Air Fryer Dominican Chicken

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Air Fryer Dominican Chicken is truly something special to behold and try. First things first, this dish is filled with the same classic Dominican flavors as Chicharrones de Pollo. However, we’re cutting back on frying them in oil by air frying them for a fried chicken dish that is lighter, healthier, and much easier to make. Not to mention, this dish is also much quicker to make than traditional Dominican Fried Chicken. 

Now there are a ton of ways of making this dish, all of which are tasty. I actually tweaked my regular Dominican Fried Chicken – Chicharrones de Pollo to make this air fryer edition. This air fried chicken recipe kicks off similarly to my regular recipe by brining the diced boneless chicken thighs in cold water and white distilled vinegar. This tenderizes the chicken and kicks off our explosion of flavor. This also allows the chicken to become extra juicy! 

After we brine the boneless chicken thighs, we then begin seasoning the chicken with classic Dominican flavors like fresh lime and Dominican orégano. If you can’t find Dominican orégano, feel free to shop at my Amazon Store where you can find some online. 

Now it’s important to note that while cooking foods in the air fryer is easy, fun, and quick, there are some things to keep in mind. Air frying can sometimes dry out your food, so you want to make sure to add a touch of oil. It’s because of this that I also like to take the extra step in brining the chicken. I’ve used a variety of different air fryers, but my favorite is hands down my Ninja Foodi Deluxe, which allows me to pressure cook and air fry. Today we’re strictly air frying. No worries if you don’t have the same exact air fryer as me. Just be sure to try and match the settings as closely as possible to get similar results. 

Another key tip to air frying, is that you want to toss your food halfway through to make sure that the food is frying and browning evenly. I typically toss the food once or twice. Now– unpopular opinion– but I actually find that letting your air fryer warm up for a 2-5 minutes BEFORE adding your food gives you the best results. I’m talking about perfectly crispy food that can fool anyone into thinking that you actually deep fried it– when you didn’t! 

When I make this dish, I also like to use tons of fresh garlic. However, when making the air fryer Dominican Style Fried Chicken, I actually switched to garlic powder. I made this switch so that the fresh garlic doesn’t burn and get bitter. These few tweaks really give you a juicy fried chicken that’s to die for. If you’d like to make this dish the traditional deep-fried way, be sure to check out my full recipe and video! 

Now, let’s eat!