Ritz Cracker Chicken. How to air fry Ritz cracker chicken. Chicken breasts are smothered in grated cheese and Ritz cracker breadcrumbs to make the best cheesy breaded chicken experience in the air fryer ever.
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Ritz Cracker Chicken
My memories of Ritz Crackers are always Christmas time. I am British born and Christmas would not be the same without finishing Christmas dinner with cheese and biscuits and mince pies.
There would always be plenty of crackers (including Ritz) to load up with your favourite cheese.
Even now living in Portugal, I will buy a lot of them at Christmas to have with my favourite cheese and then rarely buy them outside of Christmas time.
When I went to the British supermarket with the hubby and added Ritz crackers to the trolley, he looked at me in surprise.
To which I told him that we were going to try breading chicken with it. One of our readers said it was amazing in the air fryer and I wanted to see if it was as good as people said.
If you have not done the Ritz Cracker Chicken before, then this is the yummy air fryer version.
What Is Ritz Cracker Chicken?
Ritz cracker chicken is when Ritz crackers are used instead of flour in breaded chicken. Depending on the Ritz cracker recipe you follow, the breadcrumbs may also be replaced.
Ritz crackers are blended and make an alternative bread crumb that is then used to coat the chicken.
It also goes by many names too. Even though it is most widely known as Ritz Cracker Chicken it is also called:
- Cracker Crumb Chicken
- Cheesy Ritz Chicken
- Ritz Cracker + Cheese Chicken
- Ritz Cracker Chicken Fried Steak
Though I did see about another 30 or so different names for Ritz cracker chicken and do comment and let me know what you call it where you live.
Can I Use Ritz Crackers Instead Of Breadcrumbs?
Yes you can. Though through recipe testing’s of this Ritz cracker chicken recipe, I found that what worked the best was a combo of breadcrumbs and crushed Ritz crackers.
I tried making Ritz chicken first with JUST crackers and found that even though it was amazing, it didn’t have the level of crunch that I wanted.
Just by adding 2tbsp of breadcrumbs to your crushed crackers can make a huge difference to the recipe.
Ritz Cracker Chicken In Air Fryer
If you have not already guessed from the 400+ air fryer recipes on Recipe This, I am a HUGE air fryer fan.
Ritz Cracker Chicken is ideal for the air fryer because you can use the air fryer to cook it in a similar way to baked but with the crunch of deep fried.
Though, the only downfall is that you can only fit 2 chicken breasts in at once and will need to batch cook if feeding more than 2 people.
Ritz Cracker Chicken With Cheese
The ingredients for air fryer Ritz cracker chicken, are simple everyday ingredients that you can source, without having to go grocery shopping.
- Chicken Breasts – You can use thin or fat, large or small. It really doesn’t matter. Just remember to adjust your air fryer cook times based on your size.
- Egg Bowl – Create a bowl with beaten eggs ready for your breading. You also need to add in some milk and your egg bowl batter will be like when you make a quiche.
- Ritz Bowl – Load Ritz crackers into the blender and then load into the bowl. Add in other favourite seasonings. If you want more of a crunch to your cracker chicken, then add some breadcrumbs.
- Cheese Bowl – I buy cheese in bulk when on reduced price and then bulk up in the freezer. You can load frozen or fresh grated cheese into this bowl. You can also choose any cheese that cooks well. Avoid mozzarella as it melts too fast and instead go for a cheddar or an edam.
Any air fryer will do a good job at air fryer Ritz cracker chicken, though we are using our Philips Air Fryer XL.
How To Bread Chicken With Crackers?
Breading chicken with crackers is EASY and the production line is similar to making our air fryer schnitzel or our air fryer chicken cordon bleu.
What you must remember is that blended crackers carry a lot more liquid and are much wetter compared to breadcrumbs.
You can only blend a few at a time in the blender otherwise it will get stuck and its harder to handle when breading.
BUT breaded chicken using with crackers is less dry once cooked and has a much better texture and results in perfectly moist chicken.
Beyond that the process is the same compared to regular breaded chicken and a great way to use up spare crackers that you have in your pantry.
How To Make Ritz Cracker Chicken?
The quick version of cooking chicken with crackers in air fryer goes as follows:
- Create a production line with bowls of egg, crackers and cheese.
- Load chicken into egg, then cheese and then crackers until well coated in each.
- Air fry + eat!
There is a little more to it than that, but those are the simple basics!
Ritz Cracker Chicken In Air Fryer
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Ritz Cracker Chicken Ingredients:
- 2 Large Chicken Breasts Butterflied
- 1 Box Ritz Crackers
- 200 g Grated/Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 2 Eggs Beaten
- 2 Tbsp Whole Milk
- 2 Tbsp Breadcrumbs
- 1 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 1 Tbsp Chicken Seasoning
- Salt & Pepper
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil Spray optional
Instructions
- Add your Ritz crackers (a few at a time) to your blender and blend your crackers.
- Add chicken seasoning and a little salt and pepper to your chicken breasts. Create your production line with a bowl for eggs, a bowl for crackers and a bowl for grated cheese. Add garlic puree and milk to your egg bowl, breadcrumbs to your cracker bowl. Season all three bowls with salt and pepper and stir.
- Add your chicken to your egg bowl, then your grated cheese bowl and finally your cracker crumbs. Making sure each bowl has well coated your chicken.
- Load your chicken into the air fryer basket and cook for 10 minutes at 180c/360f. Turn with kitchen tongs, spray with extra virgin olive oil, and cook for a further 6 minutes at the same temperature.
- Load onto plates and serve with your preferred sides.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
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Oh yum, this sounds delicious! And love your breaded chicken, by the way ????
Your Ritz Cracker Chicken is AMAZING. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Samantha!
I just LOVE your writing style! Each evening i look forward to your air fryer recipes coming in (i am in Australia) and cook them for dinner.
Just make your ritz cracker chicken and so so good!
Thanks so much!
Where in the recipe is the cheese? What kind of cheese and how much?
Hi Karen,
Sorry our mistake 🙁
You will need about 200g of grated/shredded cheddar cheese. Then put in a dish and after you have covered the chicken in the egg put the chicken into the grated cheese then into the crushed crackers 🙂
Didn’t say what temperature the air fryer should be? Preheat?
Hi Judy,
In the recipe if you look down at point 4 you will see the time and temp for the air fryer. There is no pre-heat for the chicken. Just consider the size of your chicken breasts compared to ours, if bigger add more time if smaller take off a minute or 2 🙂