Our Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Sandwich is made from scratch with a crispy, crunchy breading coating a moist chicken breast. We top these spicy sandwiches with a simple ranch coleslaw! Ready in about 20 minutes from start to finish!
Buffalo sauce is a favorite flavor of mine, stemming from a bar in Buffalo, NY. They came up with the recipe and served it with chicken in the 1940’s. Now, nearly a hundred years later we make buffalo everything!
We have buffalo cauliflower, buffalo ranch potatoes, buffalo flautas, and even buffalo chicken egg rolls! I feel like that demonstrates the diversity with the sauce well!
We figured a spicy buffalo chicken sandwich in the air fryer was the next best move and here we are. You know the chicken is going to be nice and crispy, rivaling any fast food chicken sandwich, because we started with our air fryer chicken sandwich recipe. The technique makes the best sandwich!
Table of Contents
Ingredient Notes:
Chicken– We need boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You’ll cut each one in half, using 2 breasts to make 4 sandwiches.
Chicken breading– Flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, eggs, wing sauce, and buttermilk.
Coleslaw ingredients– A bag of coleslaw mix, to keep it simple. Then some ranch dressing and dry ranch seasoning.
Sandwich ingredients– Buns, butter, wing sauce, ranch or blue cheese dressing.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches in the Air Fryer:
Dry Breading – Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, cayenne, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish and dredge the chicken in the mixture, coating each side. Set aside.
Eggs – Whisk together the eggs and hot sauce in a separate shallow dish.
Crispy Breading – Add buttermilk to your flour mixture now and stir with a fork until clumpy and well mixed. Do note, that this will not look like a batter – just a lumpy breading. Dip the floured chicken in the egg, shake off excess, then go back into the flour mixture and press the chicken into the flour to coat.
Air fry the chicken– Spritz the air fryer basket and chicken with oil and then air fry at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Check your chicken and, if there are any dry spots on the breading, spritz again with oil. We’re trying to mimic a deep fried chicken sandwich, so you may need a bit more oil than you’d normally use in the air fryer, but we’re still using way less than if we were to actually deep fry these.
Prepare the coleslaw– While the chicken is air frying, start the slaw. Simply combine the coleslaw mix, ranch dressing, and ranch seasoning and stir.
Assemble your sandwiches– Butter your buns and warm them up on a hot skillet until golden brown on the bottom. Place your chicken on the bottom bun, top with slaw and drizzle wing sauce over it.
FAQ:
We serve our buffalo chicken sandwiches with sliced carrots and celery and a side of ranch or blue cheese for dipping. Air fryer french fries are also a great choice.
Buffalo sauce is a type of wing sauce that starts with a cayenne pepper sauce base, often times Frank’s Red Hot, and then a combination of seasonings. Buffalo sauce usually includes butter in the sauce as well.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
To make your own buttermilk, add milk to a measuring cup with a splash of white vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
For extra spicy sandwiches, increase the cayenne in the breading or use a spicier wing sauce to top the chicken with.
Swap the ranch dressing for blue cheese, if you’d prefer.
You can use store bought buffalo sauce, or try the sauce from our air fryer frozen chicken wings.
More Air Fryer Sandwich Recipes:
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Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
We used our method for making the crispiest breading on the this chicken sandwich, brushed it with buffalo sauce, and then topped the sandwich with a cool, creamy ranch slaw. Serve this up with a pile of carrots and celery (with dip, of course) or some french fries.
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6-8 ounces each
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons wing sauce
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk
For the slaw:
- 1 ½ cups coleslaw mix
- 3 tablespoons prepared ranch dressing
- 2 teaspoons dry ranch seasoning
For assembly:
- 4 sandwich buns
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ⅓ cup wing sauce
Instructions
To make the chicken:
- Slice the chicken breasts in half at a slight diagonal to create two smaller pieces of chicken. Lightly pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness about the size of your sandwich buns. Pat the chicken dry.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, and seasonings to a small shallow dish and whisk well to combine.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, making sure to coat each piece thoroughly. Remove chicken to a plate and set aside
- Whisk together the eggs and hot sauce until smooth in a second shallow dish.
- Add the buttermilk to the seasoned flour mixture and stir with a fork to combine. This should create clumps of flour mixture throughout - the mixture will not be wet like a batter.
- Dip the floured chicken in the egg wash, shaking off excess, and then back into the flour mixture. Be sure to press the flour onto the chicken to coat, creating clumps of breading on the chicken.
- Spritz an air fryer basket with non-stick spray and arrange the chicken pieces in the basket, leaving space between each for air to flow.
- Spritz the chicken liberally with oil spray.
- Air fry at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Check the chicken at 8 minutes and spritz with additional oil if there are dry bits of breading on the chicken.
- Brush both sides of the chicken with wing sauce to coat.
To prepare the slaw:
- While the chicken is cooking, stir together the coleslaw mix, ranch dressing, and ranch seasoning to combine.
To assemble the sandwiches:
- Butter each of the buns and toast in a hot skillet until golden brown.
- Place the cooked chicken on the bottom of each bun.
- Top with the ranch slaw and drizzle with extra ranch or wing sauce, if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
For extra spicy sandwiches, increase the cayenne in the breading.
Swap the ranch for blue cheese, if preferred.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 804Total Fat: 42gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 208mgSodium: 1631mgCarbohydrates: 72gFiber: 5gSugar: 10gProtein: 32g
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