How To Make Chicken Fries In An Air Fryer

Making chicken fries in an air fryer is a great way to get more or less the same crispiness that is common with deep-fried chicken, but without the added calories!

How to make chicken fries in an air fryer? The best way to cook chicken fries in an air fryer is to first preheat the air fryer to 400°F. Simply place the chicken fries around the basket, spray a bit of oil, and cook them for 8 minutes. Give them a light shake at the 4-minute mark for a better experience. 

Read below to learn more about how to cook chicken fries in an air fryer and some great tips on how to get the most value out of it!

Healthy Chicken Fries 

Chicken fries are a great snack — they also make excellent appetizers! Although they are preferably cooked in a deep fryer, you can achieve the same crispiness and texture in an air fryer, too.

Air fryers work by blowing hot air around the food to cook them from the outside-in — this method is also called convection cooking.

The stimulated airflow mimics the conditions in a typical deep fryer, where the food would be encompassed by hot oil which cooks it equally from all sides. 

There is a debate between air-fried and typically-fried food where many people perceive the biggest disadvantage of air fryers to be their inability to cook fried food — but that is just inaccurate!

Not only can you cook crispy and equally tasty food in air fryers, but you can also get away with fewer calories –that too, without applying any culinary knowledge!

See, air fryers take the guesswork out of the equation. You can precisely set the temperature and cooking time to cook food just the way you want it. 

Whereas in regular fryers, you would first have to bring the oil up to the right temperature and then meticulously stand around a potentially dangerous pot of hot oil until the food “looks” done.

Still not convinced?

If you have previously tried your hand at cooking fried food in an air fryer and failed, then there might be a few possible reasons why you aren’t getting your money’s worth with your appliance!

Common Air Fryer Mistakes With Fried Food

Here are a few common reasons that people run into issues when they’re cooking fried foods in an air fryer — and solutions!

1. Not Preheating The Fryer

To preheat or not to preheat? There are essentially two schools of thought when it comes to this issue.

One group says that air fryers don’t need to be preheated because of how they operate, while the other claims that these appliances work better when they are preheated, especially when it comes to fried food.

The thing is, both of these statements are right. 

For most foods, you don’t need to preheat the air fryer because it will evenly heat room-temperature food with its powerful fan and heating element. 

But for frozen food or dense meat like chicken or beef with thick coatings, you should preheat your appliance to get the most out of its performance. 

In this case, preheating the air fryer to the right temperature (400°F) will allow the chicken fries to cook evenly and you won’t have to wait for them to defrost either!

2. Not Removing Excess Moisture

When it comes to air frying food, the less moisture, the better!

Just like any other cooking medium, if you reduce the amount of moisture around the food then you can effectively increase the cooking performance of the appliance. 

Before making frozen chicken fries, make sure that the fries don’t have visible ice around them — even if you defrost the chicken fries, pat them with a dry paper towel to eliminate excess moisture. 

The ice will create a barrier around the food and the heat will first have to work its way through the ice to cook the meat. 

Also, don’t pat the chicken fries after you have begun cooking them! 

The excess moisture that you see during the halfway mark is likely the natural juices from the chicken, which contain a lot of flavors. 

Just continue cooking the chicken fries as usual and these juices will either evaporate or reabsorb into the chicken. 

Side Note: If the chicken fries have visible ice or “fuzzy ice crystals,” then this could indicate freezer burn. This may result in a sub-par tasting chicken — which isn’t to be blamed on the air fryer.

3. Overcrowding The Basket

Just like a pot with oil, air fryers have a similar limitation: overcrowding. No matter what type of cooking method you use, it is important that you always cook in batches! 

Overcrowding is a common mistake that most people make when using air fryers and it can simply be remedied by cooking according to the capacity of the basket. 

The best method to go about this is to fill the air fryer basket with a single layer of chicken fingers. Make sure that none of the chicken fingers are overlapping.

Overlapping food may not cook properly in an air fryer — because air fryers rely on an even distribution of hot air around the food, if the chicken fingers are partially covered, then they are likely not going to cook correctly.

If you can, we suggest leaving a bit of room between the chicken fingers so that the air coming in from the top can cross and circulate the chicken by going through the bottom vents of the cooking basket. 

4. Not Using Enough Oil

If you think air fryers can fry fried chicken without oil, then think again!

Using oil is extremely important because it acts as a heating medium and a flavoring agent when applied to the food. 

Always go with cooking oil with a high smoking point. We recommend going for peanut oil for flavor and texture. You can also go with a neutral-tasting oil like canola oil for everyday cooking. 

The best way to apply cooking oil on chicken fries is to use a spray-based oil like PAM.

Spray the inside of the air fryer basket and then coat the chicken fingers evenly on all sides. Then lay them down in the air fryer basket as advised above. 

Using the right amount of oil can make all the difference between pale-colored and beautifully golden-brown fried chicken!

Remember: The goal is to apply a thin coat over the chicken fries. You don’t have to drench the meat in oil! 

5. Not Rotating The Chicken

Flipping the chicken or giving it a light toss halfway through the cooking time will make a huge difference in how the chicken fries cook. 

While air fryers do an excellent job of circulating air evenly inside the cooking basket, the fact of the matter is that every air fryer has a different layout.

This means that some models may require a bit of help when cooking demanding foods like fried food. 

Air fryers direct air using fins that are located around the inside of the cooking chamber, and most air fryers generate heat from above using a powerful fan. 

The fan blows air through a heating element, which then passes to the food and is circulated to the sides and the underside of the basket. 

If your air fryer doesn’t have an efficient design, then you may benefit a lot from flipping the chicken fries halfway through the cooking process.

Even if your appliance has an efficient thermal system, you might still want to use this tip to get crispy fried chicken fries every time!

6. Using The Wrong Settings

Most people overlook this simple step! Always check your air fryer’s user manual or guide before operating it. Knowing how your particular appliance operates can save you a lot of trouble and can help you cook better too.

Every manufacturer has slightly different indications or settings for particular foods.

For example, in some air fryers, the manufacturer may suggest that you use a higher temperature, a shorter time, and a “turbo” mode to get the most out of the performance of the air fryer.

Knowing these small details will help you cook better chicken fries and can even eliminate the chance of uncooked food! 

7. Not Letting The Food Rest

This may sound comical, but you should always allow your food to rest, especially right after it comes out of the air fryer — after all, it has gone through a lot!

The reason why fried food requires a resting period is that it allows the coating to evaporate any leftover moisture and the chicken to reabsorb its juices. 

The good news is that you don’t have to wait much. A resting time of at least 4-5 minutes is more than enough to get crispy fried chicken! 

As the chicken fries sit at room temperature, they will slowly begin to take on a crispier texture — and the coating will lock onto the meat, too!

Cooking Temperature And Times For Chicken Fries 

Here is a cheat sheet for cooking times and temperatures for chicken fries:

Temperature	Preheat Time	Cooking Time*
400°F	5 minutes	8 minutes
380°F	8 minutes	12 minutes
360°F	10 minutes	15 minutes
350°F	12 minutes	18 minutes
* Flip the chicken at the halfway mark for added crispiness.

Tips And Tricks

• Do not defrost frozen chicken fingers — they might accumulate bacteria as they come up to room temperature. The best way to ensure the quality and safety of the food is to always fry them frozen. 

• Going with a homemade recipe? Then you can fry the chicken fries as soon as you dredge them in flour! Make sure that you space each chicken finger out in the basket so that they cook evenly.

• When spraying over the chicken fries, look for white spots around the meat. These white spots are dried flour that needs to be covered with oil to cook properly. Not applying oil to the chicken fingers may result in them coming out pale and not crispy. 

• Never increase the temperature of the air fryer midway. This can cause the chicken to either be undercooked, or worse, it may cause it to burn or dehydrate.

• Pat the chicken with dry paper towels as soon as they come out of the air fryer to reduce the amount of oil you consume. This trick is best reserved for air-fried chicken because you will likely use a bit more oil than other foods when cooking chicken fingers. 

• Use a cooking thermometer to definitively figure out if the chicken fingers have indeed been cooked. Use a probe thermometer in 2-3 chicken pieces to check the internal temperature of the meat.
  • If it reads 165°F (or a bit higher), then you should dish them out. 
  • If they aren’t at the right temperature, then just let them cook for another 2-3 minutes using the same settings or until they are at the right temperature. 

Related Questions 

Air-frying chicken fingers is a fantastic way to get the same flavor and texture as typical-fried chicken! Now that you know how to properly cook chicken fries in an air fryer, here are some related questions.

Should you add oil to chicken fries during the halfway mark?

No, do not add fresh oil to the chicken fries after they are halfway cooked. The fresh oil will be relatively cooler and may interfere with the cooking time. 

Should you apply oil to the cooking basket and chicken fries with a brush?

Yes, you can use a cooking brush to evenly coat the cooking basket and the fries individually. We recommend this method for homemade chicken fries recipes because it will help them get better oil coverage. 

But if you are in a hurry, then you can simply just use cooking spray to coat the chicken fries!

What size air fryer is best for chicken fries?

A 2–3-quart air fryer is usually best for cooking fried chicken, wings, chicken fries, and more. 

A bigger air fryer isn’t necessary, as you can always adjust the quantity of the chicken fries in the basket, but having a bigger air fryer may come with added benefits like a more powerful heating system and better circulation. 

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