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This air fryer chicken thighs recipe is easy, quick, and simple. The air fried chicken thighs are well seasoned and cooked to perfection. It’s packed full of flavor, tender inside with crispy skin. This post will show you how to cook chicken thighs in air fryer 3 ways including bbq and buffalo style.
Ever since I got my air fryer, I rarely use the oven for roasting chicken. When I’m not using the pressure cooker to make this instant pot chicken thighs, I’m making use of the air fryer to make crispy chicken thighs.
The air fryer is just so convenient, easy to clean, and gives consistent results. It’s also faster cooking time than in the oven. It takes just about 20 minutes compared to 45 minutes it would take to do it in the oven.
This easy marinated chicken thighs recipe is so good just as my air fried chicken legs recipe. Flavorful, aromatic, moist inside, crispy skin and tasty.
Air fried chicken thighs are popular and getting the result I described above is as easy as seasoning, marinating, and air frying plus it takes less than 30 minutes to get this done (longer if you leave the chicken to marinate).
Air Fryer Chicken Thighs Recipe
This easy air fryer chicken thighs recipe cooks in 20 minutes. How cool is that? That’s half the time it takes in the oven.
Although you can use your favorite store-bought or homemade seasoning like my jerk rub, chicken seasoning, or turkey seasoning to marinate the chicken, I have listed the few ingredients used to marinate this which makes it so aromatic and flavorful.
You also don’t have to make it one way all the time as I have included 2 other variations. How does air fried buffalo chicken and air fryer bbq chicken thighs sound? Delicious right? Now I got you drooling, Let me show you how to make them.
What Ingredients you’ll need
The detailed ingredient list, directions, and video are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Chicken thighs
Paprika
Brown sugar
Parsley
Black or Cayenne pepper
Garlic granules
Onion powder
Oregano
Salt
Olive oil or cooking spray
Bbq sauce or Buffalo sauce – If making buffalo chicken thighs or bbq chicken thighs.
How to cook chicken thighs in Air Fryer
Step 1 – Pat dry the chicken pieces with a paper towel and add to a bowl.
Add all the remaining ingredients to the chicken pieces and mix well so that all are covered in the seasoning.
Step 2 – Cover the bowl with a cling film and leave to marinate for half an hour to 6 hours.
It’s ok if you don’t have the time to leave it to marinate. Just move on to the next step.
Step 3 – Arrange the marinated chicken thighs in the basket. Put on the air fryer and cook the thighs at a temperature of 180C for 20 minutes. No need to preheat the air fryer.
Step 4 – After the 20 minutes when the chicken is roasted, put off the air fryer, take the basket out, and serve the chicken.
Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Thighs
To cook frozen chicken thighs in air fryer, here is how:
If your chicken was already seasoned before freezing that’s great because all you need to do is seperate the chicken so they are in individual piece, arrange them in the air fryer basket then cook at a temperature of 185C for 30 minutes. Don’t forget to turn the chicken halfway into the cooking time so that all sides are golden brown and crisp.
If the chicken were not pre-seasoned, run them under water to de-ice and separate them, then season as detailed in step 1 above, arrange in the air fryer basket, and fry at a temperature of 185C for 30 minutes.
When done, bring out and serve with sides of choice.
Air Fryer Bbq Chicken Thighs
To make this, you will need 4 -6 tablespoons of bbq sauce (homemade bbq sauce or store bought) in addition to the ingredients listed in the ingredient section.
Mix half of the bbq sauce in the chicken at step 1.
Follow the cooking instructions detailed above but then brush the remaining half of the bbq sauce on the chicken 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken thighs
You will need 1/4 cup buffalo sauce in addition to the ingredients above.
Other sauces you can use are honey soy, lemon pepper,
What to serve with
Suggestions of sides you can serve with are:
How to Store
Like most leftover chicken, you can store in the fridge or freezer.
To store in the fridge, put in a Ziploc bag or airtight container, label with name and date then put in the fridge where it will last for up to 5 days.
In the freezer: Put in freezer bags (Ziploc), label, and store in the freezer where it will store for up to 4 months.
To Reheat – You can thaw first or reheat from frozen in the air fryer at a temperature of 175C for 4 minutes or till heated through.
Tips
- You can substitute olive oil for cooking spray to reduce calories.
- Marinate chicken for 30 minutes or more if you have time to do so.
- Rest chicken for 5 minutes before serving.
Other Related Recipes
Air fryer southern fried chicken
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Air Fryer Chicken Thighs (Fresh or Frozen)
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 lb (1kg) Chicken thighs 6 pieces
- 1 tablespoon Paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon Oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon Parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon Brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne or Black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Garlic granules
- 1/4 teaspoon Onion powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil or Vegetable or sunflower oil.
Instructions
- Pat dry the chicken pieces with a paper towel and add to a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients to the chicken pieces and mix well so that all are covered in the seasoning.
- Cover the bowl with a cling film and leave to marinate for half an hour to 6 hours.It's ok if you don't have the time to leave it to marinate. Just move on to the next step
- Arrange the marinated chicken thighs in the basket. Put on the air fryer and cook the thighs at a temperature of 180C for 20 minutes. No need to preheat the air fryer.
- After the 20 minutes when the chicken is roasted, put off the air fryer, take the basket out, and serve the chicken.
AIR FRYER FROZEN CHICKEN THIGHS
- To cook frozen chicken thighs in air fryer, here is how:If your chicken was already seasoned before freezing that's great because all you need to do is seperate the chicken so they are in individual piece, arrange them in the air fryer basket then cook at a temperature of 185C for 30 minutes. Don't forget to turn the chicken halfway into the cooking time so that all sides are golden brown and crisp.
- If the chicken were not pre-seasoned, run them under water to de-ice and separate them, then season as detailed in step 1 above, arrange in the air fryer basket, and fry at a temperature of 185C for 30 minutes.When done, bring out and serve with sides of choice.
AIR FRYER BBQ CHICKEN THIGHS
- To make this, you will need 4 -6 tablespoons of bbq sauce in addition to the ingredients listed in the ingredient section.Mix half of the bbq sauce in the chicken at step 1.Follow the cooking instructions detailed above but then brush the remaining half of the bbq sauce on the chicken 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time.Use the same method for buffalo style but use buffalo sauce instead of bbq sauce.
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