How to cook frozen Garlic Chicken Kiev in air fryer

Its a simple case of throwing your rock hard breaded chicken kievs in the air fryer basket, which only involves turning them over halfway.

Air frying store-bought frozen Chicken kievs involves following the suggested temp for oven cooking, precisely. With the oven cooking time, do reduce it by up to 8 minutes for air fryer, because naturally air frying is much faster. Don't overcook the kievs which is one of the reasons they leak the garlic butter centre.

Nothing special goes into air frying any kind of frozen chicken kievs which are normally sold in an enclosed box, and occasional a window package like these ones I used.

What you will do is position 2-4 breaded chicken kievs in the air fryer basket, which will hopefully be lined with foil. Parchment paper is fine, only the sturdiness of foil is useful for catch access grease/fat - plus garlic butter spillages which HOPEFULLY you can avoid.

To provide the best possible chance of leaks from the garlic butter centre, the chicken kievs will need to be air fried for the first 10 minutes upside down.

When its time to turn over the kievs - which is needed for even cooking and to crisp up all sides of the breaded kievs - do so by turning them over with your hands.

Handling the still hot chicken kievs is less hassle than using any kitchen utensils, which can get a little awkward, thus leading to the kievs spilling their load.

Chicken kievs will be frozen so its vital they're air fried at a medium heat, such as 355°F/180°C, which happens to be suggested by the manufacturer on the box.

If the heat is too high, the breaded coating will burn before the frozen centre has time to thaw and cook the rest of the way. Nice medium heat will allow time to properly cook the chicken all the way through -  whilst ensuring the liquid garlic butter centre is piping hot.

Kievs will be done once the breadcrumb coating has taken on rich, dark tone, while looking and feeling crispy. Demonstration was done so using TESCO 2 Garlic Butter Breaded Chicken Kievs, weighing 250g each.

Prepare 2 frozen Kievs

Frozen chicken kiev will be easy to handle and can be placed in the air fryer with no issues, with turning them over halfway also possible with bare hands.

• STEP 1: PREHEAT air fryer: 5 Minutes - Get the air fryer nice and hot so you can speed up the cooking process
• STEP 2: Line bottom of basket with foil - Kievs are best placed on foil in an effort to catch access grease and potential garlic butter spillages

• STEP 3: Sit 2 Chicken Kievs upside down in basket - I like to cook frozen garlic Kiev's upside at first, which I feel helps to prevent spillages
• STEP 4: Close drawer to begin cooking - With the chicken kievs positioned in the basket, gently close the drawer

NOTE: Lining the air fryer in foil is useful for not only catching grease/fat, but will save any garlic butter leaks. In addition, the foil can assist you in removing the kievs with ease.

Air fry any frozen Chicken Kiev

Frozen chicken kiev can be placed in the air fryer and allowed to cook for the full 20 minutes. Although turning them over halfway will ensure both sides are allowed time to go crispy - whilst avoiding either side to become greasy, and therefore soggy.

• STEP 1: Set temp to 355°F/180°C; time to 20 Minutes - Frozen chicken Kievs will be air fried at a medium heat to cook the frozen centre, whilst avoid burning the crispy breadcrumbs on the outside
• STEP 2: Air fry for 10 Minutes; carefully turn over - Air fry kievs undisturbed for a full 10 minutes, before carefully turning over kievs with hands

• STEP 3: Allow to air fry until full time - Continue to air fry for the second half, until the breadcrumbs have taken on a deep brown/golden colour with a crispy texture
• STEP 4: Remove Chicken Kievs whilst remaining on foil - Keep chicken kievs on foil lining, whilst pulling them out as you tip over the basket to one side

NOTE: Frozen chicken kievs are likely to spill a little of its garlic butter centre, of which not overcooking the kievs can occasional prevent leaks later on in the cooking process.

How long to air fry Chicken Kiev's

You don't have to guesstimate how long to air fryer a typical frozen chicken kiev sold in your local shop or supermarket.

In fact, the cooking time is right their on the back of your kiev packaging. It won't be air fryer time, but instead you will simply replicate the oven cooking time - only reducing the time by a full 8 minutes - based on the lowest suggested time.

For example, the oven cooking time on my packaging suggested 28-30 minutes; I air fried these chicken kievs for just 20 minutes - reducing time by 8 minutes.

What temperature your frozen chicken kievs are set to, will also be that of the temperature suggested for oven cooking, which will be a medium heat of about 355°F/180°C. Any higher, you'll risk burning the kievs before they have time to cook.

Avoid spilling garlic butter centre

Now admittedly, this is a tricky one, because while I avoided spilling the garlic butter centre on this occasion, you're unlikely to be so lucky.

Reason I found the garlic butter to leak, is due to overcooking the chicken kievs longer than they need to. So that means no more time than what's needed, because the kievs will begin to split open, thus spillage the garlic butter.

Hopefully, you will only see the grease run off onto the foil lining, and no sign of the garlic butter.

Air fry frozen garlic kievs upside done for 10 minutes, then turn them over for the remaining time - by gently flipping them over with your bare hands. With use of tools like tongs for example, could lead to splitting the kievs due to rough handling.

To Summarise

Air frying chicken kievs out of the freezing is as simple as doing them in your regular oven, only its much faster with far better results.

What the oven cooking instructions on the chicken kiev box suggests, is carried over for the air fryer. Only the temperature will be replicated exactly for air fryer, whilst the time is reduced by 8 minutes - with a full air frying time of 20 minutes.

Frozen chicken kievs will need time for the frozen centre to cook properly, whilst the breaded coating doesn't burn, thus the temperature is always a medium of 355°F/180°C.

Handling the chicken kievs by placing them in the air fryer and flipping them over halfway, can all be done with your bare hands.

I would say this is vitally important because you can be more careful, thus avoid splitting open the kievs if handled incorrectly, or a little on the rough side.

Spillage of the garlic butter centre is likely to leak for most of you, but can be avoided if you don't overcook the kievs, which is generally the main cause of spillages.

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