the nicer side is on top to finish browning (with whole chickens, starting with the nice side down has a good added bonus that you can read more about here).
I have tested cooking times for most kinds of chicken pieces in three different air fryers and this is now my air-fryer-chicken-cooking-times cheat sheet. It contains the type of chicken, the temperature to use, the amount of time on each side, and also links to fuller recipes for each type.
Air-Fryer Chicken Cooking Times and Temperatures
| Type of Chicken | Air Fryer Temp | Time on Side #1 | Time on Side #2 | Link to Full Instructions |
| whole chicken, 3-4 lb. | 400°F | 30 minutes | 12-22 minutes | Instructions |
| breast, boneless, 8 oz. | 400°F | 10 minutes | 5-8 minutes | Instructions |
| breast, bone-in, 10 oz. | 400°F | 15 minutes | 12-15 minutes | Instructions |
| thigh, boneless, 4-5 oz. | 400°F | 10 minutes | 5-7 minutes | Instructions |
| thigh, bone-in, 5-6 oz. | 400°F | 15 minutes | 10-15 minutes | Instructions |
| drumstick, bone-in, 5 oz. | 400°F | 10 minutes | 10-12 minutes | Instructions |
| leg quarter, 1 lb. each | 400°F | 20 minutes | 10-12 minutes | Instructions |
| wing, 5 full wings cut into 2 pieces each | 360°F then 400°F | 12 minutes at 360°F | 5-6 minutes at 400°F | Instructions |
Notes:
- Whether the skin is on or not is not specified here. This is because the skin doesn’t affect the specified cooking times. Therefore, “thigh, bone-in” means both “skinless bone-in chicken thighs” and “skin-on bone-in chicken thighs”.
- Start cooking chicken with the nicer-side-down and then flip when specified. Why? So that the nicer side, the side you want up for serving, is facing up after you flip it. That means that the nicer side gets the final browning time in the air fryer. For the whole chicken, start it breast-side-down. This not only results in the nicer side up for the final cooking but also allows the extra juices from the back of the chicken to trickle towards the breast meat, and it protects the breast meat from over-drying, see here.
- All chicken should be cooked to 165°F. Test the internal temperature using an instant read thermometer. I usually take my chicken out at 155-160°F and let it rest for 3-4 minutes. It’s juicier that way. However, this is not recommended by me nor by gov so you should make sure your chicken is at 165°F before you stop cooking it because any lower is unsafe.
More Air Fryer Chicken Recipes
- Air Fryer Fried Chicken
- BBQ Chicken in the Air Fryer
- Air Fryer Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Air Fryer Chicken Burgers
- Breaded Chicken Thighs in the Air Fryer
I hope this guide helps and that you enjoy making all kinds of delicious chicken in your air fryer.
Podcast Episode About Cooking Chicken In The Air Fryer
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make chicken in the air fryer, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Air Fryer Chicken Recipe
You can cook chicken breasts, wings, or even a whole chicken in your air fryer! See post above for specific cook times for the cut of chicken you have.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 – 50 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- Chicken
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic Powder
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 400°F.
- Rub olive oil on the chicken pieces and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder or your choice of seasonings.
- Cook until internal temperature reaches 165°F, flipping once halfway through. (See chart in post above for timing guidelines.)
- Let rest for a few minutes before serving.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in October 2023 and was revised and republished in November 2024.
I’m new at air fry looking for good recipes.
You’re in the right place, Fredonna! We have air fryer recipes for simple veggie sides, chicken dishes, meatloaf, and more. You can browse them all here – https://thecookful.com/category/method/air-fryer/
Loved your instruction for 74 year old newbie. Thank you so much for simple instructions. Would love to keep up with all your knowledge.
Howcan I sign up.
Please help
You are very welcome, Delia! You can sign up for our newsletter here – https://thecookful.com/start-here/
Thank you!!! ❌❌
You’re welcome, Annalise!
hi, i buy prepackaged kfc (kentucky fried chicken) type frozen chicken pieces from aldis, coles and woolworths in australia. it says to cook at 220c for 50-60minutes in the oven. i love my airfryer and try to use it all the time. what would be the recommended temp and time for the airfryer???
Darren, I’ve never tried this so I can’t be positive. I first need to know if the chicken is fully-cooked and then frozen or raw and frozen. Since you’re cooking them for 50-60 minutes, usually, I’m guessing that they are raw and frozen. I would start by trying 3-4 pieces at 380F (200C) for 15 minutes and then flip them over and do another 15 minutes. I would then test them with an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part, and not touching bone. It needs to read at least 165F (75C). If it is at that temperature or close to it, then I’d turn the air fryer up to 400F (220C) and cook for another couple of minutes to help crisp it up, if needed. If they’re not close to the safe temperature, then leave it at 380F (200C) and keep testing them every 5-7 minutes. If you try it, come back and let me know how it turns out.
Need recipes for my new air fryer
You can find all sorts of wonderful Air Fryer recipes on the site, Meyer. Enjoy!
What temp and how long do you cook a whole chicken in the air fryer
For a whole chicken, you can read the full instructions here, but you’ll want 360°F and to cook the chicken breast side down for 30 minutes, then flip and cook another 12-22 until the internal temperature is 165°F. Enjoy, Patricia!
Hi, I tried frying my whole chicken in an Airfryer and it didn’t work. The outside of it burnt and the inside didn’t even cook.
Sorry to hear that, Mina! If you could share the size of the chicken you had, and the timing and temperature you went with, maybe I can help.
My family loves air fryer chicken also. How do you avoid the smoke that is generated when frying chicken? We’ve tried water in the drip pan but that didn’t work.
I often run my oven hood fan as I’m using the air fryer, which helps keep the haze down in the kitchen, Ann. Maybe people don’t have an issue with smoking, but if you do, for any recipes calling for 400F, you can lower the cooking temp to 375 and kept an eye on the ingredients and it should cook perfectly even with the slightly lower temperature.
I live alone -current microwave unit needs replacement
Would a combination air Fryer/microwave unit be a good investment ?
Mostly cook chicken -pork chops -small pizza combos-meatballs -sausages.
I’m not actually familiar with those, Phil! I’d read through reviews on the ones you’re interested in to make sure it does a good job with both methods. Good luck!
How long should I cook a free range,2.5 lb., bone in chicken breast, in the air fryer?
Donna, I have never tried cooking a chicken breast that large before! I am therefore only guessing, but I would try doing it in the air fryer at 350F for 25 minutes bone-side-up and then 15 minutes bone-side-down. Use an instant-read thermometer at that point and see if it has reached 165F. If not, I suspect that an additional 7-10 minutes should do it, but test it again with the thermometer to be sure.
I cook frozen wings regularly in my air fryer . . . . I cook them at 350° for 10 minutes, flip them individually, cook them for another 8 minutes. Then I take them out, toss them in my sauce which is anything from General Tso to a Coconut Mango Marinade to Jalapeño Tabasco and put them back in for 4-6 minutes, until they reach 160° to 162° and let them sit.
Thanks for sharing, Amanda!
Can you cook it straight from the freezer?
Ashley, I have never tried cooking chicken from frozen in the air fryer. I can tell you what the USDA says here https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/ad74bb8d-1dab-49c1-b05e-390a74ba7471/Chicken_from_Farm_to_Table.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
They say that you should never cook frozen chicken in the slow cooker but you can cook it from frozen in the oven or on the stove. They say to allow 50% more time than usual when cooking chicken from frozen. I therefore think that it is probably safe to cook chicken from frozen in the air fryer since it works more like an oven than like a slow cooker.
I would use their “50% more” rule of thumb also. So if you were doing boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts, which have a cook time of 15-18 minutes in the chart above, it would take 23 to 27 minutes if they start from frozen. I would only do two frozen chicken breasts at a time though. My concern is that the frozen temperature of the food could lower the air fryer’s internal temperature substantially. I think it could even take longer than 27 minutes for that reason. So use an instant read thermometer and make sure that the chicken has a minimum temperature of at least 165F throughout before eating.
What air fryer is shown in this photo? There is so much room!
Secura XL 5.3 Quart. Here’s the link!
Okay, I really hate to admit I am SO far behind the times, but I just got my first air fryer. But, man, am I loving it! Thank you so so much for all this info as I am a chicken girl too! Yum, it all looks delicious!!
It’s never too late to join in the air fryer fun, Norma! Have you checked the rest of the recipes in this series? https://thecookful.com/category/air-fryer-chicken/ And that’s just chicken, we’ve got tons of ideas for you to get the most out of your new air fryer!