Right here at AirFryDay we regularly check trending, TikTok-born recipes. Your tortilla pizzas and biscuit doughnuts, if you’ll. They’re typically tasty, positive, however extra of a novelty than one thing you make on a regular basis — the form of factor you may make in a dorm room or for a gaggle of children begging for a deal with.
However air fryers are good for greater than hacks and faculty snacks. They’re successfully compact, electrical, easy-to-clean convection ovens. That is excellent for crispy, scrumptious weeknight meals. And I’ve obtained a staple meals you need to completely be cooking within the air fryer: hen thighs.
I’ve devised a recipe for you beneath, however that is the type of meals made to be revised to your liking. You do not have to marinade your hen. Or you may use a special marinade. Perhaps your grocery retailer has solely skin-on thighs. That is high quality. Or possibly it solely has boneless thighs. That is cool, too. Simply pop them within the air fryer and also you’re set.
Anyway, this is our recipe, which might function a base for you shifting ahead.
Components
-
hen thighs, as many or as few as you need or can slot in your air fryer
-
salt and pepper
-
different seasonings of your selecting – I used cayenne pepper and dried herbs
-
elective, for marinade: about 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, about 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 small can of crushed crushed pineapple, an enormous squirt of sriracha
Instructions
-
If marinating, put your hen within the marinade as quickly as someday earlier than cooking. I whisked collectively all of the marinade substances and dunked the hen thighs within the combination the evening previous to cooking. This marinade shouldn’t be, by any means, the one solution to go. It is what I had available that day. On the whole, I attempt to combine collectively salt (on this case, soy sauce), acid (balsamic), sweetness (pineapple), and warmth (garlic and sriracha). Mess around and use what you want.
-
Earlier than cooking your hen thighs, take away them from the marinade and pat dry. Permit them to take a seat at room temperature for a bit.
-
Pre-heat your air fryer to 400 levels Fahrenheit.
-
Season your hen thighs with salt and pepper, whereas including different seasonings you take pleasure in. I normally salt fairly liberally, but when your marinade was significantly salty watch out to not go overboard. The hen will take up the flavour and saltiness of the marinade. For reference, I reduce my typical quantity of salt in half since my marinade had loads of soy sauce.
-
As soon as pre-heated, coat your air fryer basket with nonstick spray, then air fry the hen for about 20 minutes. The cook dinner time will rely upon the scale of your thighs and if they’re bone-in. Juices ought to run clear when the hen is completed. One of the best technique to gauge cooking time is to make use of an inside thermometer to register a studying of no less than 165 levels on the thickest a part of the thigh.
The small print
Once more, this can be a recipe meant to be tinkered with. Have at it! In actual fact, I typically use boneless thighs marinaded in a Greek yogurt-based combination as an alternative of soy sauce. This recipe shouldn’t be gospel to even me.
The essential factor is to make use of your air fryer to cook dinner hen thighs. It really works properly for a few causes. First: I like marinated hen thighs on the grill. The sugars within the marinade will get charred whereas the darkish meat within the thigh stays juicy within the excessive warmth. The air fryer approximates that consequence by swirling round sizzling air. No charcoal or propane required. And, secondly, the air fryer is simple to scrub and easy to make use of. The marinade washes proper off the nonstick grate and basket. A pan, alternatively, will typically flip right into a sticky mess. Only a few buttons pressed and you have a stable dinner.
I do not see a approach you’ll be able to mess this up. Right here is how my ultimate product appeared.
Not unhealthy for little or no effort.
Credit score: Mashable
See the blackened components of the hen? That is the grilled texture you are searching for. The meat additionally maintained a juicy, tender inside as a result of hen thighs are maybe essentially the most forgiving factor on this planet to cook dinner. The marinade had time to penetrate and taste each chunk, which means you get a salty, spicy, candy punch with the whole thigh and never simply the seasoned exterior.
In brief: That is the proper weeknight entrée. It tastes prefer it took loads of effort however actually took about 20 minutes complete. The air fryer is for greater than TikTok hacks, and this recipe proves it.
