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.

Recipe Catch Up

I got so behind this summer. We had good times with the family and there were good recipes cooked in this kitchen. The grownups and the almost grownups are all good cooks. And everyone had a turn in the kitchen. I did not get a photo of all the deliciousness we enjoyed. Nor do I have recipes for all of them. But I do have a couple to share from July. If I don't get these recipes tucked away here, I'll likely lose the printed copies.

Both of these were made by Jessica when she and the children were here. Daughters and sons-in-law are good about taking over meal prep when they visit. The only complaint I have is that sometimes we eat too well!

Caprese Chicken

STOVETOP CAPRESE CHICKEN

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/3 cup basil pesto (she used store bought)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

Cherry Tomato Topping:

2 cups halved cherry or grape tomatoes

1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced

1/2 cup sliced basil leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Pinch of slat and pepper

Place chicken on a cutting board; cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap and with a meat mallet (or heavy skillet), pound the chicken until it’s a uniform 1/2-inch thickness. Pat dry with paper towels.

Place chicken in a large bowl and add the olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, slat and pepper Toss until well combined. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.

While chicken is marinating, make the tomato topping. In a medium bowl, combine all the topping ingredients. Toss to combine. Set aside while you cook the the chicken. 

Heat skillet on stove. All enough oil to cook. Cook chicken, turning halfway through, until done. Reduce heat and spoon about a tablespoon of pesto on each chicken piece. Spread it across into an even layer. Sprinkle the tops with the mozzarella. Cover and cook on low heat until cheese is just melted.

Let chicken rest about 4 minutes before serving. Then plate the chicken and spoon the tomato topping over each piece.

(This recipe came from The Defined Dish. Check out her original instructions for cooking on a grill. I guessed at exactly how Jessica did it. But I'm sure you can adapt.)

We served this with rice. Thank goodness for those quick microwave packs for days when there aren't enough hands.

Creamy Chicken & Tortellini Bake

Now THIS is a company kind of dish. It's rich and creamy and full of flavor. It's more effort than the caprese chicken. But it's not hard. Just has a long list of ingredients. Don't be put off. 

CREAMY CHICKEN and TORTELLINI BAKE

4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced

2 cups thinly sliced baby Bella mushrooms

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

5-oz baby spinach

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup heavy cream

18-oz refrigerated cheese or spinach tortellini (she used Rana)

1 cup packed basil leaves (more for garnish)

2 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 375º. Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet or heavy skillet and pound until it’s a uniform 1/2-inch thick. (I have used an empty wine bottle to pound.)

Season chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. Sprinkle with flour and use hands to rub flour into chicken so it’s well coated.

Heat oil in large, oven safe skillet over medium-heat. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Move chicken to a clean plate. (It will finish cooking in oven.)

Reduce heat to medium. If skillet seems dry, add 1 more tablespoon oil to the pan. Add shallot, mushrooms, garlic and cook, stirring, until tender about 2-3 minutes.

Add sun-dried tomatoes, dijon, broth and whisk to combine. Cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add spinach, salt, pepper and cook stirring, until wilted.

Add cream and bring to simmer. Once simmering, add tortellini and basil. Gently toss until well combined and basil has just wilted.

Remove from heat and nestle chicken breast into the skillet. Top with parmesan. Transfer to the oven and bake, uncovered, until chicken is just cooked through and tortellini is tender, about 12-15 minutes. 

Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Garnish with more basil is desired.

Yep. Definitely a special dish for your favorite guests. My normal cooking now is so simple. This is far beyond what I usually prepare. But I would make this for a special meal.

NOTE:  To anyone like who grew up in the last century (like me) when stores stocked two kinds of salt—plain and iodized—be sure you are aware that there are about a dozen kinds of salt that you might find on the store shelf now. 

If you only have table salt like Morton's in your kitchen, know that it measures differently. Use less if you don't want your dish too salty.  Here's why:

Kosher salt is no saltier than table salt by weight —they are chemically identical. However, by volume (measuring with a teaspoon), table salt is much saltier because its tiny crystals pack tightly together, meaning a teaspoon of table salt contains nearly twice as much sodium as a teaspoon of kosher salt. 

Substitution: As discussed in r/Cooking on Reddit, users on the forum reach a consensus that you should never substitute table salt 1:1 by volume for kosher salt, or your dish will end up way too salty (use about half the amount of table salt if a recipe calls for kosher salt).

  

To Cook Or Not To Cook...That Is My Question

Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta Bake

I'm getting lazier and lazier about cooking. But eating out brings it's own set of things I don't always want to do—getting dressed, driving to town, waiting on the food, etc. It can take longer to go out for dinner than cooking. So last week I tried a new recipe minutes after announcing I wan't cooking dinner. Cooking seemed to be the lesser effort.

The recipe was good enough that we ate it for two nights, then packed up the last bit and took it to the lake for a quick meal down there. We are getting the lake place ready for family that will head this way in a couple of days.

I found the recipe online—actually its found me. It popped up as I was browsing the 'net. You can check out the original recipe at Bowl Me Over. She has good notes about how she made it. This falls in the comfort food category. 

As I often do, my version of this recipe was based on what I had on hand. I plan to make it again sometime and actually try it as it was written. I'll give you the recipe I found, then tell you how I changed it. I've realize as I'm trying to learn improv on the piano, I've been doing improv in the kitchen for years!

GARLIC PARMESAN CHICKEN PASTA BAKE

1-lb rotini pasta, cooked and drained (save a cup of pasta water)

3 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded

2-15 oz jars Alfredo sauce

1 cup garlic parmesan sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 375º. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

While rotini is cooking, mix chicken, Alfredo sauce, garlic parmesan sauce, and half the mozzarella and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cooked and drained pasta, adding some of the saved water if needed. You want it creamy.

Pour mixture in to baking dish. Top with the remaining cheeses.

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-35 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

You can broil it for 2-3 minutes to brown the top--but be careful not to burn!

Remove pasta from oven and let rest, covered with foil, for 5 minutes before serving. 

As I typed this recipe out, I realized how much I improvised. I knew I was changing some ingredients because I had to. But I failed to read the part about covering the dish with foil before I baked it! When will I ever learn to read ALL of the recipe!!! Nevertheless, it was good. It would have been a little creamier if I had covered it. Next time I'll know.

Okay. Here are my variations: 

• I had cooked, cut up chicken breasts in the freezer. I thawed them in the microwave while the pasta was cooking.  
• I only used one jar of Alfredo and one jar of garlic parmesan Alfredo sauce.
• The recipe calls for 1 cup of garlic parmesan sauce. Next time I will look for that near the salad dressing and bbq sauces. Evidently it's condiment used for wings.
• I added 1/2 cup pasta water since I didn't have the extra cup of sauce. 
• Since I only had 2 cups of chicken, I added some frozen peas. They were okay, but not sure I would had them again. 
• I only had one cup of mozzarella so I used that and plus one cup of cheddar. 

Because I had cooked chicken in the freezer, this was just a dump it all together and mix recipe. So quick. You could also use rotisserie chicken. Next time I will find the garlic parmesan sauce. An extra cup of sauce would make it nice and creamy. Mine was getting close to being dry. More sauce. Use the foil. Both of those things would have helped.

I think this is a dish my younger grandchildren would like...chicken, pasta, cheesy sauce. Now that you've read how much I changed things up, go try your own variations. If I had found any broccoli in the refrigerator I might have added cooked, chopped broccoli to the dish instead of peas. Like many recipes, it's just a starting place. Make it your own!

We will have family here for the next couple of weeks. Doubt I'll post again for a while. 

UPDATE: When I was at the lake last week, I shopped at a large grocery store nearby. I found the parmesan garlic sauce this recipe actually calls for! It's a sauce for wings. Can't wait to try it again and see if it makes much difference.

Tuscan Garlic Chicken (It's Gluten-Free)

Tuscan Garlic Chicken 

I've been sitting on this recipe longer than I intended. I had the photos all ready to post. Then life happened. All good things...but busy things. I've made this twice in the last few weeks. Once for family. And a week or so later, I wanted to take a meal to a household that I knew was gluten-free.

Often when I take a meal to people it involves pasta or bread or breadcrumbs or cream soups. But this new recipe was perfect. And perfectly delicious. It's a pleasant change of flavors from my usual dishes.

If you are an Instagram user, you can find the original source of the recipe. She is easyfamilyrecipes on IG. I love her posts and have made several her recipes. 

As always, I tweaked it a little. And the second time I was in a hurry and skipped drizzling with the dried tomato oil. I pushed the cheese to the side a little and added it after the fact. It was fine. I like a recipe that can hold up to my mistakes.

The other thing I liked about this recipe is that it isn't drowning in cheese. I like cheese. I like cheese a lot. So it was hard for me not to add more. But this time I stuck to the 1 cup it calls for. And it made for a much lighter dish.

I wasn't sure what to serve as a side dish with this. Jessica was here the first time I made this. She suggested roasted potatoes. If you buy the "ready to cook" bag of little potatoes, that's really easy to make. And it was a good combination with the flavors of the chicken dish.

This is so easy to make. Putting it together only takes a few minutes. I'm happy to have a completely new dish in my recipe box.

TUSCAN GARLIC CHICKEN

2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 breast halves)

1 cloves garlic (mine was large)

Salt & pepper

2 oz. fresh baby spinach (I used a big handful)

14-oz can or jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

8.5 oz jar sun dried tomatoes, drained (reserving 1 tbsp oil) and chopped

1 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375.º

Lightly spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Lay the chicken pieces flat in the dish. Season with salt & pepper and press garlic and spread it evenly over the chicken.

Place spinach, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes over the top. Drizzle the tablespoon of reserved oil over the top. Sprinkle the cheese over all. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes total. Cook the first 20 minutes uncovered, the lay a sheet of foil loosely over the dish and continue baking for the remaining time, 25-30 minutes, or until chicken reaches 165º internal temp.

MY NOTES:  

• She called for 2 cloves of fresh garlic. I did that the first time and it was really garlicky. One large clove was enough for us. 
• I only used half a jar of tomatoes. It looked like enough. If you love them, add them all! 
• The chicken breasts I bought the second time were huge. I cut off the little side piece (you can see the divide) and made chicken tenders, which I baked with a simple seasoning. The family getting this meal included a young child and I thought simple might suit him better. The report was he gobbled the chicken and potatoes!
• I think this would be a good dish for our book club but four chicken breasts won't work if we are all there. It might have been in the original recipe on her blog where I read that you could also use chunks of chicken. I might use a little more chicken, enough to cover the bottom of the dish.

Vintage Recipe

Chicken Tetrazzini

I had phone in hand to make a photo of this dish just after it came out of the oven. And before I made a picture, the doorbell rang. It was my book club ladies arriving for lunch. You know after that, I totally forgot about photos. But they know me well enough to let me get a quick picture of my plate before we ate lunch. 

I did get this picture as I cleaned up the kitchen later. This chicken tetrazzini recipe is one we've used for over 40 years. It's from the days when condensed "cream of _____" soup was in everything. I don't use much canned soup anymore, but it's works here and I'm not messing with a good thing.

Right after we married, I wrote aunts, uncles and lots of cousins asking for them to send me their favorite recipes. I got recipes from my mom and dad and sister. And I put them together in a family cookbook. This was so long ago that it involved letters with stamps, a typewriter, my secretary at work and a local printer to get this project done. (For those of you too young to remember typewriters, just know that making corrections was a pain in the patootie.) That tells you HOW long ago this was. If I were to to this again that family tree would have many, many more leaves!

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The recipe was contributed by my sister and over the years, I've made a few adjustments. So this is very version I use now. I had intentions of using fresh mushrooms this time but I was running behind in my prep. The canned mushrooms are acceptable here. I like sliced mushrooms so that if anyone doesn't like mushrooms they are easy to pick out. For years this was the recipe I took to new mothers. And sometimes the little kids in a family could easily avoid the mushrooms. 

Take note...this makes a 2-quart casserole—not a 9x13 dish.

CHICKEN TETRAZZINI

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup grated sharp cheese

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons flour

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/8 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon pepper

4-oz. can sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons chopped green pepper

1 tablespoon chopped pimento

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

8-oz. pkg. spaghetti, cooked (most boxes are 16-oz, so use half)

1 cup buttered bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2-qt. baking dish with PAM.

Put butter, cheese, flour, milk, soup, oregano and pepper in a large saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until cheese melts, stirring frequently.  Add mushrooms, green pepper, pimentos and chicken.  

Put cooked spaghetti in a 2-qt. baking dish.  Pour sauce over the spaghetti and stir gently.  Sprinkle with bread crumbs.  

Bake for 30 minutes.

You can make this with turkey or ham instead of chicken.

I wasn't sure that the 2-qt recipe was going to be enough for my group so I doubled the recipe this time. FYI, a 9x13-inch dish holds 3 quarts. So a double recipe filled that bigger dish and one smaller one. I put that one in the freezer for later. I did put the bread crumbs in a separate bag and laid it on top of the wrapped dish, then put them both in a zipper freezer bag. 

We actually ate this dish last night. It was just as good as the first time. I took it out of the freezer the day before and moved it to the refrigerator. If I had frozen a larger did, it would need a couple of days to thaw. Bake until internal temp is 165º. If it's not quite thawed it might take a few extra minutes.

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And I thought I'd share what spring is looking like here on the farm. Flowers are blooming, brilliant blue skies...and then nearly 6 inches of rain fell in 3-1/2 days. Our farm pasture extends all the way to the river.  Now, watch us have no rain in June and July!

The river has overflowed the banks.