Air Fryer
Air Fryer Popcorn Chicken
Crisp panko coating and a juicy middle in 10 minutes. The buttermilk soak, the 10-minute rest and the spray oil that decide whether the crumb stays on and goes golden.
Ingredients
- 500g chicken breast, cut into 2.5cm pieces
- 150ml buttermilk
- 75g plain flour
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 egg, beaten
- 100g panko breadcrumbs
- Spray oil
Method
- Cut the chicken into even 2.5cm pieces so they cook at the same rate.
- Tip them into the buttermilk, stir to coat, and chill for 30 minutes if you have time. Ten will do.
- Mix the flour with the paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper in one bowl. Beat the egg in a second. Put the panko in a third.
- Lift each piece out of the buttermilk, through the seasoned flour, then the egg, then press it firmly into the panko until thickly coated.
- Rest the coated pieces for 10 minutes so the crumb sets and stays on.
- Arrange in a single layer in the air fryer basket, spaced apart, and spray lightly with oil.
- Air fry at 200°C (390°F) for 10 minutes, shaking or turning at 5 minutes.
- They are done when deep golden and crisp, and the middle reaches 75°C (165°F).
Notes
- Even sizes matter more than exact sizes. Mixed pieces means some dry out while others are still raw.
- The 10-minute rest after coating is the difference between crumb that stays on and crumb that falls off in the basket.
- Do not crowd the basket. Overlapping pieces steam instead of crisping, which is the whole point.
- No buttermilk? 150ml milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice, left to sit for 5 minutes, does the same job.
- Spray oil is what turns panko from pale and dusty to properly golden.
- Air fryer models vary. Treat the times as a guide, go by colour and crispness, and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Watch it
More Air Fryer Chicken
Air fryer models vary in power and basket size, so treat the times here as a guide — go by colour and crispness rather than the clock, and adjust the seasoning and glaze to your taste.
Recipe source: Method corroborated across published air-fryer popcorn chicken recipes: Tasty (tasty.co), Budget Delicious (budgetdelicious.com) and Nicky's Kitchen Sanctuary (kitchensanctuary.com). Chicken breast cut into 2.5cm pieces, buttermilk, a seasoned flour dredge and panko, air fried at 200°C (390°F) for 10 minutes and turned at the halfway point — Tasty specify 200°C (390°F) for 5 minutes, a flip, then 5 minutes more, which several other published versions match. Buttermilk soak and the rest-before-frying step are the two things every source names for coating that stays on.