Crispy & Cheesy Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan

I love my restaurant-style dishes at home. What can I say, I’m a huge foodie, as I’m sure many of you are too. I got into cooking because I wanted to recreate my restaurant favourites at home! The problem is that we must reserve these indulgences for, well, indulgences! As much as I love to make complex dishes for a great feast, I’ll admit that it’s a pain to get all that oil into a pan and shallow fry. Plus, vegetable oil certainly is not the healthiest for you! Yes, I’ll always argue that the chicken cutlet won’t absorb anywhere near all that oil, but that being said even a small amount of veggie oil isn’t the best to have on a daily basis!

Another thing that’s cumbersome is cleaning up after. Being totally transparent here, I procrastinate putting the oil away. Then the pan is just so greasy to clean! Yes, it’s worth it for that amazing taste, but it’s a lot of work!

For a healthy alternative, you could indeed make Baked Chicken Parmesan. You’ll avoid all of the oil and still get a super delicious and crispy crust on your cutlet!

However, this takes some time! You have to preheat your oven and then it takes awhile to bake in there. Additionally, oven baking requires you to baby your chicken Parmesan.

Why Use an Air Fryer?

Ever since I got an air fryer I pretty much stopped using the oven to bake unless the dish is too big to fit in the air fryer! But for Potato Wedges and Chicken Wings, I’m all for using the air fryer instead!

An air fryer is an appliance that works in a similar method to a convection oven. The fan circulates hot air inside the basket, giving your food a wonderful crispy exterior! I’m all about honesty here, so I’m going to tell you that no, sorry, you won’t get results that are 100 percent comparable to deep frying. BUT I’d say depending on what you’re making, you can get about 80 to 90 percent of the way there in terms of texture and taste! What I can guarantee is that it’ll be super crispy and satisfying, and close enough to the shallow-fried version!

Is Air Frying Healthy?▼

I’m going to say yes! You’re avoiding all of the vegetable oil that’s used when you deep fry food. I’m going to add a little drizzle of olive oil to help get the Panko crust nice and crispy, but the amount I’ll use is honestly extremely negligible. A little bit of olive oil for cooking isn’t bad for you, unlike the vegetable oils! Vegetable oils are refined oils, meaning that they have been heavily processed and are cheaper. On the other hand, olive oil has heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. The small amount of olive oil here will also add a great flavour to our chicken cutlet. A bit of fat in a dish contributes to a balanced meal nutritionally, and it contributes to satiety.

If you’re looking for a close-to-the-real-thing alternative, then I definitely recommend this Air Fryer recipe! You’ll achieve a taste much closer to the Classic Chicken Parmesan than baking it in the oven!

What Air Fryer do I recommend?▼

The air fryer I have is the Ninja Foodi 6-in-1 2-Basket Air Fryer. One of my favourite parts about it is that there are two baskets! If you’re making two different items, then you can set the two baskets at different cook methods, temperatures, and cook times. This is great if you’re planning on making an entire meal in an air fryer!

Let me share a secret with you! I actually recorded my Air Fryer Crispy Cajun Potato Wedges and the Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings recipes simultaneously! I got to enjoy both together for an awesome dinner, and two videos were recorded at once! Yay!

There are six settings for this air fryer, which are:

Air Fry
Air Broil
Reheat
Dehydrate
Bake
Roast

I’ve only ever used the Air Fry and Reheat settings, but I’d love to try the others! I still have lots to explore with this air fryer, but I’m very excited to do so! If you want an in-depth review of my first impressions after only a week of using the air fryer, then be sure to check out this video!

What drew me to this air fryer were the settings, the two baskets, and I’ll be honest, the brand! I love my Ninja prep blenders for sauces and purees as well as my Ninja professional blender for smoothies and protein ice creams, so I trusted Ninja would make an awesome air fryer! When I saw it was at a great sale price at Canadian Tire and I totally bought it on impulse! It was love at first use, and I used it every day for a week, sometimes twice a day! I can’t ever go back to not having one, so if you’re on the fence about getting an air fryer and you love your fried food, then I definitely say to go for it!

Why Make Chicken Parmesan in the Air Fryer?

Let’s go over why you should be making this Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan recipe for you and your family tonight!

(almost) oil-free!
Cooks in half the time compared to baking in the oven!
A super crispy crust!
Minimal clean-up!

Ingredients for Air Fried Chicken Parmesan

Let’s break down the ingredients we’ll need to make this easy and healthy Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan.

For Breading the Chicken

2 small chicken breasts or 1 large chicken breast
1 large egg, lightly whipped
All-purpose flour
Panko breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Pasta

Classic Italian Marinara Sauce (or any marinara sauce you’d like)
Spaghetti
Fresh basil (for garnish)
Grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for topping
1 Tbsp butter (optional)

For Preparing the Chicken Parmesan

Classic Italian Marinara Sauce
Sour cream
Part-skim mozzarella
Parmesan
Fresh basil (for garnish)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

How to Make Air Fried Chicken Parmesan

For the Crispy Baked Chicken

If using a large chicken breast (>150 g) cut the chicken into smaller portions by cutting it diagonally in two equal halves. Place the portions in a Ziploc bag or between two plastic wraps and pound thin using a meat tenderizer (about 1/4 inch thickness).
Measure out flour, egg and breadcrumb in different plates/large bowls. Season flour with salt and pepper, lightly whisk the egg and sprinkle oregano on the breadcrumbs.
Working with one chicken portion at a time, dredge the chicken in flour, shake off excess. Dip the chicken in the egg and evenly coat both sides. Let excess drip off and coat the chicken in the breadcrumbs. Make sure to press the breadcrumbs on the chicken for an extra crispy chicken.
Place breaded chicken in the air fryer drawer and set Airfryer to Air Fry setting. Bake at 390 F and set timer to 15 minutes.
After 5-6 minutes, pause the air fryer and brush each side of the chicken with olive oil. Continue cooking until the chicken is golden brown all over.

For the Pasta

In the meanwhile, boil water for pasta in a large pot and season generously with salt.
Once water starts to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente, 7-8 minutes. With 4 minutes remaining for the pasta, warm up the marinara sauce in a large saucepan or pot, reserving 1/4 Cup for the chicken parmesan.
Toss the pasta with the sauce and keep warm until the chicken finishes cooking.

For Preparing the Chicken Parmesan

Once the crust of the chicken is golden brown, take chicken out of the oven. Top the chicken with marinara sauce, sour cream, mozzarella and parmesan. Gently pat down the toppings and place back in the air fryer drawer.
Set the Air Fryer to Air Broil mode and place baking tray back in the oven on the top-most rack and cook until the cheese is bubbly and a light golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Remove the chicken parmesan from the oven.
Serve pasta in a bowl or plate and serve with the freshly baked chicken parmesan with a garnish of basil and extra parmesan.

Tips & Tricks for Amazing Chicken Parmesan

Make sure to press on the Panko breadcrumbs well on the chicken cutlets for an even and crispy breading.
Usually the Air Fryer drawers go quite deep, be careful while placing or removing the chicken to/from the drawer.
Adding the oil helps bring colour to the crispy chicken crust. Without the oil, the breadcrumbs will look bland and may get charred.
Given the small space in the air fryer, be careful with the broiling step, that cheese will be ready fast!

Serving Suggestions for Crispy & Cheesy Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan

I’m having my chicken parm with spaghetti marinara, as you can see! If you don’t feel like having the spaghetti, then that’s okay! You could certainly use the chicken cutlet and have it in a sandwich, or you could serve with some vegetables or zoodles. Here are some other side dish ideas:

Instant Pot Steamed Baby Potatoes
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Super Crispy Air Fryer Cajun Potato Wedges (Hint: you can use the other basket if you get the Ninja Foodi 6-in-1 Air Fryer!!)

Juicy Air Fryer Buffalo Wings (again, you can use the second basket here!)

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!

Recipe by Anadi Misra