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Make crispy Garlic Butter Chicken Bites that your whole family will love using this easy Garlic Parmesan Air Fryer Chicken Bites recipe. It’s the perfect appetizer or quick dinner since it takes just 30 minutes to put together. Enjoy these with my pressure cooker cabbage, air fryer green beans, or cauliflower pilaf for a budget-friendly complete meal.
Why Make Air Fryer Chicken Bites
- Quick & easy chicken recipe: these delicious chicken bites come together in about 30 minutes with simple ingredients.
- Budget-friendly Main Dish: I use a cheaper cut of chicken to make juicy and flavorful garlic parmesan bites that you can enjoy with any side dish. I eat these as a quick lunch or dinner. But, there are endless options to make this easy recipe great for the entire family.
- Works with a variety of cooking methods: I make my garlic butter chicken bites recipe in my air fryer, but you can also prepare this chicken dish in large skillet.
- No breading: some chicken bites recipes include tossing the chicken in a flour mixture. In this recipe, the flavorful garlic butter sauce and the air fryer work together to make the chicken crispy and golden brown.
Ingredients Needed
These juicy chicken pieces don’t take much. Here’s what you’ll need to gather:
- Chicken Thighs: I used boneless chicken thighs with the skin-on because it crisps nicely. But, it’s ok to use boneless and skinless chicken chunks or boneless skinless chicken breasts if that is the only option.
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Garlic butter: I’m using melted homemade garlic butter to add flavor and help the chicken bites crisp. My easy sauce includes things like fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, and ground or fresh parsley. But, you can also use lemon garlic butter sauce or swap the garlic butter for olive or avocado oil. Just be sure that you pair the bites with another sauce and omit the cheese.
- Grated Parmesan cheese
How to Make Chicken Bites in an Air Fryer
- Prepare the chicken: Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add the pieces of chicken to a medium bowl or ziploc bag
- Season the chicken: Add the seasoning, Parmesan, and melted garlic butter to the mixing bowl with the chicken. Then, evenly toss the chicken to coat
- Add the chicken to the air fryer basket: you can line it with air fryer parchment paper if you wish.
- Air Fry the chicken: Use tongs to flip the chicken and toss it in the cooking juices and flip halfway through
Top Cooking Tips & FAQs
- Swap the garlic butter: I’m using melted homemade garlic butter, but any rich garlic butter sauce will work for this recipe. Other options include my lemon garlic butter sauce and Cajun garlic butter sauce.
- Adjust the cooking time: this chicken bites recipe uses raw boneless and skinless chicken thighs and takes 10-12 minutes per side. If you use boneless chicken breast, the chicken will cook quicker. If you are using frozen raw chicken bites, then you’ll need to cook the chicken longer to give it time to defrost.
- Place chicken in a single layer: this is important for the hot air to circulate.
Using Frozen Chicken Pieces
One great thing about using an air fryer is that you can cook the chicken from frozen.
But, if you’re making sautéed chicken bites in a large cast-iron skillet, be sure to thaw your chicken before cooking this recipe.
Storage & Leftovers
Add leftover garlic butter chicken bites to an airtight container and store then from 3-4 days.
Alternative Spice Mixes & Variations
This recipe was inspired by my Garlic Parmesan Wings, but you there are some many options for flavoring these.
Some of my favorite variations are:
- Italian: season the chicken bites with garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, and Italian Seasoning. After cooking, top them with marinara sauce
- BBQ: use my brown sugar bbq seasoning and top it with your favorite bbq sauce
- Dry Rub: use my dry rub for chicken like I did in my air fryer chicken tenders and dip it in one of the sauces below
- Lemon Pepper: mix my lemon pepper sauce (from my lemon pepper wings) in a shallow bowl and toss the small bites in the sauce)
Best Dipping Sauces
You can eat these chicken chunks as is or treat them as a homemade chicken nuggets. If you do, add some of these sauces to a small bowl.
You can make them with skin-on chicken thighs. The skin crisps in the air fryer without breading.
Raw chicken bites take between 15 and 20 minutes to air fry, depending on the cut of meat and how much meat you are cooking. The internal temperature of the chicken meat should be 165 degrees.
Fully cooked chicken bites just need to be crisped and heated. Since they are often breaded, I would recommend spraying them with oil (you can use my best oils for air frying guide for tips). You should also flip them halfway through. You can begin checking for doneness around 14 minutes.
After making air fryer frozen chicken wings, I realize that frozen chicken tends to take about 5 extra minutes to defrost. Like the wings, you can coat individually frozen bites in spices and oil before air frying.
Recipes to Enjoy This With
You can turn these garlic chicken bites into an easy meal with these recipes:
- Loaded Cauliflower Casserole
- Air Fryer Green Beans Recipe
- Air Fryer Squash
- Keto Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe
- Cauliflower Rice Pilaf
- Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
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 Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Use DRDAVINAHS at checkout to save on some equipment & ingredients!
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thighs, boneless and skin-on, ok to use boneless, skinless if that is the only option
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp garlic butter, click for recipe
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, fresh, grated
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks.
- Add the chicken to a large bowl.
- Add the seasoning, Parmesan, and 2 tbsp of melted garlic butter to the bowl with the chicken. Then, evenly coat the chicken with the seasoning, Parmesan, and garlic butter.
- Add the chicken to the air fryer basket (you can line it with parchment paper)
- Air crisp the chicken bites at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Use tongs to flip the chicken and toss it in the cooking juices
- Air fryer on 400 skin side up for 10-12 minutes.
Recipe Notes
- Swap the garlic butter: I’m using melted homemade garlic butter to add flavor and help the chicken bites crisp. But, you can also use lemon garlic butter sauce.
- Adjust the cooking time: this chicken bites recipe uses raw boneless and skinless chicken thighs and takes 10-12 minutes per side. If you use boneless chicken breast, the chicken will cook quicker. If you are using frozen raw chicken bites, then you’ll need to cook the chicken longer to give it time to defrost.
- Place chicken in a single layer: this is important for the hot air to circulate.
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!
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