Air Fried Fried Chicken
If you have the right appliance, this is a fairly easy, non-messy way to enjoy fried chicken, and a low-carb version to boot.
I've been on a quest to find the best substitute for Southern-style fried chicken, the kind that has been dredged in milk and eggs and seasoned flour, and fried crispy golden brown in a cast iron skillet with vegetable oil, like my dad used to make when I was a kid. And, that’s just about the only way I’m gonna get it, by doing just that. But I don’t really want to go to that kind of trouble. So I looked for alternatives.
This recipe is pretty amazing and gets pretty close to something like real fried chicken.
The Cosori Air Fryer
My Number One Fan gave me a Phillips Air Fryer for my birthday several years back. The word "air fryer" is pure marketing which was created by the Phillips Electronic Company when the first air fryer was introduced to the consumer in 2010. In fact, an air fryer is a counter-top convection oven. It circulates super-heated air to surround food in a confined space and cooks it fast and crispy, just like submerging food in hot oil; but with air frying, of course, you are getting far fewer fat grams and calories, and none of the mess (and danger) of deep-fat frying. I actually wore out the Philips and got a second Cosori Air Fryer thereafter. It is a little larger, so it holds a little more food, and it has a few more bells and whistles.
I created this recipe after reading one very similar to it that was still meant for a traditional oven, and with apologies to the original author, I no longer have the website that provided me this inspiration. Nevertheless, we make the most delicious facsimile of Southern Fried Chicken in our Air Fryer, and it was hard to believe we were eating something low-carb that had not actually been deep-fat fried. You will need an accessory for this job, a wire rack sold for air fryers that allow you to cook food in two layers.
Air Fried Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1- 1/2 ounces of pork skins (like, Frito-Lay Baken-Ets)
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan (like, Kraft)
- 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 eggs, thoroughly beaten
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Put the pork skins in a plastic zip-up bag and use a rolling-pin to smash them to granular size.
- Mix the crushed pork skins in a mixing bowl with the Parmesan cheese, Old Bay Seasoning, salt and black pepper, and whisk well to thoroughly combine.
- Blend the eggs and cream in a separate mixing bowl.
- Wash and thoroughly dry the chicken thighs; then dredge each piece in the egg mixture until well coated, followed by a dredging in the pork skin coating. Push the coating bits into the skin of the thigh until you have a solid covering of the coating over each piece of chicken.
- Lay each thigh out as you coat them on plates (do not stack them) and allow to sit for 10 minutes while you pre-heat the Air Fryer at 400 degrees for 10 minutes with the double rack inside.
- When the Airfryer is pre-heated, carefully remove the double rack; spray it and the cooking basket in the Air Fryer with a light coating of non-stick cooking spray.
- Put two thighs in the bottom of the cooking basket, then put the cooking rack inside with the remaining two thighs on the top rack.
- Cook 30 minutes at 400°F. At this point, you can remove the two thighs on the top shelf, and cook the two remaining thighs on the bottom shelf an additional 5 minutes.
- Each piece should be golden brown and crispy. You can test for doneness by piercing a thigh all the way to the bone with a fork or the tip of a knife. If the juices run clear, the thigh is done. If the juice has any pink in it, you need to cook for additional time, probably 5 more minutes would do it.
Notes
- Serving the two top chicken thighs before the bottom two might seem awkward, but it is easier than switching the thighs mid-way through the cooking process, which I've tried. It takes too long, and the unit loses too much heat. Either way, the chicken on the top deck will cook slightly quicker than the two pieces on the bottom desk. I assume this has something to do with physics and thermal dynamics.
