Reheat Fried Chicken. Easy to follow instructions and tips showing you the best way to reheat fried chicken leftovers. Whether you have KFC chicken to reheat, homemade or another brand, all will work well with this air fryer method.
Before we dive into this guide for reheating fried chicken in the air fryer, I have something even better for you to check out first.
It is our Learn Your Air Fryer online course and our free air fryer mini course. They are ideal for air fryer beginners. The free course runs for 5 days and is in the format of an email miniseries. While the learn your air fryer course runs every week with a new PDF and ecookbook for a whole year.
Or browse our site as we have 450+ air fryer recipes that are easy to recreate at home and we have been showing people how to use the air fryer since 2011.
Reheat Fried Chicken
Can I be honest now and say that my love affair with Kentucky Fried Chicken took a while to get started? In fact, until I was about 18, I HATED KFC and wanted to be as far away from the Southern Fried Chicken brand as possible.
You know how kids can be with their fussy eating habits and how as a child we hate something and then as an adult we love it.
Well, that was me with southern fried chicken.
I grew up in the 80’s/90’s in a small town when there was not much choice about fast food. You had McDonalds and that was it for the famous American chains.
There was plenty of fish and chip shops, a Chinese & an Indian restaurant and lots of kebab shops.
My dad would always complain about the lack of a KFC as he loved it. So, when we hit the city or were on the motorway stopping for dinner, it was always KFC.
BUT I hated meat, was a vegetarian at the time and was repulsed by the look of meat on the bone.
I would go next door and get some cauliflower cheese and complain that we should have gone to McDonalds.
I used to watch as my parents ate this horrible looking chicken and then feel even more tortured as they took the spare bit of the bucket home for later.
They were the first I knew of that would reheat fried chicken at home and after 20 years of adulthood and now loving KFC I would love to show you how to do the same.
Can You Freeze Kentucky Chicken?
This is the first question I always get asked when I tell them about my parent’s leftovers. The answer is a huge YES, KFC chicken freezes very well and you can keep it in your freezer for up to 3 months.
The quick way for freezing KFC Chicken is to load it into a big zip loc bag. Then load the bag into the freezer and then you can grab one piece of KFC chicken or several each time you want some.
Just like we have done here:
Can You Reheat Fried Chicken In Air Fryer?
Absolutely and that is what we plan to show you today. But even better than that, we will show you how to reheat fried chicken from frozen. So, don’t think you have to thaw your KFC chicken leftovers first, because you don’t.
Can You Reheat Fried Chicken The Next Day?
Yes, you can. Simply place your KFC leftovers in the fridge and then reheat them the next day. You can store them in the bucket that you purchased at KFC, or use a different container.
Traditionally, you would consume leftover chicken within 3 days, but as chef Dominic at Recipe This says, you don’t know how long KFC had it fresh before serving it to you. So, aim for 2 days max from purchasing it, to reheating it.
Can You Reheat Fried Chicken Twice?
Once cooked fried chicken can only be reheated once, otherwise you run the risk of food poisoning. What is suggested instead is that you only reheat enough fried chicken for what you need, that way you wont need to reheat it twice.
How Do You Make Crispy Chicken Crispy Again?
You cook it in the air fryer of course. Out of all the ways to make chicken crispy again, the air fryer is the best way.
Whether you plan to reheat fried chicken in ninja foodi, or reheat fried chicken in toast oven, or maybe you are using a classic air fryer basket like me, it produces perfect crispy chicken every single time.
Best Way To Reheat Fried Chicken?
If you want to reheat fried chicken, the best way to reheat fried chicken is in the air fryer and you can do it like this:
- Load fried chicken leftovers into the air fryer basket.
- Spray the skin with extra virgin olive oil.
- Air fry + enjoy!
Listen To Reheat Fried chicken in The Air Fryer
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How Long To Reheat Fried Chicken In Air Fryer?
We reheat our fried chicken for 16 minutes in the air fryer. This may differ depending on how much chicken you are reheating and how thick the pieces of chicken are. But 16 minutes is an average and can be used as a guide.
But do check the sizes of your leftover KFC chicken as you might have some pieces bigger than others and this can course the cook time to vary.
I weighed our leftover KFC Chicken after I had reheated it and discovered out of 5 pieces that:
- 2 weighed 80g
- 1 weighed 140g
- 1 weighed 96g
- 1 weighed 62g
So when you check to see if your chicken is fully checked, check the biggest one at the fastest part.
Reheat In Air Fryer
As well as our reheat KFC chicken in the air fryer we have a full series of recipes showing you how to reheat in the air fryer. You can follow the rest of the series below:
- How To Reheat A Burger In Air Fryer
- How To Reheat Onion Rings In Air Fryer
- Reheat Fries In Air Fryer
- Reheat Fried Fish In Air Fryer
- How To Reheat Rice In Air Fryer
- Reheat Chicken Wings In Air Fryer
- How To Reheat Pizza In An Air Fryer
- How To Reheat McDonalds Chicken Nuggets In Air Fryer
- How To Reheat McDonalds Fries In Air Fryer
Reheat Fried Chicken In Air Fryer
Instructions
- Place the frozen pieces of KFC Chicken into the air fryer basket and reheat for 16 minutes at 160c/320f.
- When it beeps following my notes below, check to see if the chicken is fully reheated.
- Serve with your favourite sides.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
I just bought an air fryer today and surprisingly, the booklet that came with it talks mostly about Cooking (not reheating). Yours is the first article that comes up when searching for How to Reheat KFC in an air fryer, so I wanted to thank you for your work.
I will write back with a recipe rating once I actually try this out.
Hi JE from Canada,
Really happy you found our article and are starting to use your new air fryer. Hope your chicken turns out good for you and we have loads of other re-heat recipes that you can follow 🙂
I have stuffed chicken breast before, with feta cheese and arugula or something like this. And my Family was indeed impressed ???? The Caprese combo sounds pretty amazing!
Harold Burton
What would the time/temp be if it wasn’t frozen? EDIT: Thanks it turned out great.
Hi Alisha,
If it was not frozen i would start with a 8 minute reheat depending on the size of your chicken and using 160c/320f, and this should be ok for most pieces 🙂
Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome post. Was wondering about reheating my KFC in the air fryer.
I never thought about reheating KFC in the air fryer. Thanks for the heads up.