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Create a delicious, budget-friendly main protein in your Ninja Foodi with this easy Dry Rub Air Fryer Chicken Thighs recipe. It takes less than 30 minutes to make and includes my DIY chicken dry rub that also goes great on wings, chicken breasts, drumsticks, and whole chicken. Pair this with any air fryer vegetable side dish for an easy meal.
Why Make This
- Two steps: season the meat and add it to the air fryer to cook. You don’t even have to flip chicken thighs halfway through.
- Juicy & crispy: the air fryer crisps up the skin while keeping the dark meat juicy.
- Budget-friendly: chicken thighs are one of the least expensive cuts of meat. You can get a bunch, season them up, and feed a family for less than $5.
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken Thighs: I’m using raw, skin-on and bone-in chicken thighs.
- Chicken Dry Rub: to keep things simple, I’m using my go-to chicken dry rub recipe. It includes common pantry staples like garlic powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, Italian seasoning, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Oil: I’m using avocado oil because it has a high smoke point. But you could substitute olive oil or melted coconut oil.
How to Make Air Fried Chicken Thighs
- Season the meat by drizzling it with oil and rubbing on 2 tablespoons of the chicken dry rub per pound of meat (photos 1-2)
- Add the chicken thighs to the air fryer cooking basket and cook on “air crisp”(photos 3-4)
Top Cooking Tips & FAQs
How long should you cook air fryer chicken thighs?
Depends on the temperature selected. In this recipe, I’m cooking the meat for 24 minutes.
Can you put raw chicken in the air fryer?
Yes! In fact, all of my air fryer chicken recipes include raw meat.
What temperature do you cook chicken on in the air fryer?
I prefer 400 degrees for most chicken parts. However, for the whole chicken, cooking between 350 and 360 is best to keep the chicken from drying out.
Recipes to Enjoy this with
- Air Fryer Green Beans
- Instant Pot Cabbage
- Cauliflower Pilaf
- Mashed Cauliflower & Keto Gravy
- Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts
More Air Fryer Chicken Thigh Recipes
- Boneless Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
- Cajun Chicken Thighs
- Air Fryer Garlic Butter Chicken
- Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Thighs
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
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Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Thighs, bone-in and skin-on
- 2 tbsp Best Chicken Dry Rub Seasoning, click for recipe
- 2 tbsp avocado oil, or olive oil
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Add the chicken to a large bowl or Ziploc bag
- Add the Chicken Dry Rub seasoning and oil to the bowl with the chicken. Then, evenly coat it with the seasoning and oil
- Add the chicken to the air fryer cooking basket skin side up.
- Air Crisp the thighs at 400 degrees for 22-24 minutes.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
