Can you believe this Air Fryer Chicken Thighs recipe is oil free? 

Marinated in cumin, pepper, and soy sauce seasoned milk for 2 hours, these air fryer chicken thighs turn out to be so juicy, tender and flavorful.

This recipe enables you to make the perfectly crispy fried chicken thighs totally oil free with an air fryer, or an oven!

Yes, an oven will also work perfectly for this recipe!😎

(This piece of chicken thigh was baked in the oven↓)

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Why marinate chicken in milk?

An article from the Fork Bite explained the scientific reasons behind the milk marinating method:

The “lactic acid” in milk can “break the proteins down from the inside”; and at the same time, the “calcium” in milk can “speeds up the tenderizing of the meat”. These two facts together could result in a softening of the chicken meat.

When the chicken thighs is tenderized, in other words, “broken down” by milk, it’s much easier for them to absorb flavors from other seasonings, such as cumin, pepper, and soy sauce.

In this way, our spiced milk bath can not only tenderize the chicken meat, but also make the chicken thighs turn perfectly flavorful within a short marinating time. 

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Air Fryer Chicken Coating: Flour or Cornstarch?

Since cornstarch can absorb water more quickly and efficiently than flour, it’s often used in frying coatings (e.g. tempura , bubble fried shrimp) to produce the extra crispy texture. 

Compared with crispy cornstarch coatings, flour coatings can be lighter and fluffier, but at the same time, more oily – flour can absorb more oil than cornstarch.

Therefore, you will often see coatings consist of 100% cornstarch or 50% cornstarch + 50% flour in deep frying recipes.

Because this air fryer chicken thigh recipes is oil-free – when you air fry the chicken, the moisture and fat inside will move toward the coating and from a perfectly crispy fried crust – it’s impossible for the crust to become too oily. 

Therefore, we can increase the ratio of flour to 75%, to create a lighter and fluffier coating. 

So~

Here is my recipe for oil-free air fryer chicken thigh coating: 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 1½ cup of all purpose flour, and 1 tsp baking powder.

The baking powder help break down the proteins in the skin, draw moisture to the surface, and also aid in browning. 

– DANIELLE LAPIERRE, America’ s Test Kitchen

Another option is using premade crispy fried chicken mix. This picture below shows what I have been using. I bought this one in my local Asian market and found it pretty tasty.

I wasn’t able to find this particular brand of crispy powder online.

According to its ingredient list, this premade coating was made of flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and tartrazine (a yellow food coloring).

If you are not a food blogger or food TikToker, it’s totally fine to skip the food coloring and make your own crispy powder with 1½ cup of flour, ½ cup of cornstarch, and 1 tsp of baking powder.

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My Last Tip for Making Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs:

Air fry the chicken thighs with skin side up first. 

It’s totally possible for you to get some different suggestions from different recipes. People can have very different preferences. 

Since we going to air fry the chicken thighs without oil, one side of the chicken thigh is going to touch the air fryer rack while the flour coating is still cold and soggy. About 10% of the flour coating on the bottom side is going to stick to the rack before we turn this side up.

To me, it’s more important to keep the skin side crispier and flawless.

Therefore, I personally prefer air frying the chicken thighs with the skin side up first for 20 minutes, until the skin side turns hard and nonstick, then turning the meat side up to air fry for 10 more minutes.

How to Make Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

EQUIPMENT

• 1 Air Fryer (or an oven)

 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 chicken thighs (skin on, deboned)

Marinade:

• 1½ cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili pepper powder (or paprika)

Batter

• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup cornstarch

Coating Mixture

• 2 cup crispy fried chicken blending (can be substituted by ½ cup of cornstarch, 1½ cup of all purpose flour, and 1 tsp baking powder.)
• ½ tsp salt (skip if your crispy fried chicken blending has already been seasoned.)
• ½ tsp pepper (skip if your crispy fried chicken blending has already been seasoned.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add chicken thighs, milk, salt, pepper, cumin, chili pepper powder, and soy sauce to a large bowl. Mix together. Cover with lid or food wrap. Keep in the fridge for 2 hours.

2. 2 hours later, get the bowl out from the fridge, drain the milk.

3. Add 1 egg and ¼ cup of cornstarch to marinated chicken thighs. Mix with hands until the chicken thighs are evenly coated in the batter.

4. Add crispy fried chicken blending, salt, and pepper to a large shallow pan. Stir until mixed.

5. Dredge the chicken thighs into the coating mixture. If you see some uncovered spots, you can manually pat some coating mixture to these spots to make sure that each piece of the chicken thighs are thoroughly coated.

6. Spray the air fryer net with cooking spray if its not nonstick. Place the chicken thighs in the air fryer, with skin side up. Air fry at 355°F for 20 minutes. (Or bake in an oven at 375°F for 20 minutes.)

7. Turn the chicken thighs meat side up and air fry at 355°F for 10 more minutes. (Or bake in an oven at 375°F for 15 more minutes.)

8. Serve while they are hot and crispy.

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