Crispy Juicy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

I belong to a couple of air fryer Facebook groups where the knowledge shared of trial and error has been both comical and super helpful as I have gotten to know my air fryer. Not too long ago, I found myself with a package of bone in, skin on chicken thighs and I knew I could probably cook them in my air fryer. I searched my groups for a good recipe and I found a lot of helpful hints, but with my husband doing Keto, flour was out. I couldn’t seem to find a recipe that seemed perfect, but I did stumble across something interesting that worked really well for me.

To begin, I sprinkled all four chicken thighs pretty liberally with sea salt & pepper. It’s important to do this before putting it in the marinade. That was the first thing I learned. And it really did make a difference!

The second thing I learned was that a half of a cup of Italian salad dressing is a perfect air fryer marinade. In as little as 30 minutes, your chicken is ready to cook. Italian salad dressing has a really great balance of oil and seasonings that work very well with the air fryer.

Put the seasoned chicken thighs into a zip top bag and pour in 1/2 cup of Italian salad dressing. Push the chicken around until coated and then allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight, flipping the bag as often as you like.

When you are ready to cook your chicken thighs, remove from marinade and set onto paper towels or on a rack over paper towels. This will allow the excess marinade to drain off so that you don’t run into the possibility of your air fryer smoking from the low smoke point oil used in the salad dressing.

Sprinkle the garlic powder and onion powder evenly over both sides of all four chicken thighs. Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 360 degrees. This helps to get the chicken skin crispy. After the preheat, put the chicken thighs in and cook for 15 minutes.

At the 15 minute mark, remove from the air fryer and flip the chicken over. If you are using an air fryer with racks, you don’t need to do this, but in a basket type, it is super important. Return to the air fryer and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees or higher on an instant read thermometer.

Every air fryer is different so it is very important for food safety to check the temperature of the thickest part your chicken before deciding it’s done. Once you hit the 165+ degree mark, dinner is ready. Serve immediately & enjoy!

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5 from 1 vote

Crispy Juicy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs bone in, skin on
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

Instructions

• Sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt & pepper to taste. 
  
• Place into a large zip top bag and pour in Italian salad dressing. Push chicken around to coat and then allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight.
• When ready to cook, remove chicken from zip top bag place onto a plate.  Sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder both sides, dividing evenly between all four pieces. 
  
• Preheat air fryer for 5 minutes at 360 degrees.
  
• Place into air fryer and cook for 15 minutes. 
  
• After 15 minutes, flip chicken over and cook an additional 15 minutes or until done. The chicken is done when it reaches at least 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. 
  
• Serve immediately.  Enjoy!