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kfc style chicken drumsticks air fryer
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KFC Copycat Chicken Drumsticks in Air fryer

This is a truly delicious KFC copycat Air fryer fried chicken drumsticks recipe that is perfectly juicy and tasty. Perfect indulgent snack.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Keyword Air fryer fried chicken recipe
recipe Air fryer fried chicken recipe, chicken drumsticks in Airfryer
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Marination time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 46 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 376kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. chicken drumsticks without skin or 500 gm.

For chicken marination

  • 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste or minced ginger and garlic
  • 2 tbsp. Greek yogurt
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tsp. cayenne or tabasco sauce as per the heat you like

For flour mixture

  • ½ cup wholewheat flour with salt and 1 tsp. pepper
  • 2 eggs beaten

For outer coating

  • ½ cup cornflakes
  • ¾ cup breadcrumbs or powdered oats for gluten free
  • 1 tsp. mixed herbs dried oregano and basil
  • 1 tsp. cayenne as per taste
  • salt

Instructions

  • To make the marinade, mix all the ingredients mentioned well. The marinade must be quite thick. Taste it to check for balance.
  • Make some gashes in the deep parts of the drumsticks and massage them well all over with the marinade.
  • Marinate them for 2-4 hours.
  • Now take 3 shallow plates. Take seasoned flour in one shallow plate, beaten eggs in second plate.
  • Take cornflakes in a ziplock bag and lightly crush with a rolling pin. I used Kellogg's plain cornflakes. Mix this with breadcrumbs. I make my own breadcrumbs by toasting 2 whole wheat bread slices and then making crumbs in a blender. Mix these two with mixed herbs (dried oregano and basil), cayenne and salt in third bowl
  • Keep these ready.

For Air frying

  • Preheat your Airfryer at 320 F or 160 C for 5 minutes. Brush the sides of the basket with oil.
  • To coat drumsticks -- Use one hand as it tends to get dirty when dipping the chicken.
  • Take the marinated chicken drumsticks and dunk them well in seasoned flour so that they are coated well. Now dust them lightly to remove excess flour.
  • Next dip them in beaten egg mix. Your hands will get sticky now.
  • Take them and rub them in cornflakes and breadcrumbs mix to get a nice thick coating. Keep them aside.
  • You can use only breadcrumbs if you don't want to use cornflakes.
  • Repeat this method till all drumsticks are coated.
  • Put them in your airfryer basket and put it in the airfryer. My entire batch fitted at one go. Otherwise you can airfry in two batches.
  • Air fry at 320 F or 160 C for 15 minutes. Open Airfryer half way at 8 minutes and flip the drumsticks once. Be careful while flipping so as to not break the coating.
  • After 15 minutes increase the temperature to 390 F or 200 C and airfry for 6 minutes more to get a nice golden brown colour.
  • Check with a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of chicken. The temperature must be above 165F for the chicken to be cooked through.
  • Your crispy Air fryer fried chicken drumsticks are ready to serve. Serve with onion rings, mint chutney, dip or good old ketchup. Enjoy it hot.

Video

Notes

1. Serve hot with dip, ketchup or chutney.
2. This is a recipe I have perfected by multiple trial and errors so use it as it is. You can change the herbs/seasonings as per your taste.
3. If you don't have an airfryer, you could bake them in a conventional oven too.
4. The lower termperature - higher temperature combination while cooking helps in cooking the chicken perfectly keeping it moist inside and crunchy outside.
5. You could use only breadcrumbs too but using cornflakes makes it crunchier.
6. You can replicate the same recipe for chicken wings or chicken strips. Just modify the cooking time to adjust the kind of meat you are cooking.
7. You can replicate the same recipe for chicken wings, other chicken parts or chicken strips. Just modify the cooking time to adjust to the size of meat you are cooking.
8. When handling the chicken in air fryer basket, carefully move it so that the breading does not shed off.
9. I have used skinless drumsticks as I prefer these. But, you can use the ones with skin on as well.

Nutrition

Calories: 376kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 187mg | Sodium: 329mg | Potassium: 448mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1259IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 4mg