Pull those bone in, skin on chicken thighs out of the refrigerator and make these air fryer crispy chicken thighs tonight! In under 30 minutes you will have a delicious family friendly dinner.
Related: I get all of my grass fed beef and pasture raised chicken from Butcher Box. Read my honest review here.
Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
This is the perfect way to cook chicken thighs for that extra crispy skin and no need to heat up the oven.
- Just 5 ingredients - chicken thighs, smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, and onions powder (plus salt and pepper but those don't count!)
- Cooks quickly thanks to the air fryer - These take about 25 minutes in the air fryer...which is great!
- No splatter on the stove top!
Personally, I think the air fryer is the best invention besides a home coffee maker. I use mine just about everyday!
I love to make burgers, pork tenderloin, crispy pork chops, and even crispy Brussels sprouts.
My method for crispy chicken thigh skin
I start by pre-heating the air fryer before I spray with cooking spray. I do this only when I want my food to be really crispy.
I make sure the chicken thighs are patted dry and any excess skin is cut away.
Then I mix the chicken thighs with all of the seasonings.
Now we can place the chicken thighs in the air fryer basket skin side down.
I do this so the skin can start to render the fat without browning the skin too much.
I also do this with my Air fryer whole chicken recipe.
My Air fryer has a 6 quart basket so 4 chicken thighs fit perfectly.
If your air fryer is smaller you would need to cook these in batches.
After the chicken thighs cook skin side down, we can flip them over and continue to cook them until the skin is nice and crispy and the internal temperature is 165F.
Making this a complete meal
I like to serve these air fryer chicken thighs with cauliflower Mac and cheese, keto green beans with bacon, or a broccoli salad.
Air Fryer Chicken Thighs - Super Crispy!
INGREDIENTS
- 4 Bone in, skin on chicken thighs, trimed of excess fat and skin
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Onion powder
EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your air fryer to 380F for 5 minutes. After pre-heating, spray with cooking spray.
- Add the chicken thighs to a large zip-top bag or a bowl with a lid. Top with the kosher salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano and onion powder. Shake to coat.
- Place the chicken thighs in the air fryer, skin side down, for 12 minutes.
- Turn your chicken thighs skin side up and cook for 10 minutes more. If you would like your chicken thighs super crispy. Cook for 4 minutes increments to get your desired crispness.
- Thighs are done when an internal meat thermometer reads 165F. Serve.
NUTRITION PER SERVING
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy only. Please re-calculate on your own with the ingredients and amounts you used for the most accurate data.
Elaine Stephenson says
This is the only way I'll cook chicken thighs now.
Patrick D. says
Simple and quick as can be and really tasty.
Kacie says
Very good! Will use this method often from now on. The thighs were perfect. Thank you!
Ymile Thompson says
Quick and easy as promised. Importantly DELICIOUS!
Lynn says
We made this tonight and it was great! This is only the second thing I've tried in our new air fryer (the first was frozen French fries, so not really a recipe.) This chicken came out perfect, crispy outside and juicy inside. The spice mix was tasty too. And it was so simple to make! Thank you for the recipe.
Emily Newton says
This is LITERALLY one of our favorite recipes to use. So easy. So fast. The chicken is flavorful and so juicy. My son asks for me to make this as much as possible...and I'll be honest -- he is totally ravenous when it's done and would probably eat them all if I let him. Thank you for putting together such a fast and easy recipe!
Sara says
This was really tasty! I’ll definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing!
LVChris says
The thighs were excellent. And the directions and narration were spot-on. Great job!
Laura Beth says
Easy and delicious. Moist and crisp.
Julianna says
I’ve used a couple of different recipes but I feel like the time and temperature was really good with this recipe! The chicken came out to a crispy perfection! Will be using this recipe weekly!
Jam says
This will be my new go to recipe whenever I have bone in chicken thighs in my fridge! Soo crispy and juicy!
Arlene says
Love this simple recipe! It’s the second time I’ve made it but it doesn’t fail to disappoint. So easy when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare dinner. It’s a keeper!
Ann Honeycutt says
It’s delicious!
Jan says
I made this for supper tonight...2 legs and 2 thighs. The chicken was moist and the seasoning was delicious. This recipe is a keeper!
Note: My chicken was only about 3/4 thawed, so I added 2 minutes to each stage and it was perfect.
Heather says
This is my favorite chicken thigh recipe. I couldn't even begin to tell you how may times I've made it. I usually forget to take them out of the freezer and this still works great. I add 3 minutes to each round, and finish with the 4 minutes to get the extra crispy skin, and it never disappoints. No matter what seasoning blend I use. Thank you for making weeknight cooking life easy!
Rose says
OMG what a fabulous tasting moist chicken recipe. I put the seasoning in a ziplock bag with oil and mixed the chicken instead of spraying my basket. Yessss my hubby loved the crispy skin. I don’t eat skin but where there was no skin the spices carmalized on the meat. Oh my thighs must’ve been small because I stopped 4 minutes short. Done to perfection thank you 👍👍