Air Fryer Hot Honey Chicken
Published 9/16/2022
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This air fryer hot honey chicken comes out crunchy on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside. It’s tossed in our homemade hot honey sauce!
Best Hot Honey Chicken!
Say hello to this crunchy, hot and sweet chicken that’s made right in your air fryer. No need for takeout because this chicken is truly one of a kind.
Made with lean chicken breast, a crunchy cornflake breading, and homemade hot honey, this air fryer chicken is about to be your new go-to way to eat chicken!
Why you’ll love it!
Made in the air fryer
Sweet and Hot
Ultimate crunchy chicken
Featured Ingredients
Chicken
The chicken we used in this hot honey chicken is chicken breast. You are more than welcome to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs as well.
Hot Honey
Our homemade hot honey sauce is so delicious and easy to make. We have an entire tutorial on how to make it HERE. Here’s what you’ll need:
- honey
- red pepper flakes
- apple cider vinegar
- garlic
Breading
Every crispy chicken recipe deserves a good dredge in something delicious. Here’s what we used to make it extra crispy:
- Corn flakes: cornflakes seriously give this chicken the best crunch!
- Spices: we flavored the cornflakes with garlic, salt, pepper, mustard, and paprika.
- Egg: egg is used to help the cornflakes mixture stick to the chicken pieces.
Simple Instructions
- Make Hot Honey Sauce: first, make the hot honey sauce. Add the honey, red pepper flakes or chiles, apple cider vinegar, and garlic to a small saucepan and mix. Heat the honey over medium/high heat and bring it to a gentle boil. Set aside to cool.
- Make Cornflake Topping: Place the cornflakes, flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, ground mustard, and paprika into a food processor and pulse on low until the mixture has turned into the consistency of bread crumbs.
- Dredge Chicken: Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the water. Whisk until combined. Double-dredge the chicken first into the egg and then the cornflakes. Repeat a second time.
- Air Fry Chicken: Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray and then add the chicken pieces, not overcrowding the basket. Drizzle with olive oil. Air fry for 8 minutes at 370ºF, flipping halfway through.
- Toss with Hot Honey Sauce: Place the crispy chicken into a large mixing bowl and drizzle ½ cup of hot honey over the chicken and gently toss the chicken with the honey.
Best
Air Fryer
On the hunt for the best air fryer? Our favorite is the Ninja Kitchen Air Fryer. It’s reliable and moderately priced.
Top Tips for Perfectly Crunchy Honey Hot Chicken
Double Dredge is Important: The double dredge is important if you want to end up with very crispy chicken. Keep in mind that everybody dredges differently. If you run out of the egg mixture it could be because you used a different size egg or didn’t allow the egg to drip off for long enough. If you run out of egg mixture, just whisk up another egg. If you run out of cornflake mixture, you can also make more cornflake mixture!
Chicken Size Matters: How large or small you cut your chicken will determine how long it needs to cook in the air fryer. Feel free to cut your chicken into larger chunks, it will just take a bit longer.
All Air Fryers are Different: Air fryers and air fryer users can vary greatly. Some air fryers are stronger, have different temperature settings, etc. Get your temperature as close as you can to 370-375ºF.
Latest Chicken Recipes
Storage
Store leftover honey hot chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat: reheat in the microwave on high for 60-90 seconds.
Hot Honey Chicken (Air Fryer)
Ingredients
Hot Honey
- 1/2 cup honey, not raw honey
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes or 6 thai chiles, minced with seeds
- 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic cloves, sliced
Chicken Poppers
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 4 cups corn flakes
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour, or 1:1 gluten-free
- 2.5 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2.5 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1.5 teaspoons ground mustard
- 1.5 teaspoons paprika
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3-4 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
Instructions
- Make the hot honey sauce. Add the honey, red pepper flakes or chiles, apple cider vinegar, and garlic to a small saucepan and mix. Heat the honey over medium/high heat and bring to a gentle boil.
- Remove the honey from the heat and pour the honey into a mason jar. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the air fryer to 370-375ºF.
- Next, slice the chicken into1.5-2-inch pieces and set it aside.
- Place the corn flakes, flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, ground mustard, and paprika into a food processor and pulse on low until the mixture has turned into the consistency of bread crumbs. Pour the cornflake mixture into a medium-sized bowl.
- Crack the eggs into another medium-sized bowl and add the water. Whisk the two ingredients together until combined.
- Coating the chicken is going to be a double dredge process. Dredge a piece of chicken through the egg mixture. Let the egg drip from the chicken and then dredge the chicken through the corn flake mixture until the chicken is coated. Next, dredge the chicken through the egg and cornflake mixture one more time and set the chicken on a plate. Repeat this step until all the chicken is coated.
- Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray or oil. Place as many chicken pieces in your air fryer as you can manage without crowding the basket. We could fit about 11 small pieces of chicken in our air fryer. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil over the chicken and cook the chicken for 4 minutes, flip, and cook for an additional 4 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. The second cook time could vary based on what air fryer you use. Repeat this step until all the chicken is cooked.
- Place the crispy chicken into a large mixing bowl and drizzle ½ cup of hot honey over the chicken and gently toss the chicken with the honey. If you would like more hot honey, add more honey!
- Serve alone or next to your favorite side dishes.
Tips & Notes
- The double dredge is important if you want to end up with very crispy chicken.
- Keep in mind that everybody dredges differently. If you run out of the egg mixture it could be because you used a different size egg or didn’t allow the egg to drip off for long enough. If you run out of egg mixture, just whisk up another egg. If you run out of cornflake mixture, you can also make more cornflake mixture!
- How large or small you cut your chicken will determine how long it needs to cook in the air fryer. Feel free to cut your chicken into larger chunks, it will just take a bit longer.
- Air fryers and air fryer users can vary greatly. Some air fryers are stronger, have different temperature settings, etc. Get your temperature as close as you can to 370-375ºF.
- Don’t skip the oil in this recipe. The oil is an essential ingredient to air fry as it circulates in the air fryer and fries the chicken.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin from The Edible Perspective.
This was delicious and a hit with my family. The hot honey, the crunchy chicken, lip-smacking good. Paired great with teriyaki roasted edamame.
That looks so delish, Erin!
This was delicious and a hit with my boys! Prefect crunch and the hot honey sauce was not too hot for me, but can be adjusted to taste. My boys like it hotter. I made home made buttermilk ranch dressing to dip it in and sweet potato fried to go along with it. Will definitely be making this again.
Buttermilk ranch I’m drooooooling.
This looks so moist on the inside and crisp on the outside!
Usually don’t leave reviews but the chicken/breading recipe is perfection and will be my go to now! We opted for a buffalo sauce instead, but next time I’ll try the hot honey!
Ooo I bet this was delish with buffalo sauce!
this is a good recipe! i love this