The Art of Recreating Southern Fried Chicken in an Air-Fryer

I grew up mostly in North Carolina and a little bit in Louisiana, and although I’ve lived in the Northeast for nearly 30 years, I still miss the truly excellent fried chicken you get in the South—perfectly juicy, extra crispy, flavorful-in-every-bite fried chicken is just too hard to come by up here. And, sure, I could make my own, but deep frying in my studio apartment was a one-and-done event for me. When your kitchen is also your living room and bedroom, the cost-benefit analysis doesn’t fall on the “deep fry it!” side very often.

Lucky for me—and all fried chicken lovers—you can make a great version of fried chicken in your air fryer, no vat of oil required, thanks to this air-fryer fried chicken recipe created by our Birmingham, Alabama-based test kitchen colleague Marianne Williams. Read on to learn how, through numerous tests and tweaks, Williams created a recipe that delivers air-fryer “fried” chicken that’s juicy and full of flavor on the inside and super-crispy on the outside, then use our tips and the full recipe below to create it in your own kitchen.

While the recipe is written for a combination of bone-in and skin-on breasts and thighs, you can make this recipe with whatever chicken pieces you prefer: skin-on or skinless, bone-in or boneless, breasts, thighs, or other parts. (Though if you are going with boneless and skinless meat, we recommend choosing thighs, which stay juicier than breasts.) This recipe is written to serve six people and must be cooked in two batches, but it’s easily halved if you just want to serve two or three people. I like it with Southern sides like cornbread or buttermilk biscuits, stewed green beans or okra, and mac and cheese.

5 Tips for Marking the Best Southern Fried Chicken in the Air Fryer

1. Lock in flavor and juiciness with a buttermilk-pickle brine. Soaking the chicken in a combination of egg, buttermilk, and pickle juice, along with hot sauce for a little kick and honey for a touch of sweetness, ensures the meat is seasoned throughout with both salt and a touch of acidity. The salt and acid not only add flavor but also lock in juiciness—thanks to salt’s ability to prevent proteins from releasing too much water during cooking and acid’s natural tenderizing effects. We normally don’t recommend marinating for more than a few hours (most flavors outside of salt and acid don’t penetrate far into the meat, and most acids can turn meat mushy if left on it for too long), but this marinade can be allowed to work its magic up to overnight, since the lactic acid in the brine is gentler on meat than other acids. 
2. Pat the chicken dry after marinating. While you normally don’t pat chicken dry after a buttermilk brine and before dredging, since the wetness can help the dredge to adhere, but in this case drying the chicken helps a ton with getting a crispy crunchy exterior in the air fryer. Too much moisture can lead to soggy fried chicken. 
3. Add rice flour to the dry dredge. Cutting the wheat flour with rice flour improves the crispness and texture of the final coating. This is because wheat flour contains gluten-forming proteins, which can lead to excessive toughness. A more pure starch like rice flour mixed in reduces the total amount of those gluten-forming proteins, while still providing starch to absorb moisture. The final result is a light, crunchy coating that resists sogginess. (Baking powder is also added to the dredge for similar toughness-fighting benefits.)
4. Generously season the dry dredge. One complaint I have about a lot of the fried chicken you get outside of the South is that even if the coating is adequately crispy (a big if), it’s often bland and underseasoned. Williams solves this by spiking the dry dredge with not only adequate salt but also onion powder, granulated garlic, and smoked paprika, which give the crunchy exterior a robust flavor. 
5. Use oil smartly. While you need much less oil in the air fryer than for deep frying, some oil is still necessary for crispy “fried” chicken. The first step is adding oil to the air-fryer basket (you’ll line it with foil first), which our testing revealed is an important step to ensure the chicken crisps where it’s in contact with the basket. Then you’ll use cooking spray to coat the chicken all over before frying, creating something like a micro-layer of oil in which the chicken can “fry.” Don’t hold back here: You want to spray the oil all over the chicken pieces until no dry flour is visible.
6. Cook it at the right temperature. Williams tested air frying the chicken and various temperatures to arrive at the “Goldilocks” spot of 380°F (193°C). Any cooler and the chicken will not be crispy enough, but go hotter and it’s likely to overbrown and burn before the meat is cooked through.