Air Fryer Chicken Breast - Healthy and Easy (2024)

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Oh yes you CAN use your Air Fryer for more than crisping up chicken nuggets and french fries, as the recipe for Air Fryer Chicken Breast shows!

While air frying is great for achieving a crispy, golden brown crust on “fried items” (hold me back), it also renders lean chicken breast supremely tender, juicy, and ready to be paired with a few healthy sides for dinner, or chopped then tossed into salads, soups, and casseroles.

Cooking chicken breast in the air fryer is perfect for meal prep and truly makes cooking chicken a breeze. If you’re the type of person who’s always worried about undercooking chicken breast, this is a reliable method for cooking it evenly in a relatively hands-off manner.

You’re going to love it!

Ingredients Needed

All you need is three ingredients to get light and lean — yet juicy — chicken breasts on the table:

• Chicken breasts: I mostly use Just Bare chicken breasts and stock my freezer anytime they go on sale. The quality is consistent and I love how all the chicken breasts are ~8oz so they cook evenly and at the same rate in the Air Fryer.
• Seasonings: I typically season chicken breasts with pepper and homemade seasoned salt, which is a blend of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika, but you can use your favorite spices or seasoning blends. Sometimes I marinate the chicken in Italian dressing then drain and pat dry before air frying.
• Extra virgin olive oil: brush or mist the chicken breasts with extra virgin olive oil before adding seasonings to ensure they stick.

Should I Marinate or Brine My Chicken Breast?

An Air Fryer is essentially a mini convection oven, so if you typically marinate or brine chicken breasts you cook in a skillet on the stove, or in a conventional oven, then you can do that before air frying chicken.

Whole I don’t think a brine is necessary for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, a marinade is an easy way to add flavor. As I said, sometimes I’ll marinate the chicken in Italian dressing for up to 24 hours ahead of cooking for extra flavor. Just be sure to drain then pat the chicken breasts dry before air frying.

How Long to Cook Chicken Breast in an Air Fryer

No matter the size or method, chicken breasts should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. We love this digital meat thermometer for accurate results. Total cooking time for air frying different sized chicken breasts at 360 degrees are as follows:

• 4-5oz (small chicken breasts): 10-12 minutes
• 6-8oz (medium chicken breasts): 13-15 minutes
• 9-120z (large chicken breasts): 16-20 minutes

In testing this recipe, I learned the total cooking time remains the same whether you air fry one chicken breast, or as many as will fit inside the basket without overlapping.

How to Use Air Fryer Chicken Breasts

As I mentioned, the uses for air fried chicken breasts are endless. Use them in any recipe that calls for chopped, shredded, or rotisserie chicken, or pump up the protein in an otherwise meatless meal:

• One Pot Chicken and Rice
• Thai Quinoa Salad
• Jennifer Aniston Salad
• Creamy Wild Rice Mushroom Soup
• Chicken and Rice Soup
• BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
• Chicken Fried Rice
• Chicken Caesar Salad Pasta
• Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas
• Sesame Peanut Sauce Noodles
• One Pot Gnocchi Chicken Pot Pie

Top Tips

This air fryer chicken breast recipe isn’t rocket science — thankfully! — so don’t overthink it. That said, here are three tips to keep in mind when cooking chicken in the air fryer:

1. Pour to an even thickness. Boneless skinless chicken breasts naturally have a thicker end and a thinner end, so cover the chicken breasts with plastic wrap then pound to an even thickness with a meat mallet or rolling pin prior to seasoning or marinating to ensure they cook evenly.
2. Don’t crowd the basket. The chicken breasts can be touching within the Air Fryer basket, but be sure they’re not overlapping.
3. Let them rest. Let the air fried chicken rest on a plate loosely covered with foil for 5-10 minutes before slicing to ensure they stay nice and juicy. Happily, this is the perfect amount of time to whip up a batch of Air Fryer Asparagus!

Serve with Air Fryer Asparagus

How to Make Air Fryer Chicken Breasts

Step 1: Preheat the Air Fryer.

Start by preheating your Air Fryer to 360 degrees, or the closest temperature setting to 360 degrees on your model — I’d go down to 350 degrees vs up to 375, for example, if given the choice.

My Air Fryer is many years old at this point, but here’s the latest version >

Step 2: Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness.

Next, place chicken breasts on a cutting board then cover with plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet or rolling pin to pound the chicken to an even thickness across the entire breast. This will ensure you don’t end up with an undercooked fatter end, and an overcooked thinner end.

Step 3: Season or marinate the chicken.

Decision time: will you simply season your chicken breasts, or marinate them?

• Seasoning: brush or mist both sides of the chicken breasts with extra virgin olive oil then sprinkle on your favorite seasonings. I usually opt for homemade seasoned salt and black pepper, though taco seasoning is great if you’ll be using the chicken in a Tex-Mex style dish.
• Marinating: add the chicken breasts to a gallon Ziplock bag then add your favorite chicken marinade — I like prepared Italian dressing. Even a 10 minute marinade is enough time to lend flavor to the chicken.

After marinating, drain then pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels.

Step 4: Air fry the chicken breasts.

Spray the basket of the preheated air fryer with nonstick spray then arrange the chicken breasts in an even layer in the bottom, touching but not overlapping.

Air fry according to the size of your chicken breasts — again, 4-5oz breasts will take 10-12 minutes, 6-8oz breasts will take 13-15 minutes, and9-120z breasts could take 16-20 minutes — or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees as measured by an instant read thermometer, flipping the chicken breasts halfway through.

Step 5: Let the chicken rest.

Transfer the air fryer chicken breasts to a platter or cutting board to rest for 5-10 minutes, so the juices stay locked inside, then slice and serve. That’s all she wrote!

What to Serve with Air Fryer Chicken Breasts

I try not to overthink side dishes with this easy air fryer meal so I’ll typically serve the chicken with Air Fryer Asparagus and store-bought mashed potatoes (we love Simply Potatoes and Bob Evans brands of prepared mashed potatoes).

Here are some other favorite sides to serve them with:

• Baked Potatoes
• Creamy Garlic Shells
• Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic and Herbs
• Garlic-Butter Roasted Mushrooms
• Steamed veggies with Easy Cheddar Cheese Sauce
• Everyday Kale Salad
• Marinated Vegetable Salad
• Mediterranean Orzo Salad
• Roasted spaghetti squash
• Gluten Free Focaccia

Photos by Ashley McLaughlin

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