My husband bought me an air fryer a while back, and I am loving it! I never expected that I would use it much since the toaster oven it replaced was really just gathering dust on my countertop. Oh, how wrong I was! I don’t even flip it up anymore because I use it several times a week. Mostly for roasting meat and vegetables for dinner or making toast for breakfast, but I want to expand my air fryer repertoire. I’ve made chicken wings a few times, and I roast chicken breasts and steaks all the time. Now I’m going to try this Air Fryer Southern Fried Chicken. I need to find out if my air fryer can really fry!
Southern-style Fried Chicken cooked in an Air Fryer! Easy recipe that creates a crunchy, golden, crisp fried chicken.
The Ingredients
The recipe doesn’t specify the type of chicken used, but the author does say she used 6 chicken legs. I did the same to make sure this was a fair comparison. I found a 2.35-pound package of 6 meaty drumsticks for $5.71 at my local market.
I also picked up a dozen eggs, and that was it for this recipe. I had all the spices, oil, and even some powdered buttermilk in my pantry.
The Process
I broke this recipe down into chunks to keep things manageable. Here’s what I did:
- 12 minutes to prep
- 15 minutes to rest
- 3 minutes to finish prep
- 18 minutes to cook
- 5 minutes to cool
- 53 minutes total
The recipe lists a total of 40 minutes, and I clearly went over that. I’m not sure where the slowdown happened, though.
I started off by mixing up the spices and rubbing some onto the washed and dried chicken legs. Then I mixed up the remaining spices with the flour and cornstarch in a large ziplock bag.
I was ready to get breading after mixing up the liquid ingredients in a small mixing bowl. I followed the instructions to the letter, flouring the chicken and letting it sit first. Then I dipped it into the egg mixture and again in the flour.
Once the chicken had 15 minutes to absorb the spices and flour, I brushed it with oil. My oil sprayer finally bit the dust, and I think I went a little too heavy on the oil. I have a feeling it kept the breading from crisping as it should have.
The breaded and oiled chicken went into the air fryer basket to cook. I flipped it halfway through and, unfortunately, a lot of breading stuck to the basket. I was a little irritated because I had carefully oiled it 🙁
But once 18 minutes was up I removed the chicken and let it cool on wire racks for 5 minutes before serving. The author does say it cools fast, but it was piping hot when we ate, even after taking time for a few quick photos.
Update
I just had to give this recipe another try, and this time I think I got it just right! I cut up a whole chicken this time and finagled the time and temperature. Increasing both made the difference. Cooking for 20 minutes at 370℉ was perfect for my air fryer.
