Chicken breasts are known for being very lean and low in fat, yet this also comes with the downside of easily drying out. For home cooks in particular, it can be challenging to keep the chicken from turning rubbery and bland. The good news is that the air fryer can handle all the labor-intensive tasks for you, including creating a golden, crispy exterior while maintaining a moist, soft interior due to vigorous air circulation.
With this article on how long to cook chicken breast in an air fryer, you can have perfectly cooked chicken breasts in just a couple of minutes of air frying while barely breaking a sweat!
How to Prepare Raw Chicken for Air-Frying
The air fryer has significantly transformed how we prepare fried foods as it cooks food quickly and requires much less maneuvering.
Unlike deep-frying, the air fryer only requires a thin layer of oil to get a crispy exterior for the chicken meat. Although it employs a similar technique to the convection oven, there’s no need for preheating.
To prepare chicken from raw, first use paper towels to pat the filet dry. The chicken filet should be lightly pounded thin so that it can absorb the seasonings better and cook more evenly in the air fryer.
After allowing it to sit for a moment to absorb the seasonings, add it straight to the air-frying basket and let the machine finish the remaining work. Of course, if you want to enjoy chicken as-is, feel free to skip the spice rubbing.
Can I Use Frozen Chicken Breast in the Air Fryer?
- Thawing Chicken Before Cooking
Frozen chicken breasts must thaw overnight in the refrigerator to be defrosted by the time you're ready to cook the next day.
If the chicken is still firm after one night of thawing, wrap it in plastic wrap, soak it in cold water, and wait until it is completely defrosted.
Check out our: how long to cook chicken in an air fryer
Can I Air-Fry Chicken Breasts Without Thawing?
Yes, you can air-fry chicken breast from raw if you didn't have time to plan your meal ahead or somehow forgot to transfer it to the fridge the night before.
First, season the frozen raw filets as you would the thawed ones and drizzle them with your preferred cooking oil. Add the frozen raw filets to the air fryer after coating the basket with another thin layer of non-stick cooking spray.
Check the air-frying time below that's applied for each filet size. To account for the fact that we are cooking frozen meat, you'll need to add an additional 5-10 minutes to the air-frying times.
How Long to Air-Fry Chicken Breast
Since the air fryer cooks food quickly, it's important to stick to the recommended cooking time, especially when using chicken breast — very lean meat with little fat that is easily susceptible to drying out. In the air fryer, a small change (an additional minute or two) could have a significant impact. Generally speaking, it should take around 10 - 20 minutes on each side, depending on multiple factors. Here are a few to consider:
Temperature:
You should set the air-frying temperature 25 to 50 degrees lower than you would ordinarily with a conventional oven because the air fryer employs convection heat. For air-frying chicken breast, I discovered that 375 °F is the ideal temperature.
The timing may vary slightly because different air fryer models heat up quite differently. Some air fryer models include a knob timer, which makes it more difficult to achieve precise timing. In this scenario, you might need to set a digital timer to ensure that the cooking time is accurately tracked.
If your chicken is undercooked, put it back in the air fryer and cook it for an additional two to three minutes, or until the juices run clear and the chicken is no longer pink inside.
Size and thickness:
The air-frying time depends on the size and thickness of your chicken breast filet. There's only the weight that’s displayed on the packages of chicken breast, so when buying them, try to estimate their thickness so you'll get evenly sized filets.
Set the temperature at 375°F; here are the air-frying times for chicken breasts that we tested out with filets at different weights:
- 6 oz filet: 15 minutes.
- 8 oz filet: 18 minutes.
- 10 oz filet: 20 minutes.
- 12 oz filet: 22 minutes.
When working with the air fryer, you don't need to flip the chicken halfway through, as the circulating heat will make sure all sides of the filet are exposed to hot air and cook evenly.
Don't overcrowd the air frying basket
Fry no more than 3–4 chicken breasts at a time. If so, the filets won't have enough room to allow the hot air to distribute evenly across their surfaces. As a result, you might have to fry the filets for a little longer to get the undercooked spots (while, of course, also getting other parts overcooked and dried out).
Use an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness
According to USDA food safety guidelines, chicken is considered cooked when it registers 165 °F internally. My experience has shown that the best time to remove the chicken is when it reaches 150°–160°F.
In addition to the air-frying time, allow extra time (5–10 minutes) for carry-over cooking, which is when the residual heat continues to cook until the food reaches the desired doneness. Once done, let the meat rest for several minutes to give the juice time to evenly distribute, ensuring perfectly moist and tender meat.
Luna Regina
Writer, Author