Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Popcorn

Air fryer is a revolution in frying foods, and the best part? You can make oil-free, guilt-free fried chicken popcorn inside the air fryer.

This air fryer frozen chicken popcorn recipe is one of the easiest ones, and you get the perfect crispy chicken popcorn that comes out well-cooked in just a few minutes.

All you have to do is put the frozen chicken inside the air fryer and let it cook at the right temperature for a couple of minutes, and it is ready to consume.

It always comes out nice and crispy, making it a good appetizer or snack for small gatherings, parties, or game days.

It is one of the easiest things to make, and if you have an air fryer, you can make it healthier than the deep-fried version of chicken popcorn.

I love frozen chicken popcorn, but it gets so oily when deep-fried, which made me hold my horses from going all out. Now, it is a guilt-free treat with an air fryer where you need zero oil to fry these.

Ingredients and Substitutions

1 Pack of Frozen Chicken Popcorn- Frozen chicken popcorn could be of any brand. You can use Tyson any’tizers chicken popcorn, Foster Forms popcorn chicken, Kirkwood popcorn chicken, or Kroger’s Popcorn chicken.

You can take any brand’s frozen chicken and make this quick recipe.

2. Oil Spray- This is optional. I have made chicken nuggets without oil, which come out perfectly crispy and juicy every time. However, if you want more juiciness, spray one pump of oil after placing all the chicken popcorn in the air fryer.

Do you need to thaw the frozen popcorn chicken?

No, you need not thaw the frozen popcorn chicken before cooking it in the air fryer.

If the popcorn chicken is badly stuck together, you can put it in the microwave for 30 seconds—not a second more.

This will help loosen the frozen popcorn, and then you can put them in the air fryer for cooking.

Tips to make Air Fryer FROZEN Chicken Popcorn

If you want to make the best air fryer popcorn chicken, follow these tips below, as they can impact the final result.

1. You can spray the popcorn chicken with some oil. I usually don’t do this, but you can spray some oil if you want the popcorn chicken to be juicier and have an even brown color. One pump is good enough.

2. When cooked inside the air fryer, the popcorn chicken releases oil, so make sure you line the air fryer basket with perforated parchment paper or use a silicone liner or basket. I have used a silicone basket in this post.

3. The times and temperatures here can yield different results in your air fryer, so test it out with a small batch before cooking larger batches for the first time with the given time and temperatures below.

4. Turn the popcorn chicken around halfway through its cooking time to ensure even cooking from all sides.

5. Check the air fryer popcorn once, midway through cooking, to ensure it is not getting overcooked or burnt.

How to cook frozen Popcorn chicken in air fryer?

Cooking air fryer frozen chicken popcorn is easy; all you need to do is place all the chicken popcorn in the air fryer basket.

Here, I put all the chicken popcorn in my silicone basket to avoid mess and then place it in the air fryer.

Now cook it for 4 minutes at 190°C. Once done, flip the chicken popcorn as it is time to cook the other side.

Cook the other side at 190°C for another 3-4 minutes, and your chicken popcorn is ready.

How long to cook Popcorn Chicken in air fryer?

You can cook your chicken popcorn anywhere from 8-10 minutes. Usually, it should be cooked at the 7-minute mark, but you can keep it for a minute or two longer to achieve an even color.

It depends on your air fryer, but if you cook at 190-200°C, I do not think you need to cook it for more than 8 minutes.

Cooking it for 10-12 minutes can make the air fryer frozen chicken popcorn very dry in the center, which is not appetizing.

However, different air fryers have different powers depending on wattage, so the cooking times that work well for my air fryer may not work well with yours.

reheating popcorn chicken in air fryer

If you have some leftovers, you can put them back in the refrigerator, and they should last well for about 2-3 days.

After 2-3 days, I recommend you store them in the freezer. This way, the popcorn chicken can last longer if you plan to eat it after a few more days.

If you want to reheat the cooked popcorn chicken, pop it in the air fryer at 200°C for about 4 minutes, and it will come out hot and fresh.

Do you have to preheat an air fryer?

No, it is not necessary to preheat an air fryer. I usually do not preheat the air fryer before cooking, but if you like to cook the chicken popcorn faster, then you can preheat the air fryer.

I don’t, and I haven’t noticed a significant difference in preheating the air fryer. Just ensure you do not line the air fryer with parchment paper and then preheat, as the paper can come in contact with the heating element and catch fire.

So, if you plan to preheat, preheat an empty air fryer basket without anything in it. After preheating the air fryer, you can line it with parchment paper.

The air fryer will be hot, so ensure you do not hurt yourself while lining the air fryer with parchment paper.

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