The Best Air Fried Chicken Breasts Recipe - tender, juicy chicken breasts exploding with flavor right from your air fryer!
If you love delicious, flavorful, juicy chicken - but don't want to hassle with the grill or heat up the house with the oven - you need this crazy easy and totally delicious Air Fried Chicken recipe!
This chicken is full of flavor, and is perfectly juicy and tender.
You can use these air fried chicken breasts in salads, wraps, sandwiches, tacos, and more - and this recipe was designed to work with marinades or seasonings you love.
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
Don't want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
Table of contents
How To Air Fry Chicken Breasts
Air frying chicken breasts is incredibly delicious and simple - there are a couple easy tips to keep it great, every time.
Air frying chicken breasts is incredibly easy - just marinate, season, and cook - but there are a couple tips and tricks we use to make sure our air fried chicken breasts turn out tender and juicy every time.
Nobody wants dry, tough chicken breasts - so consider some of our following tips:
- Marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking
- Lightly pound chicken breasts to keep them roughly the same thickness so they can cook evenly
- Use a digital thermometer to gauge chicken doneness instead of going by time to prevent overcooking
How To Air Fry Chicken Without Drying It Out
The two most important tips to baking perfect chicken are pretty simple - marinate first, and monitor cook time with a digital thermometer.
Marinating chicken helps to lock in juices, tenderize meat, and give a great flavor - we're not only marinating, but baking our chicken in the marinade, for even more flavor!
Using a digital meat thermometer is essential for baked chicken to ensure you've reached a safe temperature, and to make sure you don't overcook your chicken breasts.
Chicken is cooked at 165 degrees - which means removing from the oven at 160 degrees.
Chicken will carryover cook to 165 if you remove from the oven at 160.
Always let chicken rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting to help the juices recirculate and lock in.
Easy Chicken Breast Marinade
For any marinade you make, aim for 1 oil (olive oil, avocado oil), 1 acid (lemon juice, vinegar), and herbs.
Dry herbs will work best - but you can use fresh if you'd like - add a bit more than dried.
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning or Italian herbs seasoning mix
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
How Long To Air Fry Chicken Breasts
Chicken breasts will take about 25 minutes to air fry at 350 degrees - 40-50 if air frying from-frozen.
One tip to get extra juicy chicken is to cook it for less time at a higher temperature - around 15 minutes at 400 degrees. We recommend cooking at 350 instead of 400 if air frying frozen chicken breasts - or air fry to 130 degrees at 350, then finish chicken at 400.
- 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees
- 14-18 minutes at 400 degrees
As always, please go by your thermometer temperature, not your clock, to gauge when chicken is done cooking.
When is Chicken Breast Done Cooking
No matter how much time has elapsed, chicken is considered fully cooked and safe to eat at 165 degrees.
While our cook times are good for a guide to plan getting dinner on the table, please always go by temperature - not by time - when judging your chicken's doneness.
What To Serve With Chicken Breasts
If you are looking for delicious side dishes that are awesome alongside chicken breasts, check out some of our favorites below:
For more of our delicious easy side dishes, please visit our side dish recipe index.
Other Chicken Breast Recipes
If you love delicious, flavorful chicken recipes, please check out some of our favorite chicken breast dishes below:
To see the rest of our chicken breast recipes, please visit our chicken breast recipe archives here.
Recipe FAQs
Chicken breasts are fully cooked and safe to eat at 165 degrees.
Air fried chicken breasts take 15-20 minutes to bake.
This recipe can last up to four days in an airtight container in the refrigerator, or frozen for up to four months.
The Best Air Fryer Chicken Breasts Recipe
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The Best Air Fried Chicken Breasts Recipe
The Best Air Fried Chicken Breasts Recipe - tender, juicy chicken breasts exploding with flavor right from your air fryer!
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, rib meat and extra fat removed
- ½ cup olive oil
- 6-8 cloves garlic (with or without peel)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Italian Herbs
- 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add ingredients to a bowl or plastic bag, covering chicken in marinade.
- Let sit at least 30 minutes, up to overnight (skip marinating if using frozen chicken breasts, though you can add frozen chicken to marinade to defrost overnight.)
- Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (Also can air fry at 350, for 4-7 minutes longer cook time.)
- Add chicken to air fryer basket that has been lightly greased with a nonstick cooking spray, or lined with foil.
- Air fry, flipping every 5 minutes, until chicken reaches 160 degrees at the thickest part when using a digital meat thermometer - about 15 minutes.
- Remove chicken from air fryer and lest rest 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 366Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 137mgSodium 649mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 47g
Nutrition is automatically calculated by Nutritionix - please verify all nutrition information independently and consult with a doctor or nutritionist for any and all medical and diet advice.
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