Frozen Chicken Breast in Air Fryer

Tender frozen chicken breast in air fryer is so easy to make! Great hack if you forget to defrost your chicken but dinner is just minutes away. 

First we made a KFC copycat air fryer fried chicken breast recipe. Then the next time I thought about it they were still rock hard!

Yes, we shared how to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot but now it’s time to use our other favorite appliance!

I am far from perfect. I have 3 girls, am homeschooling 2 of them, work full time (here), and sometimes forget to prep dinner. I always have a bag of frozen chicken in the freezer so that is usually my go to.

Yes I have made Crockpot frozen chicken before and that is great for shredded chicken tacos. BUT you have to remember to take that out and put it in the pot in the morning.

I am not always totally together in the morning to do this especially if we have a busy day of work and horseback riding ahead of us. 😉 SO I’m here to share my air fryer hack with you here today.

Yes this is a healthy air fryer recipe, so if you’re following a keto or low fat diet this will be great.

We didn’t use any bread crumbs this time to keep the calories down, and if they’re rock hard nothing is going to stick anyway.

• If you’re looking for something more like air fry chicken with a coating follow this recipe, or the one for homemade breaded chicken tenders.

BUT this basic chicken in the air fryer recipe is great for everyone, even my 11 year old loves it. 

• We’re using medium to large chicken breasts found in a bag in your local grocery store freezer.

Timing is set for the size and thickness you see here, it may vary slightly depending on the size of your chicken pieces.

Let’s start with putting 2 into your air fryer basket. Then you’ll want to sprinkle with seasonings like garlic powder and anything else you’d normally use.

Frozen chicken breast in air fryer

1. Bag of frozen chicken breasts – 2 at a time fit comfortably
2. Salt and pepper
3. Garlic powder
4. Parsley

This is what we sprinkled on before we began to cook the chicken. Add any other dry seasonings you’d like as well.

Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Breast

Steps to follow:

I like to preheat the air fryer but I will admit I don’t always remember to. If you forget don’t worry, the cooking time won’t change a lot.

Ideally I do because it creates more of a deep frying crisp on the outsides of my food.

• Now place your frozen chicken into your basket
• Add your seasonings
• Close your basket and set to 360 degrees for 15 minutes
  • if your meat is on the smaller side I would set for 12 minutes and check
  • always ensure internal temperature of chicken is 165 degrees to be safe

Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing to maintain juiciness and enjoy!

If you’re wondering how to cook other frozen foods, follow and print out our air fryer cooking times chart. That’s how we knew how long to cook our frozen Ninja Foodi sausages and more.

Looking for other Ninja Foodi recipes (or any other air fryer brand you own)

• Try our air fryer stuffed chicken breast tonight!
• Meatballs in an air fryer are easy and another keto low carb meal

What goes well with chicken?

• Air fryer broccoli is a great side dish
• As well as our air fryer cauliflower
• Or these fluffy air fryer baked potatoes

If you haven’t tried our air fryer wings recipe yet, it gets RAVING reviews with it’s dry rub and crispy skin.

Can you cook frozen meat in an air fryer?

• Yes!! 
• You can even cook frozen chicken wings in an air fryer too
• It comes out tender and juicy too if you follow the instructions below.
• Next will be frozen chicken wings which we’ve done in an Instant Pot, but will attempt in our air fryer this week and share.
• Here are more air fryer chicken breast recipes.

If your kids are a bit pickier, then throw in some air fryer frozen chicken nuggets for them and enjoy a meal together y’all!

Our air fryer chicken kabobs and air fryer whole chicken recipe are wonderful too.

Ninja Foodi Frozen Chicken Breast

You can make this with the directions below, OR follow this pressure cooker frozen chicken breast with sauce recipe.