Air Fryer Southern Fried Chicken

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.

Recipe Author: Monique at Divas Can Cook
Get the recipe

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.

Air Fryer Southern Fried Chicken Ingredients
Chicken drumsticks, eggs, cornstarch, olive oil, buttermilk, flour, hot sauce, garlic powder, salt, Italian seasoning, onion powder, paprika, and pepper

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.

Step 10, after the breading has soaked into the chicken for 15 minutes
Step 10, after the breading has soaked into the chicken for 15 minutes

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.

So how was it?

Clear & Accurate Directions
Accurate Time(s)
Appearance
Taste
This Air Fryer Southern Fried Chicken was incredibly juicy with sensational flavor! I'm normally the kind of person who adds hot sauce to their fried chicken, but I ate two pieces of this without it. Making it was simple and very much like any other fried chicken I've made before with an egg and flour breading. But as the author warned, the breading was thin and delicate. I had some stick to the air fryer basket despite greasing it, and it easily flaked off as I served and ate it. I do wish the breading would have been crispier, but it met expectations thanks to the accompanying blog post warning. Like the author, I'm fairly new to my air fryer, so I think some more experimentation is needed to perfect this recipe. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!
The Hungry Pinner
The Hungry Pinnerhttps://www.hungrypinner.com
I'm Candice, and I'm The Hungry Pinner. I created this blog to share my love for cooking and my experiences with the MANY recipes I've found on Pinterest over the years. Join me as I blog my way through those recipes to find out if they are worth trying yourself.

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This Air Fryer Southern Fried Chicken was incredibly juicy with sensational flavor! I'm normally the kind of person who adds hot sauce to their fried chicken, but I ate two pieces of this without it. Making it was simple and very much like any other fried chicken I've made before with an egg and flour breading. But as the author warned, the breading was thin and delicate. I had some stick to the air fryer basket despite greasing it, and it easily flaked off as I served and ate it. I do wish the breading would have been crispier, but it met expectations thanks to the accompanying blog post warning. Like the author, I'm fairly new to my air fryer, so I think some more experimentation is needed to perfect this recipe. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!Air Fryer Southern Fried Chicken