Air Fryer Salt and Pepper Chicken is easy to make without the mess—or extra calories!—of deep frying. This version gets a hit of mouth-tingling spice from Szechuan peppercorns and a topping of white pepper and stir-fried hot chiles and sliced garlic.
Ingredients
To marinate the chicken
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Shiaoxing wine or substitute mirin, sake, sochu, or dry white wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For dredging and air frying
2 eggs
1 cup cornstarch
Oil for spritzing or brushing
For the topping
1 tablespoon butter
4 to 6 chiles like serrano, red or green or a combination, thinly sliced
3 to 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ to ½ teaspoon Szechuan pepper-salt see note
Instructions
Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper or a reusable silicone liner (see note).
In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, salt, and pepper and toss to coat the chicken. Let marinate for at least 20 minutes. If you want to marinate the chicken for longer, cover and refrigerate it for as long as overnight.
Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl.
Put the cornstarch in a separate shallow bowl.
Dunk the chicken pieces first in the cornstarch, then in the egg, and then in the cornstarch again to coat. Arrange the coated chicken pieces on the parchment paper in the air fryer.
Once all of the chicken is coated and arranged in the air fryer (you will likely have to do this in 2 batches), spritz or brush the chicken with a bit of cooking oil.
Air fry the chicken at 400ºF for 8 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over, spritz or brush with a bit more oil, and then cook for another 7 minutes at 400ºF.
While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once it is sizzling and begins to foam, add the chiles and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the chiles begin to brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
When the chicken is finished in the air fryer, transfer it to a serving bowl or platter. Add the fried chiles and garlic and toss gently to distribute. Sprinkle with the white pepper and the pepper-salt and serve immediately.
Notes
1. If you don’t have Shiaoxing wine, you can substitute sake, dry sherry, dry white wine, or even beer.
2. Instead of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, you can use bone-in wings or drumsticks. You’ll want to cook them a bit longer to make sure they’re cooked through.
3. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cooks often use potato starch in place of cornstarch for dredging. It tends to make a crunchier coating but doesn’t brown as well. You can substitute potato starch or you can use a combination of the two.
4. You can make Szechuan Pepper-Salt yourself or buy it online or in an Asian market. If you don’t have it, you can substitute kosher salt and ground black pepper.
5. Choose your chiles based on how spicy you want the dish to be. You can use very spicy Thai chiles, spicy serrano chiles, milder Jalapenos, or even milder fresnos. If you don’t want any heat at all from the chiles, use red and/or green bell peppers instead.
6. I like to line my air fryer basket with perforated parchment paper liners or a silicone liner to make flipping and cleanup easier. See the post for links to purchase either of these.
