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Tender and Juicy Air Fryer Chicken is golden crispy outside and moist and delicate on the inside. This is bursting with flavor and so good!
Air Fryer food is so succulent and easy! Try Perfect Air Fryer Steak with Garlic Herb Butter and Homemade Air Fryer French Fries. Don’t have an Air Fryer? It’s time!
Air Fryer Chicken Breast Recipe
Air Fryers have changed cooking. It’s so quick and easy and everything that comes out tastes amazing. I love it. This is such a healthy way to cook chicken or any other dish for that matter. It uses the same method as a convection oven but this way you don’t have to heat the whole oven for just a few chicken breasts. It’s quick and the clean up is so easy.
Chicken can be finicky sometimes, and hard to get juicy and tender each and every time. The air fryer method takes a lot of the guess work out for you. You will just need to take the Chickens temperature to ensure doneness, and that you don’t overcook it. This is so versatile so change it up as you need to and enjoy.
Chicken Breast Ingredients
Ingredients that we all usually have on hand. So easy and so quick!
- Chicken Breasts: Buying skinless, boneless make it super easy.
- Olive Oil: Perfect mild flavored oil for the air fryer
- Italian Seasoning: Perfect combination of spices
- Garlic Powder: Garlic adds that nice kick of flavor
- Paprika: Adds color and flavor
- Salt and Pepper: Add to taste
- Optional: Brussel sprouts
How Long to Cook Chicken Breast in Air Fryer
You will make your chicken in the air fryer from now on. It’s so easy and fail proof. Never wonder what’s for dinner again!
- Oil: Place the chicken in the fryer and rub with the olive oil to coat
- Combine: In a small bowl combine the spices and rub generously on the chicken
- Air Fry: Bake at 360 for 9 min. Flip (add brussel sprouts if using) Cook for another 9 min or till internal temp is 165.
Tips for the Best Juicy Air Fryer Chicken
- Olive Oil: This helps to crisp the skin and helps the spices and herbs to adhere to the meat.
- Space: Make sure you create room between the chicken breasts to ensure even cooking. Don’t overcrowd. Cook in batches if you need to.
- Check: Check the temp earlier than you think so you don’t accidently over cook the chicken. Appliances can vary so go by temperature of your chicken to ensure it’s done.
- Rest: Let the Chicken rest before cutting into it. About 5 min at least. This allows the juices to reabsorb into the chicken instead of spilling onto your plate.
- Spices: Mix it up depending on your menu. You can use Mexican spices, BBQ spices and sauce, Indian spices etc. Whatever your menu calls for this is a quick delicious way to cook your chicken.
- Moist: Want to make sure your chicken is super moist and tender? Try marinating or brining your chicken for even greater juiciness and flavor.
How and Why do I Brine my Chicken Breasts?
- Why: During brining the salt helps the meat to absorb extra liquid through the process of osmosis. Soaking the chicken in salted water, results in a juicier and more flavorful final dish, because the is able to hold on to more of it’s moisture. This is particularly great for lean cuts of meat, such as chicken breast and turkey breast that tend to dry out during cooking.
- Formula: Basic brine ratio: The basic ratio of salt to water for a brine is 4 tablespoons of salt per 6 cups of water. But size of the salt crystal and type matter. Use Kosher salt because although it dissolves faster and easier in water, it’s slower to dissolve on the surface of meat so less sodium is absorbed by your meat.
- How: Fill a large bowl with about 4 cups of lukewarm water and add 1/4 cup kosher salt, stirring to dissolve. Although this may sound like a lot of salt, only a small amount is absorbed. Add the chicken breasts to the water and let them sit at least 1 1/2 hours or up to 6 hours to brine. Remove from water, pat dry with paper towels and discard the water.
- Continue with the recipe as directed rubbing with oil and spices then baking.
More Chicken Recipes to Try
- Delicious Chicken Divan Recipe
- Butter Chicken
- Slow Cooker Crack Chicken
- Easy Chicken Lombardy
- Awesome Chicken Katsu
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Tender and Juicy Air Fryer Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper
- optional: brussels sprouts
Instructions
- Place the chicken in the air fryer basket. Rub olive oil on the chicken.
- In a small bowl add the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Rub on each sides of the chicken.
- Cook in the air fryer at 360 degrees for 9 minutes. Open the air fryer and flip the chicken. (Add Brussels sprouts now if using). Cook for another 9 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe didnt mention preheating airfryer before cooking the chicken. Is this necessary?
You don’t have to! But it’s always helpful if you can.
Do you have to preheat the Air-frier?
You can but you don’t have to!
Do I rub the oil and dry seasons on both sides of the breasts or just on top?
Add the rub to both sides of the chicken.
Do you season the Brussels sprouts at all before adding them?
I don’t! I season them with salt and pepper after they are cooked.
Can Brussel sprouts be frozen
If you use frozen Brussel sprouts then need to be thawed before you cook them with the chicken!
If I’m using frozen brussels, should I microwave them first?
No, you will add in the raw Brussels sprouts after the first 9 minutes of cooking (see step 3)!
I’m new to the air frying world and decided to try chicken breast in the air fryer. This recipe was spot on! I did not deviate at all and the chicken was juicy and tender and the brussel sprouts are on point! Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear this! 🙂
This was EXCELLENT! Super juicy & definitely fully cooked.
Did you brine the chicken breast first?
I have done both and find that brining is much more juicy and not as chewey
Not even close to the right cook time and temp, it took 15 mins each side at 360 degrees
I’m so sorry the times didn’t work for you! Different air fryers can be tricky with finding the exact time that works. I hope it at least tasted good when it was done!
Used some cheap, rather thin defrosted Tyson chicken breasts that I’d rinsed and dried, mixed the oil and spices together (x 1.5 for 3 breasts), rubbed the mix all over the chicken (a helluva lot easier than doing the oil and spices separately!). stuck ’em in my Dreo (sic!) for the times indicated, and though 18 minutes was probably a little over the necessary time due to their thinness, they still came out AMAZING – as good as the best cafe or coffee shop anywhere! I always knew convection cooking was the way to achieve restaurant quality food, but honestly, after having experimented with my air fryer for a month now, I never expected the results to turn out anywhere near as good as they so consistently are. Thanks for the top-notch recipe!
I never rinse meat. This is a recipe for food borne illness from your sinks and surroundings. Good recipe and spice mix.
What is the recipe for the sauce that you serve with the breasts
I didn’t use an extra sauce with this! Follow this recipe and yours should turn out juicy and seasoned like this too!
If I could I’d give this 4.5 stars… super tasty, but I really think marinating (as suggested for a more juicy breast) should be part of the recipe rather then optional. I didn’t marinate this time as I didn’t have the time, but I will marinate it before I make it next time. Rather then oiling the chicken, then sprinkling with herbs and spices, I added the herbs and spices to the oil and rubbed the chicken with the paste-like mixture. Love this as leftovers on Ceasar salad.
Excellent. TRBB Endorsed!
I am new to the air fryer world. I followed the recipe. Even knew mine needed to be preheated before using and it still took soooo much longer. I don’t understand what I did wrong. The breast were reasonable size too. Not the monstrosities that you sometimes find.
My family enjoyed this dish so much. Served it with roasted veggies, and it was such a hit ❤️
Super simple – so tender! I just got an air fryer recently so have been testing out recipes. This is a great one!