How to Make Homemade Chicken Strips in the Air Fryer
This step-by-step guide for how to make homemade chicken strips in the air fryer yields perfectly crunchy and crispy chicken strips, without the mess and mayhem of traditional frying methods!
Add 2 cups of cold water to a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of salt, and stir to dissolve. Submerge chicken in brine, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the brine, and pat dry with paper towels.
Add your "crumbs" of choice to a shallow dish.
Combine the flour, onion powder, and granulated garlic in a shallow dish.
Beat the eggs in a third shallow dish.
Working with a piece at a time, toss the chicken in the flour, dip it in the eggs, and then coat with the crumbs.
Place the coated chicken strips on the wire rack in the bottom of your air fryer basket. Fill the basket so that the chicken pieces aren't overlapping (it will take a few batches of air frying if you have a smaller air fryer).
Air fry the chicken at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a an instant read thermometer registers the center of the chicken at 165 degrees F.
Remove the chicken from the air fryer, and repeat with remaining ingredients if needed. Serve chicken hot. (If working in batches keep the cooked chicken in a 200 degree F. oven until ready to serve.)
Notes
You can use so many different "crumbs" for this recipes! I have tried it all, and we love smashed crackers of all kinds, Panko bread crumbs, and even random things like smashed potato chips for this recipe. You can change it up easily by using flavored "crumbs," too. The sky is the limit!
This recipe is really easy to make gluten free. Just use gluten free flour, and make sure your crumbs are gluten free (gluten free bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, or even GF pretzels work great!).