While some home cooks might love air frying fancy dishes such as soy-glazed salmon fillets, complicated cakes and succulent steak frites, many of us mostly use them for quickly cooking up that perennial kid-friendly favourite: the humble chicken nugget.
No shade on wannabe air fryer chefs, of course, but if you just want perfectly crispy crumbed chicken bites, an air fryer can be an essential appliance.
It's also in the technique. Our kitchen experts explain what you need to do to ensure champion chicken nuggets every time.
Plus, exclusively for CHOICE members, we'll reveal which air fryer models will deliver the best crumbed chicken ever. If you want to get straight to the best products, jump to the test results now.
How to choose the best air fryer for chicken nuggets
When it comes to cooking nugs, size matters, says CHOICE kitchen expert Fiona Mair.
"An air fryer that has a large surface area is best for nuggets," she explains. "Look for either a pull-out drawer type or a benchtop oven style with trays that slide out."
But if you're really going large, you might already have a kitchen appliance that'll do a great job of feeding a nugget-hungry crowd.
"If you're cooking a large amount of chicken nuggets (a kilo, for example), it's best to cook them in an oven," says Fiona.
For perfectly golden nuggs, stick to one layer.
How to cook the crispiest chicken nuggets
Chicken nuggets aren't exactly the most delicate of foods. So surely you can just chuck them in the air fryer and let them do their thing, right?
Not quite. The key to a well-cooked nugget lies in the layering.
"Nuggets need to be placed in a single layer, not stacked on top of each other," says Fiona.
Nuggets need to be placed in a single layer, not stacked on top of each other
Fiona Mair, CHOICE kitchen expert
And while we'd like to tell you that air frying chicken nuggets is a set-and-forget situation, you might have to do a little more work than just pressing the start button.
"They may need to be turned at least once halfway through cooking, depending on the air fryer."
Expert tips for perfect nuggets
Here's Fiona's advice for ensuring the best results:
- Preheating your air fryer for five minutes will reduce the cooking time.
- Cook the nuggets at 200°C, or if you have a compact air fryer, 180°C so they don't overcook.
- To avoid dried-out nuggets, you want them to be slightly golden rather than dark.
- The ideal cooking time is 10–12 minutes.
- Don't shake the nuggets in the basket as this will remove the breadcrumbs.
- You can line the basket or tray with baking paper to minimise cleaning but you will have to turn them.
- If you really want perfectly cooked nugs, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature has reached 60°C or more.
What are the best air fryers for chicken nuggets?
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