Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Thighs

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Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Thighs. Delicious crispy chicken thighs cooked from frozen in the air fryer. Perfect for a quick supper in the air fryer and you will love how juicy the chicken thighs are and how the crispy skin is just as good as deep fried.

Even better, we will be showing you how to cook frozen boneless chicken thighs and frozen bone in chicken thighs.

Air fryer chicken thighs from frozen are updated in 2021, originally published in early 2020.

Frozen Chicken Thighs In Air Fryer

When I think about air fryer frozen chicken thighs, I often think about how much my parents would love them if they owned an air fryer.

They BOTH love KFC Chicken and often get a bucket and then save the rest at home for another time and those delicious KFC chicken thighs go in the freezer.

They are then reheated from frozen like we have shown you here.

But what if you meal prep your own KFC chicken and add it to the freezer? Or you buy frozen chicken thighs?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just grab some frozen chicken thighs from the freezer, load it into the air fryer and then come back later to delicious crispy air fryer chicken thighs.

Well this is EXACTLY what we are doing today with our air fryer frozen chicken thighs.

You choose your favourite type of frozen chicken thighs, whether it was made by you as part of meal prep, or you bought a bag or you have leftovers from takeout.

Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free air fryer mini course. It is ideal for air fryer beginners or those that want to get more confident with their air fryer. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

Can You Cook Chicken Thighs From Frozen?

Yes, you can. But only if you use a cooking device that will get the internal temperature of the chicken thighs hot enough.

For example, a slow cooker will never be hot enough for frozen chicken thighs, yet the deep fat fryer, air fryer, instant pot etc will.

Can You Cook Frozen Chicken Thighs In An Air Fryer

Though, I am sure you want to know first, if you can air fry frozen chicken thighs. Well the answer is a big fat YES.

Air fryer frozen chicken thighs are delicious and are rather effortless considering how good they taste.

The chicken thighs meat is moist, and the skin is crispy and tastes better than deep fried chicken thighs. Think of it like having a KFC takeout at home, but with a lot less calories.

Frozen Chicken Thighs Air Fryer Ingredients

There is not much to cooking air fryer frozen chicken thighs.

Grab your favourite frozen chicken thighs directly from your freezer ready to cook them in the air fryer.

No need to thaw them first, you can cook chicken thighs in the air fryer when they are frozen solid.

As well as your frozen chicken thighs you need a good air fryer. We have the Philips Air Fryer XL, Philips Air Fryer XXL and the Power Air Fryer Oven in our house.

But any good air fryer that has a decent basket size or oven shelves is perfect.

You don’t want to overcrowd the chicken thighs as you cook them and if your air fryer is very small, then the likelihood is that you won’t be able to cook more than 2 chicken thighs at once.

How To Cook Frozen Chicken Thighs In The Air Fryer?

Cooking frozen chicken thighs in the air fryer is so simple:

1. Remove the frozen chicken thighs from the packaging and place in your air fryer basket.
2. Cook for 10 minutes first on a medium temperature followed by 10 minutes on a lower temperature until they are thoroughly cooked.
3. Serve with your other favourite frozen foods!

Frozen Boneless Chicken Thighs In Air Fryer

I originally purchased Iceland southern fried chicken thighs back in late 2019. Then when we started recording videos in early 2021, I went back to Iceland to buy some more southern fried chicken thighs and they didn’t have any.

I mean what was I going to do because you deserved a video to go with the recipe?

I found they had replaced them with boneless chicken thighs instead and decided to do a video + share the time and temps too for the boneless version. Then if you have boneless chicken thighs or bone in, you can go with the correct cook times for you.

This is how to do it if you are cooking frozen boneless chicken thighs in the air fryer:

• Load. Remove frozen chicken thighs from Iceland packaging and load into the air fryer basket.

• Cook. Air fry for 12 minutes on 180c/360f and then spray with extra virgin olive oil to make the skin crispier.

• Finish. Next cook for a final 3 minutes at 200c/400f to crisp up the skin.

Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Thighs Temperature

I recommend an air fryer frozen chicken thighs temperature of between 160c/320f and 180c/360f. You can use one chicken thighs temperature for crisping the skin.

Whilst, the other temperature will make sure your frozen chicken thighs is thoroughly cooked in the middle.

How Long To Cook Bone In Skin On Chicken Thighs In Air Fryer

The recommended air fryer frozen chicken thighs cooking time is 20 minutes. You start off with 10 minutes at a higher temperature to give it a good blast and to crisp the skin.

Then you lower the temperature for a further 10 minutes to make sure your chicken thighs are thoroughly cooked.

More Air Fryer Frozen Food

Here at Recipe This we love sharing with our readers lots of frozen food that they can cook from frozen in their air fryer.

The possibilities are endless and often frozen food tastes better in an air fryer, then in the oven or in the deep fat fryer.

Here are a few of our other air fryer frozen Chicken favourites for you to try next:

• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Bites
• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Kiev
• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Pot Pie
• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Fingers
• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Strips
• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Nuggets
• Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Wings

We also have a lot more air fryer recipes for you to check out and find some new ideas for planning your meals.

As well as this we have our air fryer frozen food ecookbook, which is full to bursting with all our air fryer frozen recipes in one big PDF ebook. You can order it on this link or click on the banner below.

Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!