Air Fryer Sunday Dinner Chicken–use your Instant Pot Duo Crisp or your air fryer to make flavorful, juicy, crisp-skinned chicken drumsticks or thighs.
Air Fryer Sunday Dinner Chicken
I recently got an Instant Pot Duo Crisp and Air Fryer*. It is an Instant Pot that has 2 lids. One for pressure cooking and one for air frying. My first use of it was to make this Sunday dinner chicken. I was impressed. the chicken was flavorful and had crispy brown skin. I was able to fit 6 pieces of chicken on the multi layered air fryer basket. I will definitely be using this new toy a lot! It is handy.
What if I don’t have an Instant Pot Duo Crisp? If you have an air fryer of any sort you can make this recipe. If you don’t have an air fryer you can bake the chicken in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 400° F on a foil lined baking sheet.
What kind of chicken? For this recipe I opted for bone-in chicken drumsticks (you can also use bone-in thighs). I think you’ll really love this chicken and I definitely recommend using juicy bone-in chicken. If you’d like to try another cut of chicken (say chicken breasts), please let me know how they turn out. I haven’t tried them myself so I’m hesitant to say how it would go.
What should I serve with Sunday Dinner Chicken? Try serving this chicken with potatoes of any sort (mashed is good!) and some green beans. If you’re trying to eat low carb serve this with a side of cauliflower rice and green salad.
Can I cook more chicken? The thing with the air fryer is that it does better if the food is not crowded and stacked on top of each other. It is able to crisp up the food better. So, personally, I would not cook more than what I recommended in the recipe card (unless you want to cook in batches).
Do you have an air fryer lid? What are your favorite ways to use it?
More Chicken Recipes…
Instant Pot Cheesy Sour Cream Chicken
Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Chicken
Instant Pot Greek Chicken and Potatoes
Want More Tried And True Instant Pot Recipes?
- Sign up to receive daily Instant Pot recipes (it’s FREE)
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- Buy the 365 Days of Pressure Cooking Cookbook
Air Fryer Sunday Dinner Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 4–6 chicken legs or chicken thighs
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Add chicken pieces to a bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil.
- In a small bowl stir together the paprika, Italian seasoning, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over the chicken and toss well so that the chicken is coated in oil and spices.
- For the Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer*: Place the multi-level air fryer basket into your Instant Pot liner. Place half chicken pieces on the bottom level of the air fryer basket and the other half on the top level. Place the air fryer lid on top of the Instant Pot securely. Press the air fryer button and change the temperature to 380° F and the timer to 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes flip the chicken on the top rack (don’t worry about the bottom rack) and cook for an additional 7 minutes. Check that the internal temperature is 165° F. For another type of air fryer*: Try to arrange the chicken pieces in a single layer, without overlapping in the air fryer basket. Cook for 10 minutes at 380° F, flip the chicken pieces and cook for an additional 7 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- Eat and enjoy!
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Air Fryer
*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.
I made this fried chicken recipe today for dinner and the chicken turned out oh so delicious. I did have to cook it for a couple of more minutes to reach the optimal temperature but it was still very juicy.
I’m so glad your recipe does not require turning the bottom layer of the chicken. You have to be a magician to move that trivet. Oh, what a pain in the neck and other parts of the anatomy.🤯
I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Thank you 🙏👍
★★★★★
So glad to hear that you enjoyed this air fryer chicken!!! Thanks for the 5 stars.
For all you lovers of Karen’s recipes, like I am, and if you only cook chicken breasts, like I do, this is your type of air fryer or crisp recipe! I have a large air fryer countertop toaster oven (26 quarts) and air fried 4, huge, bone-in chicken breasts. I set temp at 400 and cooked for 22 minutes. Perfectly browned and crisp skins, inside was oozing juices when sliced. The spices blended well together and the brown sugar added a sweetness but it helped with the char. Like one reviewer used, I’m going to add some smoked (not sweet or plain paprika) next week. Yup, that is on the menu next week because the chicken breasts are that good and this recipe is so easy. Thanks, Karen.
★★★★★
Great info to know about the chicken breasts! Thank you so much.
Hello, I just got the Air Fryer Lid for my 6 Qt. IP. I am going to try this recipe but have a question about making more than one batch. One batch will not feed my family. Am I able to make the next batch right away without cleaning it? Has anyone tried making a few batches of this? I would love your assistance because this device is new to me. Thank you in advance!
Yes don’t worry about cleaning in between batches. It will be just fine!
Hi Karen, Just got the instant pot air fryer lid for Christmas. So excited to try it out. Question the tray (broil) are you allowed to use when air frying? To have a double layer? Please help. Thanks
Yes I do that all the time!
One of our favorites! I just made up a batch of the spices (everything x6) so I can just put the chicken in a bowl with olive oil, sprinkle the spice, and go! Sunday dinner any night of the week. So glad you have branched out to air fryer. But your name is going to get really long.😂. 365daysofeverythingdelicioustocook.com
★★★★★
Lol!!!! I know right?!
I was looking for a recipe to use up some thawed chicken drumsticks & this was absolutely terrific! Nice & flavorful and the skin was good and crispy. This is a keeper for sure! (can’t wait to try more – have been collecting them!)
★★★★★
I’m so glad you liked this recipe. It is so tasty!
I have the Duo Crisp and am learning to use it. What do you put in the air fryerpot to make it multi level? I can’t wait to try your recipes!!
I put in the trivet and the dehydrator rack
Just got my I-P air fryer lid and of course, did one of your recipes first! The Sunday Chicken Dinner did 4 drumsticks just perfectly! I also saw how you baked pasta in another video. Hope you do more with Air Fryer lid, as I am sold on it!
★★★★★
Yesss! It is so fun! I love it.
Thanks Karen. will try the air fryer recipes.
Jo-Ann
You’re welcome Jo-Ann!
I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and smoked paprika for this recipe, and in a regular air fryer – it came out flavorful and juicy! Very easy recipe, we’ll definitely do this again.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for the 5 stars Winona!
I have a air fryer not used it yet but wanting to with your help please .
Give it a go! I think you’ll really love it.
Looking forward to more Duo Crisp recipes! I won one in a drawing but haven’t done a lot of experimenting. I do use it often for thick boneless pork chops (Costco) with a spicy dry rub. Delicious!
That is fun that you won one! I am liking it so far and will post more recipes for it!
LOL Karen, I bought the large Cosori air fryer (basket type) about a month ago and am in love – and just made the almost identical chicken drumsticks recipe two days ago – just without the Italian seasoning since not a fan, but added onion and garlic powder. It’s great with thighs too. And several times I’ve thought how nice it would be if you added air fryer recipes. I hope you continue!
Another version is to spray the basket lightly with oil instead of the chicken (and never an aerosol). I use olive, grape seed or avocado oil. There’s less fat on the chicken but it crisps up amazingly. For thighs skin side down first so more fat can drain, then up. I’m such a convert!
My IP can’t use an air fryer lid and we decided to get the squarish Cosori instead of a different IP.
It’s fun to experiment with these new toys! I’ll be posting more air fryer recipes soon!