Best way to cook Chicken Breast fillets in air fryer
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Chicken breasts can air fry at different times and temperatures of which, I found the safest yet shortest time to be the key to air frying a juicy and tender chicken breast.
Chicken breasts will air fry best when placed in a foil tray, which helps to contain the natural chicken juices, additional oil - plus any seasoning or marinade covering the breasts. Typical chicken breast is best air fried for 26 minutes with a temperature of 340°F/170°C, with no added minutes required.
Air frying chicken breasts directly in the basket or whilst sitting on aluminium foil; a foil tray is best for containing the natural chicken juices, plus any additional oil and seasoning adding to the breasts.
And that is why this is the best way to air fryer chicken breasts, the foil tray helps to contain all the ingredients, and thus stops it all falling away.
Air frying chicken breasts directly in the air fryer basket will result in the chicken juices rendered out of the skin, dropping to the bottom of the air fryer.
With chicken breasts air frying inside a foil tray, the juices can be spooned back over the breasts, to baste it has many times as it takes.
In addition, a foil tray will help to keep cooking oil like Olive oil in the tray, which makes up part of the basting juice.
Chicken breasts air fried in a confined space inside a foil tray will do well to enhance the flavour of any seasoning or spices on the chicken.
I air fried two TESCO Taste Shack Piri Piri Chicken Breasts, each weighing 182g each, which air fried for just 26 minutes.
Oven cooking instructions asked for a whopping 40-45 cooking time, along with a 340°F/170°C temperature.
To air fry chicken breasts to their full potential, that time must be halved for air frying, whilst the temperature can remain the same as the oven.
Air fry chicken breasts the best way I know how, by making the most of a leftover takeaway foil tray, or use a brand new foil tray normally reserved for roasting - but only if it fits inside your air fryer basket.
Preparation
It could be a foil tray the breasts were originally sold in, or it could be a store-bought roasting tin; just be sure you check to see if the tray fits in your basket prior to air frying.
- STEP 1: Clean foil tray - Clean any re-useable foil tray prior to use, but of course this isn't necessary if the chicken breasts were sold with the tray
- STEP 2: Add Chicken Breast fillets to tray - Position up to two chicken breasts in the foil tray, making sure they're evenly spaced with no touching
- STEP 3: Pour over Olive Oil; season optional - Baste the chicken breast with Olive oil, whilst using the oil as adhesive to apply herbs and spices
- STEP 4: Preheat air fryer: 5 Minutes - With the chicken breasts in a foil tray ready to be air fried, first preheat the air fryer which is an important step
NOTE: Have a teaspoon ready for which you will use to gain access to any gaps in between the breasts, to spoon access oil/juice to baste the breasts several times in the 26 minute cooking time.
How to air fry Chicken Breasts
Don't be afraid to pull out the chicken breasts earlier than the 26 minutes, although with air frying, its helps to have a food thermometer available when air frying white meat. No need to turn over the chicken breasts halfway as its important to utilise the whole time to crisp up the skin, which can take a while.
- STEP 1: Set temp to 340°F/170°C; time to 26 Minutes - Cooking temperature was recommended for oven cooking; time was reduced by almost half
- STEP 2: Cook until halfway; baste with access juices - It might NOT be halfway, but as soon as the basting juices begin to appear, its time to baste several times until the 26 minute cooking time is up
- STEP 3: Continue to air fry until done - You can air fry the chicken breasts unchecked for the whole time, but need attending to in order to baste periodically
- STEP 4: Pull foil tray out of air fryer to serve - With use of a cloth or tongs, lift or drag the foil tray out of the air fryer, before getting ready to serve
NOTE: Instructions apply to all chicken breast recipes, both plain or flavoured. Air frying is focused on producing juicy and tender chicken breasts - which they won't be if you are too cautious - and insist on adding additional time.
Why this method is the best way
Why I believe there's no other way to air fry chicken breasts, is all to do with the foil tray, which is designed to cook chicken to rice and vegetables in.
Chicken breast fillets cooked in a compatible foil tray for your air fryer size, will not only contain the natural juices running down and out of the chicken skin, the tray will do well to contain seasoning and marinade.
Breasts covered in marinade will lose it all with no foil tray, thus air frying marinated chicken breasts in a tray will save all marinade, to be poured back over the chicken once you are ready to serve.
Other benefits include the ease of which you can frequently baste chicken breast fillets in their juices, while containing any seasoning and marinade in the foil tray.
When air frying plain roasted chicken breasts infused with a little seasoning or spices, again the foil tray will ensure it can all be returned back over the breasts as they cook.
Air frying chicken breasts in a foil tray must prioritise chicken breasts skin - if it isn't skinless breasts - facing up, as chicken skin can adhere to a rugged foil tray.
Summary
I can't think of a better way to air fry chicken breasts than placing them in a foil tray, which will help to contain all the goodness.
Goodness being natural chicken breast juices which will be caught in the foil tray, where you can return the juices back over the breasts by basting them multiple times.
Why else the method of air frying chicken breasts in a foil tray is favourable to other methods, is because all seasoning and marinade will also be contained - thus can all be spooned back over the chicken breasts once in a while.
Baste the chicken breasts as many times as you can within the 26 minute cooking time, by leaning the tray over to one side to create a pool of oil/juice to lift up with a spoon.
Chicken breasts should be air fried at a temperature of 340°F/170°C, which is low enough to produce juicy chicken breasts; yet this temperature must be in combination with the cooking time of 26 minutes.
Air fry chicken breasts for the time I've given, with a few minutes less possible, and certainly more beneficial.
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