Air Fryer Shake N’ Bake Style Fried Chicken
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Have you ever wanted make air fryer Shake N’ Bake Chicken ? We did and how were the results? The answer is an enthusiastic YUM and YES for any brand of shake n’ bake style seasoned coating mix.
Air Fryer Shake N’ Bake Fried Chicken
This is a fantastic method to get a quick, easy and crispy air fried chicken drumsticks or chicken thigh dinner in minutes. Wow, we were impressed with the flavors in these seasoning mixes. Best of all, they’re crazy easy to use and the results in the air fryer are always crispy and fantastic. There’s many different boxed options for seasoned breading mix out there so let’s talk about how to use them.
Video: Air Fried Shake N’ Bake Style Chicken Recipe
How to Air Fry Chicken with Seasoned Coating or Breading Mix
- After testing several different brands we found that they are all super similar. For cooking times and techniques, they are pretty much the same.
- How do these shake n’ bake style brands differ? The difference is slightly in texture and flavor. Some are more seasoned and saltier than others. So just test a few different shake and bake style breading mixes to find the one that best suits your taste!
- The boxes say to moisten the chicken first and we added more options to do this: ice water, milk, egg or mayo.
- Chicken drumsticks, thighs, breasts and legs. Cooking times will vary depending on the size, thickness and type of cut of chicken. Once you make your first batch in your specific air fryer, you’ll know exactly what time and temp works best for your personal taste.
- Visit the recipe box below for all air fried shake and bake chicken recipe details. You can print the recipe too.
- Try all our Shake N’ Bake style recipes here (pork chops, veggies, fish fillets and more)
Seasoned Coatings & More To Use in This Recipe
Air Fryer “Shake ’n Bake” Style Chicken
The boxes say to moisten the chicken first and we added more options to do this: ice water, milk, egg or mayo.Chicken drumsticks, thighs, breasts, tenders and legs are all different so cooking times will vary depending on the size, thickness. Once you make your first batch in your specific air fryer, you'll know exactly what time and temp works best for your personal taste. If cooking different cuts of chicken, the tenders/strips and small drumsticks will always cook quicker. So remove those first if you’re also cooking other thicker cuts of chicken.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. (910 g) chicken drumsticks or thighs (4 drumsticks or 2 thighs per pound size)
- Ice water, beaten egg, milk, or mayo , to moisten the chicken
- 1 cup Shake ’n Bake Style Seasoned Coating Mix (approximately)
- Oil spray , to coat the chicken
Instructions
- Preheat Air Fryer at 360°F/180°C for 4 minutes.
- Moisten the chicken based on the seasoned coating mix instructions (or by using ice water, beaten egg, milk, or mayo). Coat with the seasoned coating mix.
- Spray air fryer basket/tray with oil or place a perforated parchment sheet in the air fryer basket/tray & lightly coat with oil spray (this helps keep the chicken coating from sticking & coming off).
- Place the coated chicken in a single layer (cook in batches if needed). Make sure chicken is not touching or the coating may flake off when you flip them. Lightly coat the chicken with oil spray.
- Air Fry at 360°F/180°C for about 25-35 minutes, flipping half way. Chicken thighs need about 5-8 minutes additional cooking time to cook completely through. Lightly spray any dry spots and then continue Air Frying for the remaining time or until they are crispy brown or until internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.
If your air fryer is preheated or if you are cooking multiple batches, you may need to reduce timing by a few minutes (unless preheating is called for in the recipe).
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: 285kcal, Carbohydrates: 5g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 85mg, Sodium: 275mg, Potassium: 214mg, Vitamin A: 159IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 12mg, Iron: 1mg
Check out more of our air fryer shake-n-bake style recipes here.
Easy Air Fryer Recipes
- Air Fried Chicken Recipes Here
- Crispy breaded potato wedges recipe: JoJo’s!
- Air Fryer Shake N’ Bake style fish fillets
- Breaded crispy broccoli bites with Shake N’ Bake style breading.
- Shake N’ Bake style pork chops in the air fryer is amazing!
- This recipe was originally published in 2019.
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12 Comments on “Air Fryer Shake N’ Bake Style Fried Chicken”
This recipe really gave me nostalgia as someone who grew up on shake n bake. Really great recipe.
I am 70 years old and my air fryer makes it so easy to make dinner we rarely eat out. I love your recipes. They are easy to follow. The best part is that they are very healthy.
I wanted to know if I can still make this with boneless chicken breasts? Would this change the temperature or cooking time?
Hi Alyssa, yes you can make it with boneless chicken breasts. But they vary so much in size and thickness. We suggest slicing them lengthwise so they are a little thinner. Yes, cooking time will be a little quicker. We suggest checking the thinner chicken breasts at about 15 minutes, flip them, then cook for another 7-10. But check them sooner than later so that they don’t end up being burnt or dried out. After that, you’ll know what the best timing is for your specific air fryer model.
Thank you for replying! 🙂
I can verify that 35 min is too long in a Power Air Fryer XL for thick breasts 🙂 I should have checked on it. Burnt black and barely moist. My bad though. Next time ill shoot for 20-25. I used ranch to moisten for an hour in the fridge like the shake n bake box optional recipe says. I hope this helps someone. Thanks
I have jumbo chicken drumsticks , would you suggest closer to the 35 min time range? Also it doesn’t look like you preheat? Just add and go?
Hi Carina, Yes we think it would be closer to the 35 minute range. But it also helps to pierce the drumstick close to the bone around the 25 minute mark. This will help cook the thick drumstick through the center better. And No, we don’t need to preheat.
Have you tried this with skinless chicken?
Hi Vickie, yes skinless chicken works too but to keep it from drying out we suggest moistening it with oil or egg before you add the breading.
Fantastic, but, why pork and chicken instructions?
Hi Ken,
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. We have 2 separate recipes because they have different time, temp.. and nutrition.
Happy Air Frying!