Our Favourite Healthy Chicken Recipes to Make in an Air Fryer
We never get bored of air-frying tasty chicken recipes! From kebabs and burgers to nuggets and taquitos, an air fryer will crisp up all kinds of chicken dishes to perfection at least 20 percent quicker than your oven!
Plus, by using little or no oil, you can recreate restaurant-style flavours for fewer calories too. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite healthy chicken recipes to make in an air fryer to help you get started! They’re all easy, delicious and ready in 30 minutes or less.
Our cookbook full of 75 absolutely banging, slimming-friendly air fryer recipes is out now! That means you can get your hands on chapters of air-fried breakfasts, fakeaways, light bites, bakes and roasts AND sweet treats.
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Air Fryer Ginger and Orange Chicken Kebabs
These Air Fryer Ginger and Orange Chicken Kebabs are bursting with flavour and unbelievably simple to make. You’ll want to rustle up the easy-peasy homemade marinade the day before, so that the flavours have plenty of time to mingle with the chicken chunks overnight.
We’ve used a combination of store cupboard staples, zesty orange, lime and fresh chillies to give the glaze its lip-smacking flavour. Thread the marinated chicken chunks onto wooden skewers with juicy cherry tomatoes and red pepper slices, and your air fryer will do the rest!
Our top tip for this recipe is to soak the skewers in water for around 20 minutes before air-frying, to prevent them from getting caught or burnt during cooking.
Air Fryer Sticky Chicken Nuggets
If you’re new to using an air fryer, our Air Fryer Sticky Chicken Nuggets are a fun, flavour-filled place to start. On the outside, we’ve used a lower-calorie coating of panko breadcrumbs to give every bite an irresistible crispiness.
You’ll bake them in the air fryer until they’re a gorgeous golden brown and ready to cover in our easy to make, sticky-sweet sauce.
That way, you can serve up a basket of nuggs that look and taste like they’re from a restaurant for only 212 calories per portion!
If your air fryer has two drawers like ours, why not shake up some Salt and Pepper Chips in the other compartment, so that your fakeaway feast is ready all at once?
Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Nuggets
Easy air-fried nugget recipes always go down a storm, and these Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Nuggets are no exception. You can marinate the chicken chunks for 30 minutes in the fridge for this one, or leave them even longer if you’re in the mood for stronger, smokier flavours.
Once you’ve blitzed wholemeal bread slices into crumbs, it’s time to get stuck in! The chicken chunks only need a light spritz of low-calorie cooking spray once they’re covered in breadcrumbs on all sides.
Wait for the ‘beep!’ from your air fryer that tells you they’re crunchy, golden and ready to serve with fries or salad – or both!
Chicken Kievs
While our Chicken Kievs recipe follows an oven method, there are usually ways you can convert your favourite chicken dishes to be made in an air fryer. Our Air Fryer Recipe Conversion Chart is really useful to help you figure out the timings, and our new cookbook has lots of hints and tips inside too!
For dreamy air-fried Kievs, you’ll follow this recipe as normal up until step 7, where you’ll place your crunchy-coated chicken breasts in your air fryer instead of the oven.
They normally take half an hour to oven-bake so you’ll want to keep a close eye on them while they’re air-frying, and flip them over after 10 minutes.
You’ll know they’re ready when they’re golden brown and the herby, garlicky sauce in the middle is piping hot.
Chipotle Chicken Taquitos
Add something a little bit different to your air fryer chicken menu with our fiery Chipotle Chicken Taquitos! While traditional versions are described as ‘a deep-fried taco’, an air fryer is the perfect gadget to recreate taquito-style crispiness without the need for lashings of oil.
You can find the full recipe on pages 46-48 of our cookbook, Pinch of Nom: Enjoy, where we’ve given you an oven method and an air fryer method to choose from.
These spicy chicken parcels are ready to serve when they’re crispy and drizzled with our version of creamy avocado sauce and a dollop of zingy, vibrant salsa.
Air Fryer Salt and Pepper Chicken Burgers
Give the next family burger night a takeaway-inspired twist with our Air Fryer Salt and Pepper Chicken Burgers. Piled high with breadcrumb-coated chicken patties and a crunchy Asian-style slaw, it’s hard to believe they’re only 343 calories per serving.
We’ve brought the calories down by giving our burgers their Chinese-style salt and pepper flavours using a surprisingly simple homemade spice mix.
Use a probe to tell if your chicken burgers are cooked through (some air fryers come with them built in!), or cook for 10-15 minutes and check carefully for signs of pinkness before serving.
You can always plate them up with Air Fryer Rustic Potato Wedges for a heartier fakeaway spread!
Air Fryer Chipotle Popcorn Chicken
From the day we published this Air Fryer Chipotle Chicken recipe on our website, it’s been a smash-hit with our Facebook group, and it’s not hard to understand why.
For only 212 calories, you’ll get a bowl full of chipotle-seasoned crispy chicken pieces that gives the drive-through alternative a run for its money.
It’s so easy to make the chipotle-style marinade from scratch – simply combine sticky honey with smoky paprika and garlic, ready to cover the chicken chunks.
Just like all of our other nugget recipes, this one freezes and reheats really well, so it’s always a good idea to make a few batches and stash the leftovers.
Pesto Chicken Escalope
As soon as you see the word ‘pesto’, you know you’re in for a treat. Our Pesto Chicken Escalope recipe is well worth grabbing your copy of Pinch of Nom: Express and turning to pages 100-103 right now.
An air fryer is your best friend when it comes to chicken recipes with a breadcrumb coating because you know they’ll be crispy on the outside with a juicy middle.
We’ve kept things low-effort by using shop-bought pesto, but you can always make your own if you’d prefer.
This is the perfect midweek dinner for when you’re in a ‘not sure what to cook’ kind of mood…and it’s even easier to whip up a side of Air Fryer Crispy Green Beans to finish off your plate!
Which of our easy air fryer chicken recipes will you make?
Don’t forget to show us a picture or tell us about any air fryer chicken recipes you make in our friendly Facebook group, where we have almost 1 million members waiting to swap air fryer stories and advice with you!
We’ll also see your creations if you share them on Instagram – just remember to tag us (@pinchofnom) so that we don’t miss it.
Plus, don’t forget to upload any photos you’ve taken of your crispy creations to our PON gallery – you might even win some SWAG.
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