Cook simple and juicy chicken thighs in the air fryer that are bone-in with skin on and seasoned with dry rub. Perfect with rice and broccoli for an easy dinner. Use our homemade rub or your favorite store bought brand.
Ingredients
- 2 lb chicken thighs, bone-in with skin
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon chicken dry rub (homemade below or use store bought)
- CHICKEN RUB
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ground onion powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoon sea salt or coarse kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer at 400F for 5 minutes.
- Trim the chicken thighs of excess fat and skin. Blot the chicken dry with paper towels.
- If you’re making the homemade chicken rub, mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. This makes more than the recipe needs but you’ll be all set for your next few dinners! Your favorite grocery store rub will work as well!
- In a bowl drizzle the olive oil over both sides of the chicken and sprinkle evenly on both sides with the chicken rub.
- With the skin side down, air fry the bone-in chicken thighs for 8 minutes and then flip the chicken over. Continue cooking for about 7-8 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165F. While our chicken took about 16 minutes total to cook, it could take up to 20 minutes depending on your air fryer model.
Notes
We used our homemade chicken rub but any store-bought rub or chicken seasoning mix will work too.
Air fryer models can vary and some models could cook faster or slower than the Cosori unit we used. Check the chicken temperature a couple of minutes before the recipe suggests by chance your model cooks hot.
To cook boneless skinless chicken thighs, air fry on 400F for about 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165F.
If you’re following a low carb or keto diet, we suggest making our homemade dry rub and swap brown sugar for golden erythritol or monk fruit.