I Didn’t Choose the Air Fryer Life. The Air Fryer Life Chose Me….

I’ll be the first to admit, I was HELLA skeptical about the air fryer. I love kitchen gadgets but when it comes to cooking, I’m a cast iron skillet kind of girl.

I rarely do a crock pot, I’ll pass on the Instapot (although I DO have one), and although I have an amazing KitchenAid stand mixer, I tend to mix my batter for things by hand. But let me tell you baaaabbbbyyyy….. the convenience this thing provides on a night when this mom of FOUR didn’t plan anything for dinner? #BIGWIN!

I’ve played around with my air fryer - mostly to reheat things so they stay crisp — or the occasional chicken wing. (Speaking of chicken wings - I’ll share my bomb air fryer chicken wing recipe soon!) But tonight, when faced with my lack of preparedness and a hungry brood of children chasing me down, I turned to this little gadget praying that I could figure something out. Skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs are an absolute staple in my house (cheap & filling) but they stay frozen outside in the deep freezer. If I want to cook those for dinner, I have to PLAN and make time to defrost.

So, in true panicking mom fashion I turned to the internet. Search: “Can I cook frozen chicken in an air fryer?”. Turns out yes. That’s all I needed to find out — I knew I could figure out the rest.

Here’s how I whipped this together in 30 minutes:

Perfect Frozen to Plate Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:

• 6-8 Skin-On, Bone In Chicken Thighs

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

• 6-8 Minced Garlic Cloves

• 1 1/2 tsp. Granulated Garlic Powder

• 3/4 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt

• 1 tsp. Ground Cumin

• 1 tsp. Ground Adobo Seasoning

• 1/2 tsp. Ground Thyme

• 2 tsp. Smoked Paprika (smoked really does make a difference!)

• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

• Fresh Parsley for Garnish

Allow chicken thighs to thaw enough so that you can separate them from each other in the package. Place frozen chicken thighs in a large bowl or pyrex glass pan with sides. Add lemon juice. Add all of your dry seasonings to the chicken (garlic powder, black pepper, salt, cumin, adobo, thyme and smoked paprika) to the chicken. Then add olive oil to coat chicken.

Get prepared to use your hands!

Rub the olive oil and the dry seasonings all over the chicken thighs. Try to rub the seasoning under the skin of the thighs as well.

Take the minced garlic and separate it among the chicken thighs. Take a pinch (yes, I know that’s a technical term lol) of minced garlic and stuff under the skin. Cover the chicken and let it marinate for 10 minutes. Preheat your Air Fryer to 360 degrees. I have found that nothing turns out quite right in my air fryer unless I PREHEAT the fryer. Seems so logical, but so many recipes I’ve seen don’t specify that……

Anyway — after the air fryer is preheated, place your chicken thighs (skin side UP) into the air fryer. Be careful not to crowd the fryer — you want air to be able to circulate around the thighs. I have an air fryer XL so I can fit 8 thighs in at once. Caution: you may need to cook in batches based on your fryer’s size.

Cook the thighs at 360 degrees for 25 minutes (if frozen). Then, crank that air fryer up to 400 degrees and cook for an additional 5 minutes to crisp the chicken skin.

Garnish with fresh parsley —- and voila!

(Please use a meat thermometer to check that your chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Cooking times may vary based on your air fryer model).

Plate and serve with your favorite side dish. With this, I always like to serve fresh steamed basmati rice and sauteed broccoli.

Enjoy!