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These tender and juicy Air Fryer Boneless Chicken Thighs will be your new favorite weeknight dinner! They’re easy to make with no oil and served with a flavorful coconut cream sauce.
I’ve said this before, but we love making meals with chicken thighs. The dark meat is flavorful and juicy so it’s well suited to many different recipes, like these air fryer chicken bites!
Some of our favorite recipes using chicken thighs include these roasted miso chicken thighs, sous vide chicken thighs and honey garlic chicken thighs.
And now these air fryer chicken thighs are our new favorite! Cooking chicken thighs in the air fryer is a quick and easy dinner option. Once the thighs are marinated, they air fry in less than 20 minutes!
Serve them with truffle mashed potatoes or coconut jasmine rice and some Instant Pot carrots for a delicious meal!
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Why this recipe works
- Marinating the chicken thighs helps keep them moist, tender and juicy.
- This recipe is oil-free except for a little spritz of oil on the air fryer basket.
- The coconut cream sauce is super flavorful and easy to make as it’s made from the leftover marinade.
- Chicken thighs are juicy and flavorful, and using boneless skinless means they aren’t overly greasy and cook quickly too.
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What is an Air Fryer?
The Air Fryer is a healthier alternative to frying foods. It's basically a small, powerful convection oven that sits on your countertop.
It circulates hot air around the food you're cooking, which is what gives it that crisp texture that mimics fried food (without all the grease).
Read more about the health benefits of using an air fryer.
I personally use this Ninja MAX XL Air Fryer because it hold 5.5 quarts, which is more than most. It has worked great so far and we just love how easy it is to use!
More air fryer chicken recipes
- Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
- Air Fryer Whole Chicken
- Air Fryer Orange Chicken
- Air Fryer Sesame Chicken
- Air Fryer General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients
For the full list of ingredients and quantities, please see the recipe card below.
You’ll need 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. You can use bone-in if you prefer, but they will take longer to cook.
The sauce is made from coconut cream, chicken stock and the remaining marinade.
If you don’t have any coconut cream, you can use coconut milk. Just refrigerate it and scoop the solidified cream off the top and whisk it together. You can also use heavy cream or whole milk, but it won’t add the same flavor to the sauce.
For the chicken stock, you can use store-bought or homemade like this crockpot chicken broth.
The marinade consists of brown sugar, salt, coconut cream, Shaoxing wine, five spice, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and chicken stock.
For the best flavor, you’ll want to toast and grind the Sichuan peppercorns. To do this, heat a skillet on medium heat and add the peppercorns, tossing every few minutes until fragrant. Remove from heat and grind with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
Shaoxing wine is a Chinese cooking wine. If you can’t find any, you can try substituting with dry sherry.
Chinese five spice is a blend of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and pepper. This spice has a warm and sweet flavor with a hint of licorice, thanks to the star anise.
If you’re out of this spice, I’ve had luck substituting with my homemade garam masala. It’s also warm and sweet, and you can add a little star anise for the subtle licorice flavor.
Step by step instructions
Marinate the chicken overnight.
Remove chicken from the marinade and pour remaining marinade in a saucepan.
Lightly spray the air fryer basket with oil.
Pat the chicken dry and place it in the basket (may need to cook in 2 batches).
Cook at 375F degrees for 10 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5-7 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 160F degrees.
While the chicken is cooking, heat the reserved marinade over medium high heat until simmering.
Add the cup of coconut cream and the ¼ cup chicken stock and simmer for 2 minutes. Adjust for salt.
Serve the chicken with green onions drizzled with the coconut cream sauce.
Expert tips
- For even cooking, make sure your chicken thighs are all roughly the same size.
- If you have a smaller air fryer, you may need to air fry the chicken thighs in 2 batches.
- To brown the chicken thighs evenly, flip them over at the 10 minute mark.
- Be careful not to overcook the chicken thighs as they will dry out. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
- If your air fryer model requires preheating, you should preheat it before adding the chicken thighs.
- When spraying oil in the air fryer basket, be sure to use real cooking oil and not PAM as it's not ideal for your air fryer. I like to use this oil sprayer and fill it with my favorite oil.
- Different air fryer brands and models can vary so you may need to adjust the temperature and air frying time slightly.
Common questions
I’ve found that the ideal temperature to air fry boneless chicken thighs is 375F degrees. This is high enough to cook them quickly but not too high that they burn on the outside before they are cooked in the middle.
At 375F degrees, it will only take about 15-17 minutes. The exact time depends on the size of your chicken thighs. Larger thighs will take a little longer to cook.
Yes, you can substitute bone-in chicken thighs in this recipe. You’ll just need to increase the air frying time as bone-in thighs take longer to cook. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
While you can air fry frozen chicken, I prefer to use fresh or thawed chicken thighs for this recipe. This works best for marinating. You can read more in this post on whether to thaw frozen chicken before air frying.
Yes, since we’re not using oil in this recipe, marinating is key to keep the chicken thighs moist and juicy, not to mention flavorful! If you don’t have time to marinate overnight, aim for at least a few hours.
Storage instructions
Store leftover chicken thighs in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
You can shred or dice the chicken and use it in salads or soups like this sweet corn and chicken soup!
You can also freeze leftover chicken thighs. I like to shred them and store in an airtight container or freezer safe bag. The chicken should last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Serving options
Here are a few of our favorite side dishes to serve with air fryer chicken thighs:
- Easy Air Fryer Baked Potatoes
- Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Brussels Sprouts
- Sous Vide Carrots
- Instant Pot Basmati Rice
If you love this recipe, please leave a star rating and a comment below and let us know your favorite thing about it. We'd also love to connect on Instagram! Follow us at @went_here_8_this for awesome recipes and all sorts of fun food stuff 🙂
Recipe
Air Fryer Boneless Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 1 cup coconut cream for sauce
- ¼ cup chicken stock for sauce
- 2 tablespoons diced green onions
Marinade:
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut cream
- 2 tablespoons shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon five spice
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns toasted and ground
- ½ cup chicken stock
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken overnight.
- Remove chicken from marinade and pour remaining marinade in a saucepan.
- Lightly spray the air fryer basket with oil.
- Pat the chicken dry and place it in the basket (may need to cook 2 batches).
- Cook at 375F degrees for 10 minutes. Flip and cook another 5-7 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 160F degrees.
- While the chicken is cooking, heat the reserved marinade over medium high heat until simmering.
- Add the cup of coconut cream and the ¼ cup chicken stock and simmer 2 minutes. Adjust for salt.
- Serve the chicken with green onions drizzled with the coconut cream sauce.
Expert Tips:
- For even cooking, make sure your chicken thighs are all roughly the same size.
- If you have a smaller air fryer, you may need to air fry the chicken thighs in 2 batches.
- To brown the chicken thighs evenly, flip them over at the 10 minute mark.
- Be careful not to overcook the chicken thighs as they will dry out. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
- If your air fryer model requires preheating, you should preheat it before adding the chicken thighs.
- When spraying oil in the air fryer basket, be sure to use real cooking oil and not PAM as it's not ideal for your air fryer. I like to use this oil sprayer and fill it with my favorite oil.
- Different air fryer brands and models can vary so you may need to adjust the temperature and air frying time slightly.
Nutrition
Nola says
Yummy - you are right the sauce is the best part. so good.
Danielle says
isn't it so good? I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
gretchen says
you need to boil that used marinade for at least 5 minutes to kill bacteria. Then I'd add the cream.
Danielle says
Yes, you do need to boil the used marinade, that's for reiterating that!