Air Fryer Firecracker Chicken

Better-Than-Takeout Firecracker Chicken is fried nice and crispy in the air fryer and then tossed in a sweet and spicy firecracker sauce!

Chicken is an absolute go-to dinner option for almost everyone. We love to cook it at home and we love to order it at restaurants. Lately, we’ve been loving creating restaurant favorites at home, like our captain crunch chicken strips, our flavorful Greek chicken wings, and our popular copy cat chick-fil-a nuggets!

This time around we’re taking on Firecracker Chicken – a popular order at many Asian American restaurants, like Pei Wei.

The spicy sauce is balanced out with brown sugar to cut the heat a bit and add some sweetness. It’s an addicting combo and, once tossed on the chunks of chicken, it’s really hard to resist!

This Air Fryer Firecracker Chicken is perfect served over a pile of white rice or next to our air fryer fried rice.

Ingredient Notes:

Chicken– We prefer boneless, skinless chicken breasts here. Thighs would likely work as well.

Breading– You’ll need cornstarch, salt, pepper, and eggs.

Firecracker Sauce– You’ll be doctoring up buffalo sauce with brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt, and – if you love heat – red pepper flakes.

How to Make Firecracker Chicken:

Bread the Chicken- Chop your chicken into bite-sized pieces and pat dry. In a shallow dish add cornstarch, salt, and pepper then stir to combine. In a second shallow dish, add eggs and a bit of water and whisk that to combine. Dip your chicken in the starch, then the egg, then back into the starch mixture. This will give the chicken a great breading.

Air fry the chicken- Spray your air fryer basket with oil and arrange the chicken in an even layer. Take care to not let the pieces of chicken touch each other at all. This will keep them crisp. Then spray your chicken pieces with an oil mist. Air fry them for 5 minutes at 380 degrees F, then flip and spray again and cook for another 5 minutes. The chicken is fully cooked when the internal temp reaches 165 degrees F.

Make the sauce- While your chicken is in the air fryer, grab a small saucepan and put it over medium-low heat. Add the buffalo sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Stir this often and cook for about 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon you are stirring with.

PRO TIP:

This sauce is pretty spicy thanks to the buffalo sauce and red pepper flakes. If you’d like to cut the heat, skip the red pepper flakes!

Serving Suggestions:

We like to serve our firecracker chicken over a pile of white rice with extra sauce on the side for dipping.

The sweet and spicy sauce pairs well with the rice. A serving of steamed broccoli goes well with this dish. I’ve even been known to drizzle extra sauce on my broccoli.

FAQ:

More Air Fryer Chicken Recipes:

• Air Fryer Chicken Caprese
• Air Fryer Whole Chicken
• Southwest Egg Rolls
• Chicken Philly Cheesesteak
• Air Fryer Stuffed Chicken