Baked or Air Fryer Almond Crusted Chicken

Crispy almond crusted chicken breast like air fryer fried chicken but with ground nuts for breading. A low carb high protein meal your family will love that can be baked in your oven too.

If you’re looking for the best air fryer chicken breast, this crispy almond chicken breast is it. Keto friendly using crushed almonds instead of just breadcrumbs, give it a try! Tender meat with crunchy bites on the outside you’ll love. (affiliate links present)

Air Fryer Almond Crusted Chicken

Looking for new keto foods you can make, and taste amazing? You just need to think outside of the box when it comes to breading really. Don’t give up all the things you love, there are alternatives like this one that will give you that crunch you are craving.

Now along with the different seasonings you could use comes how to get them to stick. In order to get the breading and crushed nuts to adhere we did whisk an egg. It is the easiest way to get it to coat the outsides well, but we have shared how to bread chicken without eggs here as well.

Copycat Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Chunks

If you just bought a bag and don’t want to make them homemade on your own they typically do have air fry directions on the back. In case yours doesn’t you would follow the steps for air fryer frozen chicken tenders for those.

In this case we are making a copycat version of that style of breaded breasts, but homemade which is always way better. To get that really crispy, lower carb breading we’ll use a mixture of breadcrumbs and ground almonds. You could just use one of them if you’d like.

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into large chunks – chicken thighs could be used
  • defrosted, you won’t be able to make frozen air fryer chicken tenderloins with breading because it won’t stick
  • chicken legs are great with this coating too and will take about the same time, depending on their size
• Olive oil
• Smoked paprika
• Granulated garlic or garlic powder
• Italian seasoning
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs or use all ground almonds
• 3 tbsp ground almonds can be bought already crushed into an almond meal texture, or can put into food processor yourself until very fine crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/3 tsp salt

If you wanted to make these spicy you could. Just use a sprinkle of either red pepper flakes, Sriracha powder or chili powder is a bit milder. I keep them mild so everyone can enjoy them at our house. Same goes for using fish to make Almond Crusted Salmon!

How Long to Cook Cubed Chicken Breast in Air Fryer

This is going to take about 16 minutes to cook, but a bit more time to prep and coat. Now there is a range depending on how thick your pieces are so keep that in mind after you flip them over. You may need only another few minutes beyond that. If you have thinner already sliced chicken tenderloins those would take closer to 8.

How to Cook Air Fryer Chicken Breast Chunks

• Rinse the chicken fillet and pat dry with paper towels well, trim off any excess fat. Then cut into pieces of medium size. Put in a deep bowl.
• Pour olive oil into a bowl, add salt and pepper with any other spices you’d like. Toss to coat.
• You can cover the bowl with a lid or film, and leave for half an hour in a cool place to marinate a bit if you like.
• In a bowl, beat the egg, pour the bread crumbs and crushed almonds into another shallow plate.
• Dip the chicken pieces in whisked egg, and then roll in almond mixture to stick on outside well.
• Put the chicken fillet pieces in the air fryer basket.
• Preheat air fryer to 400 F for 5 minutes. Spray inside of basket and lay pieces inside without overlapping. Cook for 8 minutes.
• Use tongs to flip to the other side and cook for another 5-8 minutes cooking time. (check internal temp. of thickest piece after 5 minutes so they don’t overcook and get too dry.

Ninja Foodi Almond Crusted Chicken

With this machine you will use the lid that is attached and the air crisp button. Use a meat thermometer to check in thickest portion, should be 165 F to be safe to eat and still juicy. Will take 12 minutes to 15 depending on thickness. Serve with your favorite chicken nugget dipping sauces if you like or enjoy as is.

Now you could use large chunks of boneless skinless thighs too. Those are typically thinner and smaller so I would cut down the timing a few minutes on each side and check with dark meat.

How to Cook Almond Crusted Baked Chicken in the Oven

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F first. Follow the same preparations as explained below. Use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Lightly spray the tops with cooking spray or drizzle with a little olive oil.
   • This will help the coating turn crispy and golden.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until tenders are cooked through and the almond crust is nicely browned.
4. The internal temperature of the chicken should reach 165 degrees F or 74 degrees C

Whether you bake in the oven or make this chicken recipe is an easy air fryer recipe that has a great texture and flavor for sure!!