How Long To Cook Chicken Nuggets In Air Fryer?

Seeing a bunch of fast food places with different types of nuggets might have tempted you to want to make your own. Chicken nuggets can be served as a snack or as the main course for dinner, either way, they’re great! They can be classified as unhealthy depending on how they’re cooked, but the air fryer can solve this problem without using oil. If you want to make some at home, the chicken nuggets air fryer temp and cook time have to be paired correctly for the best result. My friends often ask these questions. How long to cook chicken nuggets in air fryer? What temperature to air fry chicken nuggets? Let us talk about them in this post and tips on the recipe for air fried chicken nuggets.

What temperature to air fry chicken nuggets?

For the best result, cook the chicken nuggets in the air fryer at a temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit. When you cook chicken nuggets in the air fryer at 400, you can expect perfectly cooked nuggets that are golden brown, crispy, and full of savory flavors and seasonings. You don’t want your nuggets to be cooked for too long or else the breading will get hard and the chicken meat will become chewy. Cooking for too little time can be dangerous as you may end up eating under cooked or raw chicken. Setting your air fryer to 400 is a great temperature to use if you want to guarantee chicken nuggets that everyone will love.

How Long To Cook Chicken Nuggets In Air Fryer?

Nobody wants to wait too long to eat, thankfully, chicken nuggets made in the air fryer cook pretty fast. It will take about 10 minutes to cook chicken nuggets in the air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. For the best results, flip the nuggets halfway through at the 5-minute mark to ensure that both sides cook evenly. If you want the chicken nuggets to be even crispier, leave them in for another 2 minutes to give the breading more time to cook.

What are other temperatures for air frying chicken nuggets?

Chicken nuggets can be cooked at other temperatures without too many problems arising, so feel free to experiment to find the temperature that works best for you. If you like to have extra crispy fried chicken nuggets, you can raise the temperature of your air fryer to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. It will take about 8 minutes to cook chicken nuggets all the way in the air fryer at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The good thing about higher temperatures is that your food cooks and crisps faster. The downside is the higher heat will dry the chicken faster and the chicken might end up not being as juicy.

If you like more moist chicken nuggets, you can lower the temperature of your air fryer to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. You can expect the chicken nuggets to cook in about 12 minutes in the air fryer at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lower temperatures help the food retain moisture better, but it takes longer to cook. In addition, you may not get much crisp on the chicken nuggets at lower temperatures, especially when you go under 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

How to make chicken nuggets in air fryer?

Once you make chicken nuggets from scratch, it’s easy to see what you’ve been missing out on. If you want to see just how good homemade chicken nuggets are, there are tonnes of air fryer chicken nuggets recipes online that you can follow. However, there’s one easy air fried chicken nugget recipe that I am fond of to make some homemade chicken nuggets. And here’s the steps on how to cook chicken nuggets in air fryer.

1 Get ingredients

Go to the store and buy a pack of chicken breasts, flour, breadcrumbs, eggs, seasonings, gallon zip lock bags, and cooking spray

2 Prepare the chicken meat

Start by rinsing off your chicken in some cold water to clean it. Then take some meat scissors and cut the chicken breasts into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces.

3 Season the chicken meat

Place 1 cup of flour into the gallon bag and season well. Place your pieces of chicken in the gallon bag and shake it up until all the pieces are coated.

4 Add breadcrumbs

Place an egg into a bowl and the breadcrumbs into a separate bowl. Dip the floured chicken bites into the egg and then dip into the breadcrumbs.

5 Air fry

Set your air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently spray a thin layer of cooking oil on your nuggets to help them crisp up a bit. Place them into the tray of your air fryer. Let them cook for 10 minutes. Flip them halfway through to allow both sides to cook evenly. Once they have been air fried, take out your chicken nuggets and let them cool. Enjoy!

How long to cook frozen chicken nuggets in the air fryer?

Fresh homemade chicken nuggets will definitely taste better. But sometimes, our hectic lifestyle leaves us little time than to buy prepackaged frozen chicken nuggets such pilgrim’s or trader joe’s  chicken nuggets.  Cooking food that is frozen typically means that it will take longer to cook, while this is true, using an air fryer will drastically cut down on the extra time it takes. It takes 12 minutes to cook frozen chicken nuggets in the air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

How to air fry frozen chicken nuggets?

If you are in the mood to have some snacks, here’s the steps on how to air fry frozen chicken nuggets.

1. Set the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Place the frozen chicken nuggets in the basket.
3. Air fry the frozen chicken nuggets for 12 minutes.  You need to give your nuggets enough time to thaw and get crispy, so feel free to add 2 minutes or so of cooking if you want them to have a bit more crunch to them. If you do decide to add extra time, just make sure to keep an eye on your chicken nuggets to ensure they don’t burn.

How to reheat chicken nuggets in air fryer?

Leftover chicken nuggets are typically subpar when it comes to taste and texture by the next day. The breading is soggy from the condensation and the meat becomes less tender and chewier. If you want to avoid this problem, just pop them in the air fryer to help them get back to their previous crispy deliciousness. Nobody likes eating leftovers that taste bad by the next day. Thanks to the air fryer, you won’t have to worry about this problem again. When you like to have some snacks, follow these steps for reheating chicken nuggets in air fryer.

1. Set the temperature of the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Put the chicken nuggets in the basket.  Don’t add any extra oil or anything, just place them into the tray as they are.
3. let them cook for about 4 minutes to give them a chance to reheat and get crispy.

Dipping sauce for chicken nuggets

I can easily finish up one tray of  air fried chicken nuggets on its own. But it certainly will give you more satisfaction to dip these fried chicken nuggets with some great dipping sauces that you like. And I sure have my favorites to recommend.

Tartar sauce

Tartar sauces have to be on top of my list when I’m looking for a dipping sauce for my homemade chicken nuggets. I especially like the creaminess of the sauce that gives a smooth texture to my nuggets.

Marinara sauce

Next on the list will be marinara sauce. I love the sweet tomato taste that it adds to my nuggets. And when it comes to marinara sauces, I like to follow these recipe to make some homemade marina sauces to dip my nuggets with.

Hot chilli sauce

And when the mood comes, I just want some hotness in my finger foods. There’s when I will use this hot chilli sauces to spice things up a little.

What to serve with chicken nuggets?

Air fried chicken nuggets can just stand on its own as the sole dish for finger food. But you can definitely provide a better finger food experiences with some other sides. Some side dishes that goes well with fried chicken nuggets are the classic french fries, chicken tenders, fish sticks and fried onion rings.

Besides being great options as snacks, they make a great side for many main dishes. For me, I always have some nuggets as sides to an afternoon meal. Some main dishes that goes good with chicken nuggets are air fried salmon, pork chops and chicken breasts.

Conclusion

Chicken nuggets are the favorite snack of many. But sometimes they are often associated with being unhealthy because of the amount of oil used. Thankfully, air fryer can help us make some chicken nuggets without the oil. It also helps to make the chicken nuggets faster. And I hope this post have provided you some great tips on how to air fry chicken nuggets.