Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

A quick recipe drop so that I don't lose this recipe! The safest place for me to store my recipes is right here on the blog, but it's a lot. Sixteen years worth.  I have never counted to see how many recipes are here. The blog is my go to place for finding what I want. If you also use this site to find recipes, remember you can search two ways. The recipe index is one of the tabs at the top just under the header. I list them alphabetically by recipe name.

But sometimes that isn't helpful. A friend was looking for my chili recipe and told me she couldn't find it. She was looking in the Cs—for chili. Makes sense. Except the name of the recipe is Damn Good Chili, so it's in the Ds! I tripped myself up today when looking for Beef & Broccoli for tonight's dinner. It's listed as EASY Beef & Broccoli. So it's down with the Es.

The way I search most of the time is by using the tiny little search box that you'll find in the top left corner of the blog window—in the web version. There's a tiny little magnifying glass in it. That signifies "search." If you normally use your phone to look at the blog, there is an option to switch to web version at the bottom of the most recent posts. Hope this helps.

Now on to the recipe. I had a pack of boneless, skinless chicken thighs that needs to be used. I was short of time so I thought the air fryer might do the trick. When I searched for air fryer chicken thigh recipes nearly all of them were for thighs with skin and bone. I kept looking and found this one recipe.

We were so hungry that night that I didn't slow down to make a good photo. So what you see at the top is a photo of the dish of leftover chicken that was headed to the refrigerator. This turned out to be great to have cooked chicken on hand for a couple of days. Can't wait to make this again.

AIR FRYER CHICKEN THIGHS

1-1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1-1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

Some freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Squeeze of lemon juice to finish

Trim chicken thighs if you want to. (I did)

In a bowl, toss chicken thighs with the spices and olive oil. Let it marinate for 15 minutes up to 2-3 hours in the fridge. (If you’re in a hurry, you can skip the marinating.)

Air fry at 375º for 11-13 minutes, until deeply golden and a bit crisped on the outside. Internal temp should reach 165º. 

Let it rest a few minutes before serving. If you’d like, squeeze a little lemon juice over the top to finish.

That’s it. I cooked mine an extra couple of minutes. Each air fryer is a little different. I'm learning that that for almost every recipe I need to add a minute or two to the cooking time. Yes, I did use a meat thermometer to check the temp. I did realize days later as I was putting away spices that I had grabbed smoked paprika instead of plain. It was good, but now I want to try it with the plain paprika.

Experimenting In The Kitchen

Sausage, Potatoes & Green Beans

Wouldn't you know it? The week I decide start learning more about my instant pot I read that the Instant Brands—maker of the Instant Pot—has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Hopefully it's one of those things that the powers-that-be figure out and the regular workers keep on going. And now I hope that my own Instant Pot lasts forever.

I've had an Instant Pot for several years now. I have used it from time to time, but I've said more than once that if it died, I probably wouldn't replace it. But for reasons I can't explain I decided it was time to get bold with using it. I started with this Instant Pot recipe for dinner because I had a smoked sausage in the refrigerator. And I needed to start emptying the fridge before family arrives tomorrow and the groceries I stock will change over to groceries more suitable to larger families.

Let me say upfront that this is the kind of recipe that puts "instant" in the instant pot. So many Instant Pot recipes really aren't faster that a stovetop version. But they can cook unattended and that's reason enough for many people to embrace one.

I knew this was a gamble for out supper. I figured my husband might not want this. But I told him we had frozen pizza if supper was a dud. After we finished eating Daddy-O said, "Be sure to tell them that I really liked this. And I wasn't too sure when you told me what we were having for dinner. But this is really good!"  

Here is the recipe. So simple. So quick. So yummy. The green beans were perfectly cooked. I'll try cooking only green beans another time, using this cooking time.

SAUSAGE, POTATOES & GREEN BEANS

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

24-oz bag small red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks

1-1/2 lb fresh green beans, washed & ends trimmed

13-oz package turkey smoked sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch slices

2 teaspoons Montreal Chicken Seasoning, or to taste

4 tablespoons butter, cut into 8 pieces. (That’s a 1/2 stick)

Pour broth into pot. Add the prepared potatoes, beans and sausage and sprinkle with Montreal seasoning. Give it a stir. Put butter pieces on top.

Place lid on pot. Turn valve to “seal” and press Manual button. 

Set timer to 3 minutes. (High pressure) 

When time it up, do a Quick Release. Give it all a gentle stir.

• To make this super easy, I chose a 24-oz “steam in the bag” package of red potatoes. They are prewashed. I quartered them. 
• Do not use canned green beans for this. They would be mushy after cooking.
• I didn’t weigh the green beans. Bought a bag of fresh ones and trimmed ends until it looked like enough.
• I used a 6-qt pot. 

For as much as Daddy-O liked the main dish, his first words at the supper table were, "This toast is OUTSTANDING!" I won't argue. It was really good. And I used my new little air fryer. 

I have resisted buying one for ages when all around me raved about them. Last week I ordered Dash Mini 2.6-qt. air fryer. I've only had it long enough to try a couple of things. I had resisted an air fryer because I didn't want to have to learn to use another appliance. And I didn't want another big thing sitting on the counter. This one is small, suitable for 1 or 2 servings. And that's fine for our household. 

After looking at a few recipes, I cooked chicken strips. And when I realized I could take the basket out and look at the food. Just like looking at food in the oven to see when it's ready.  I relaxed about figuring out the exact cooking time. 

So tonight I popped a couple of slices of frozen garlic bread in the air fryer set to 400º. I checked in about 3 minutes and it looked nice and brown, but when I picked it up the bottom was soggy. So I turned it over and let it cook for another couple of minutes. And as Daddy-O said....OUTSTANDING! It was golden brown and crunchy. And it was all done in less time that it takes to preheat my oven. 

This little air fryer would only hold 2 slices, but that's all we needed.