These Fried Chicken Tacos are absolutely delicious and ready in less than 20 minutes thanks to the Air Fryer. Golden air fried chicken breast fried to perfection, topped with a vinegar-based slaw and spicy mayo wrapped up into a crispy taco.
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The full recipe with ingredients/instructions is available on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Important tips/tricks are also included in the blog post.
Some nights I want fried chicken, and others I want tacos. I combined them together and now I have the best of both worlds!
The great thing about this recipe is that it takes about 20 minutes to make from start to finish. It’s not only super quick and easy...the flavor combo is out of this world.
I use my air fryer to fry my chicken pieces for the tacos and I warm up by hard corn tortilla shells in the Air Fryer as well.
How to make Fried Chicken Tacos
Make the Toppings
I start making my coleslaw and spicy sauce for the recipe so the flavors have a few minutes to marinate before we put our tacos together.
In a large bowl, combine coleslaw mix, apple cider vinegar, water, brown sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine good quality mayonnaise, hot sauce, buttermilk, garlic powder, and salt. Set aside.
Make the Chicken
Preheat your Air Fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
Create a dredging station by placing two large flat pans side by side. In the first, combine egg and buttermilk, a little salt and pepper, and whisk until combined.
In the second, combine flour, corn starch, salt, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper. Stir until all the seasonings are stirred into the flour.
Cut chicken tenders into large chunks. Season them with a little salt and pepper.
Once your Air Fryer is preheated, remove the basket and lightly spray it with oil to ensure your chicken does not stick to the basket. I use my Evo spray bottle filled with a high heat cooking oil.
Then dip your chicken into the egg mixture, shaking off any excess egg, then the flour mixture, shaking off any excess flour, and then place it in the basket. Make sure your chicken pieces are in a single layer and not overlapping.
Close the air fryer basket and cook on 360 degrees for 5 minutes. Open your air fryer basket and spray the chicken and any white spots you see, then flip the chicken and spray any white spots you see on the other side.
Close the basket and cook for 5-7 more minutes on 360 degrees Fahrenheit, until your chicken is cooked and golden brown.
Warm the Shells
Once your chicken is done, remove the air fryer basket and remove the cooked chicken. If using hard shell tacos, place them in the air fryer basket and cook on 360 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 minutes. Use a trivet to hold the taco shells down so that they don’t fly around in the air fryer.
Once your shells are warm, assemble your tacos by placing slaw and chicken in the shell and cover it with spicy mayonnaise sauce.
And there you have it, delicious and easy fried chicken tacos all made in your Air Fryer.
Looking for more taco recipes? Try this turkey taco recipe or this Ninja Foodi pork carnitas recipe.
Looking for recipes to serve these tacos with? Try these out:
Or try these Air Fryer Recipes Out:
Fried Chicken Tacos (Air Fried)
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb chicken tenders or breast chopped into 2-inch pieces
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tablespoon buttermilk
- ¾ cup All-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoon corn starch
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- oil for spraying
Coleslaw
- 2 cups coleslaw mix
- 2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Spicy Mayo
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Tortilla wrappers
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine coleslaw mix, apple cider vinegar, water, brown sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, hot sauce, buttermilk, garlic powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Preheat your Air Fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Create a dredging station by placing two large flat pans side by side. In the first, whisk together egg and buttermilk, and season with salt and pepper. In the second, whisk flour, corn starch, salt, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper.
- Cut chicken tenders into 1-inch chunks. Season them with a little salt and pepper.
- Once your Air Fryer is preheated, remove the basket and lightly spray it with oil. Then coat your chicken with the egg mixture, shaking off any excess egg, then the flour mixture, and then place it in the basket, making sure your chicken pieces are not overlapping.
- Close the air fryer basket and cook on 360 degrees for 10 minutes, flipping and spraying halfway through cooking.
- Once the chicken is done, remove and place chicken into warmed tortilla shells. Top with coleslaw and spicy mayonnaise.
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Notes
- I suggest using a good quality mayo for your spicy mayo sauce. I use Duke’s.
- Make sure the flour spots on your chicken is fully covered with oil when spraying.
- Use any oil with a high smoke point for spraying. (Canola, olive, avocado, vegetable, etc.)
Renee says
Question.... what kind of trivet would you suggest? I don’t want to break my taco hard shells.
Tanya says
I used one that came with an air fryer accessory kit I ordered. However, you may not even need the rack. The shells will move around a little but not enough to fly around the basket too much.
Roy Burtrum says
These are the best Tacos that I have ever tasted. The Cole Slaw combined with the chicken result in a mouth watering dish!
Tanya says
Awesome! So glad you liked them Roy 🙂