How Long to Cook Thin Chicken Breast in Air Fryer?

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Have you been wondering how long to cook thin chicken breast in air fryer? Keep reading to know more about this topic.

Depending on the size and thickness of your chicken breasts, the time required to air fry them will change. For smaller breasts, it takes 8 minutes, but for larger breasts, it takes 12–14 minutes.

Using an instant-read thermometer, cooked chicken breasts should have an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Check out this useful guide below:

Small Chicken Breasts (5 to 6 ounces): 8 to 10 minutes

Medium Chicken Breasts (7 to 8 ounces): 10 to 12 minutes

Large Chicken Breasts (9 ounces or more): 12 to 14 minutes

How Long to Cook Chicken Breast in an Air Fryer

The weight and thickness of the chicken breasts, the cooking temperature, and the type of air fryer you use are some of the variables that affect how long to cook them in an air fryer.

Because a higher cooking temperature helps to sear the skin of the chicken and seal in the fluids, we choose to air fry chicken breasts at 400° F.

To ensure consistent cooking, turn the chicken over halfway through the cooking process. Depending on their size, chicken breasts in my air fryer typically take 13 to 20 minutes to cook in total.

Your chicken breasts might cook more quickly than 13 minutes if they weigh less than 8 ounces apiece. When an instant-read thermometer put into the thickest portion of the chicken reaches 165° F inside, the chicken is done.

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How Does Brining Add Moisture to Meat?

A chicken breast that has been salted will absorb more liquid and salt throughout the brining process. While some of this liquid is lost while cooking, it is recovered by soaking in salted water, which makes the finished meal more flavorful and juicy.

This is especially beneficial for lean meats that have a tendency to dry out when cooking, including turkey and chicken breast. Basic ratio of brine: For a brine, a basic ratio of 4 tablespoons of salt to 6 cups of water is used.

How to Cook Frozen Chicken in the Air Fryer?

You may cook frozen chicken breasts in the air fryer without having to thaw them first. Just make sure the chicken is frozen as single breasts as opposed to multiple breasts frozen as one big mass.

It won’t cook as uniformly or turn out as juicy because you can’t pound frozen chicken to tenderize it and give it an even thickness, but it will still have flavor. After giving the chicken a quick olive oil brush, season it.

To ensure food safety, check the chicken’s internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer and add approximately 5 minutes to the cooking time.

How Do You Store and Prepare the Meal?

These chicken breasts can be cooked in advance to facilitate meal preparation.

1. Refrigerator: Keep for up to three days in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.

2. Freezer: After cooling down, chop or slice, if preferred, and store in an airtight container to keep for up to three months. Before heating, let it thaw in the fridge for the entire night.

3. Reheat: Cooked chicken breasts can be reheated in an air fryer for approximately five minutes at 350°F. Prior to adding the chicken, preheat the air fryer.

Alternately, slowly reheat in the oven or microwave. When reheating chicken in the oven or microwave, lightly mist the chicken dish with a small amount of water, then cover to retain the moisture.

What are Air Fryer Cooking Tips?

Given their high smoke points, avocado and olive oils are the ideal oils to use with an air fryer. It is important to lightly spray oil on the air fryer basket and the chicken before cooking to avoid the chicken cutlets sticking.

Make sure the pieces fit in a single layer and not on top of one another when air-frying several at once.

After 10 minutes of air frying, the air fryer chicken cutlets will be well cooked; but, if you would like a more golden brown exterior, continue air frying the chicken for a further 3–4 minutes.

165°F (74°C) is the safe internal temperature for chicken breasts. If your chicken is thick, make sure it’s cooked through by using a meat thermometer.

Cutting a whole chicken breast in half and pounding it thinly with a meat tenderizer until it reaches a thickness of 1/4 inch (6mm) is the finest method for making thin chicken breast.

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Bottom Line

Since air frying eliminates the need to preheat the oven, it’s the greatest way to cook delicious chicken in less time.

These tasty chicken breasts are ideal for meal planning in addition to being a quick and easy weekday dinner thanks to my easy spice blend. Without brining, this recipe yields incredibly tasty, tender chicken breasts.

The thickness of the chicken and the air fryer’s wattage and size will determine how long the cutlets take to cook. At 350°F, they will usually be cooked through within 10 minutes. Experiment with longer cooking times and hotter heat.