Air-Fryer Chicken Thighs Recipe

A crispy-skinned chicken thigh paired with a few sides—like a cucumber and tomato salad, steamed or air-fried broccoli, or mashed potatoes—is one of my favorite easy dinners. It’s simple and reliable, and something I can do without much effort. There’s a reason why many home cooks, including myself, turn to chicken thighs when they’re in search of a zero-fuss meal: They’re juicy, flavorful, and affordable, not to mention incredibly versatile. Win, win, win, win. I typically bake thighs, but now I have an even faster, more efficient way to cook them: the air fryer. As we’ve noted before, the appliance is basically a mini convection oven that circulates hot air to cook foods quickly and evenly.

As we pointed out in our recipe for basic air-fryer chicken breasts, the air-fryer is an undeniably quick and easy way to make chicken, but it’s not a given that that chicken will be juicy and flavorful. So we asked our test kitchen colleague and veteran recipe developer Julia Levy to come up with what we described as a basic method for air-fryer chicken thighs that are ultra-tender and flavorful with wonderfully crispy skin. Through numerous tests and tweaks, Levy did just that. Read on for the basic recipe, along with tips for getting the moistest, most appetizing chicken in the air fryer. You’ll also find  five variations on the basic recipe, including lemon-pepper, za’atar mint, chipotle-lime, and miso-ginger, which one of our testers described as having a “lovely caramelized crust that was just on the edge of being burnt,” adding, “It tasted like they just came off the grill, which is a flavor that’s hard to replicate in an air fryer.”

3 Simple Tips for the Best Air-Fryer Chicken Thighs

1. Choose bone-in, skin-on thighs. While boneless, skinless thighs don’t dry out as easily as boneless, skinless breasts, we still think it’s worth opting for bone-in, skin-on here for the most succulent results. Not only will you get optimal juiciness, but you’ll also get beautifully browned skin that one of our recipe testers described as “beyond crispy.”
2. Dry-brine the thighs for juicier, more flavorful meat. We’re longtime advocates for dry brining—this simple process makes for much juicier, more flavorful meat, and, unlike wet brining, you don’t need to fuss with a container of liquid taking up space in your fridge. In this recipe, we call for simply rubbing the meat with a combination of kosher salt, pepper, and baking powder, then letting it sit for a minimum of an hour (and up to 24 hours) in the fridge. 
3. Add some baking powder to the dry brine for crispy skin. As we’ve noted before (see Niki Achitoff-Gray’s article about crispy chicken and turkey skin), baking powder is slightly alkaline and raises the pH level in the chicken skin. This allows proteins to break down more efficiently, leading to crispier, evenly browned skin. Achitoff-Gray notes that as the baking powder comes together with the bird’s natural juices, carbon dioxide gasses form, producing “a layer of tiny bubbles” that “increase the skin’s surface area, allowing it to develop a crunchy texture once cooked.”