Air Fryer Heavenly Chicken–sour cream coated chicken rolled in Ritz cracker crumbs and then cooked and crisped in an air fryer.
Air Fryer Heavenly Chicken
Moist, heavenly chicken! The sour cream and cracker crumb coating helps to keep the moisture in. It is so delicious and tastes great with your favorite dipping sauce (like BBQ, ranch dressing or honey mustard). It had a lot of fun making this chicken for dinner. The rolling of the chicken in crackers crumbs seemed very therapeutic to me. I think you’ll really love it too!
- I used my Instant Vortex 4-in-1 Air Fryer*. You can also make this in an Instant Pot using your air fryer lid*. If you don’t have an air fryer you can also bake this chicken in the oven. Sometimes I use a crisper tray* in the oven so that the air can circulate around the food and crisp it up.
- Use boneless skinless chicken tenders for ultimate convenience. You can also cup up a boneless, skinless chicken breast into chicken tender size pieces. I suggest cutting the chicken across the grain (as shown in the picture below). The chicken stays much more tender when you cut it this way. I love using my Victorinox knives*. They stay so sharp!
- You can also cook this chicken in the oven. Place in a pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until chicken reaches 165° F.
- If you don’t have Ritz crackers you can use seasoned breadcrumbs or Panko instead. If you’re trying to eat low carb try crushed pork rinds.
- Try serving air fryer heavenly chicken with Instant Pot parmesan risotto and a side salad or steamed vegetables.
Related: Air Fryer Sunday Dinner Chicken
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Air Fryer Heavenly Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Sour cream coated chicken rolled in Ritz cracker crumbs and then cooked and crisped in an air fryer.
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken tenders or chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed (it’s about 1 1/2 cups crushed)
Instructions
- If using chicken breasts cut into slices across the grain. They should be about the size of chicken tenders.
- In a bowl stir together the sour cream, kosher salt, onion and paprika.
- Place the crushed crackers on a plate.
- Add the chicken into the sour cream mixture and coat the chicken well.
- Dredge each piece of chicken in the cracker crumbs so that all sides are coated.
- Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray.
- Place the pieces of chicken into the air fryer basket. Give them space and do not overlap or they won’t get crispy.
- Set the air fryer to 400° F for 6 minutes. Turn the chicken over with tongs and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes or until chicken reaches 165° F.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
You can also cook this chicken in the oven. Place in a pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until chicken reaches 165° F.
If you don’t have Ritz crackers you can use seasoned breadcrumbs or Panko.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Air Fryer or Oven
More chicken recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot Garlic Chicken Alfredo–chicken tenders and perfectly steamed broccoli in a creamy, dreamy garlic white sauce.
Instant Pot Dr. Pepper Chicken–with only 4 ingredients this chicken is super fast and easy!
Instant Pot Mexican Queso Chicken and Rice–flavorful, tender and moist chicken on top of seasoned rice and drizzled with a cheese sauce.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
So glad to see air fryer recipes. I look to see what new recipes you’ve sent when I get up every day..
Thanks Patricia! I do love my air fryer and will hopefully make more recipes soon 🙂
Easy, quick, and delicious! We didn’t have Ritz crackers at home so I used Cheez Itz. A big hit with everyone!
★★★★★
I love that idea!
I have had the air fryer lid for about three months now, but still have not used it. I know when we try this recipe, we are going to love it. Am I understanding this right? I put some chicken on the bottom rack, and some on the top rack. When it is time to turn do I turn chicken over in both baskets. I really want to master my air fryer lid and I would like this to be my first attempt. Truly would appreciate if you please set me straight. Thanks
★★★★★
I actually didn’t turn the bottom one over and it was better than the top one! So turning is optional.
I have tried several recipes from your site and this was my least favorite. I used chicken breasts and cut them in strips, The only substitute I made was the crackers, which might have been part of why I wasn’t nuts about it. I had a partial box of Flips, cracker on one side, pretzel on the other so I used that. Maybe I was missing the cheesiness of Ritz. I felt there was too much breading and not enough of the sour cream mix. I used my Air Fryer Lid and did them in two layers. I liked the bottom layer better than the top. The top was too crispy and a little dry. The second night, I reheated the leftovers with the lid and dipped them in a creamy Parmesan dressing. That helped a lot!
★★★
Looks delicious! I would use my Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid but am not sure just how to do it. Would you recommend putting the tenders in both the top and bottom baskets of the fryer and turning the top basket pieces over half way thru the cooking time and leaving the bottom basket tenders as is without turning them over? I have seen recipes done that way and recipes that turn both baskets over which I have tried and have found very difficult to do. Thanx
Yes that’s exactly what I would do!
can’t wait to try this
We loved it at our house!
Just finished eating this and it was great! The recipe was simple and the chicken turned out juicy and tender with a nice crisp coat. My kids liked it too so that says a lot, lol! Will definitely be making this again!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for the 5 stars!
I see that you use Kosher salt. What is the difference between it and sea salt? And do they always come in course grind ? Or does it come in ground form? I have only found them in course grind in my area.
This article might help answer your question: https://www.myrecipes.com/extracrispy/whats-the-difference-between-kosher-salt-and-sea-salt
I do like the course grind of kosher salt…that’s the only thing I have seen when it comes to kosher salt.