Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

These Air Fryer Chicken Thighs are so crispy, tender and easy to make in under 30 minutes so they're perfect for busy weeknights. The whole family will love these crispy air fryer chicken thighs served up with your favorite side dishes or salad.

5 from 53 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: air fryer bacon, air fryer chicken thighs, chicken thighs

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 15

Rest time: 5

Total Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 301kcal

Author: Don't Mess With Mama

Equipment

1 plastic freezer bag or large mixing bowl
1 Air Fryer

Ingredients

5 chicken thighs skin on and bone in
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp creole seasoning
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Add the chicken thighs to a large bowl or a plastic freezer bag.
Add the oil and spices and mix well. If using a freezer bag, seal it and shake well to mix the ingredients together.
Let the chicken marinate for 3-5 minutes.
Place the chicken thighs in the air fryer basket with the skin side up, and cook at 400° for 15 minutes.
When done, the chicken skin should be a golden brown. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees F.
Remove from air fryer basket, and let rest for 3-5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Chicken: Use boneless skin-on chicken thighs, chicken legs, chicken drumsticks, chicken wings, or even chicken breasts. The juiciest chicken will be the thighs followed by the legs (which include the thigh and drumstick), drumsticks, and wings. Dark meat will tend to be juicer than white meat. While you could use boneless skinless chicken thighs, you won't get the crispy skin as you would with skin-on thighs. Be sure to adjust the cooking time as chicken drumsticks and wings will like take less time than thicker cut so chicken thighs.
Seasoning: Use just salt and pepper along with oil with these chicken thighs for a delicious, basic recipe. Or you could substitute other spices like lemon pepper, Greek seasoning blend, BBQ rub, garlic powder, onion powder, and other seasoning like minced garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, etc. Personally, I prefer garlic powder over minced garlic as the latter can burn while cooking.
Oil: Use cooking spray (like coconut oil or avocado oil cooking sprays) to coat chicken thighs and then toss with spices before placing in the air fryer basket.

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