Crunchy pretzels make the perfect breading for this air fryer chicken recipe! Ready in about 20 minutes and perfect for serving with your favorite dip. We like honey mustard with ours!
Add the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt to a shallow dish and whisk to combine.
Add the eggs and mustard to a second shallow dish and whisk well to combine.
Add the crushed pretzels and panko to a third shallow dish and whisk to combine.
Dredge the chicken pieces one at a time into first the flour, then the egg, and finally the pretzel crumbs, pressing to make sure the pretzels fully coat the chicken. Spritz both sides of the chicken with oil spray.
Spritz an air fryer basket with oil spray and arrange the chicken pieces in an even layer with room between each for air to flow. You may need to work in batches, depending on the size of your air fryer.
Air fry the chicken at 390 degrees for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through for maximum crust crispiness.
Serve with honey mustard on the side for dipping.
Notes
We use plain pretzel twists for this recipe, but you could use seasoned pretzels as well. The honey mustard pretzels are quite tasty here!To crush the pretzels, add them to a food processor and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. I like to leave it a mix of sizes, with some of the pretzels being finely ground like bread crumbs and others being a bit chunkier. The chunkier your pretzel pieces, the crunchier the breading will be after cooking. If you grind the pretzels very thin, the breading will become a bit soggy.If you don’t have a food processor, place the pretzels in a zip-top bag, press out the air and seal, and smash the pretzels using a rolling pin or kitchen mallet.