I have been testing air fryers for some time now and one of my favourite things about it, being an amateur cook, is how convenient it is to cook meat, especially chicken in it. I have been using the Philips NA120/00 air fryer quite regularly for some time now, mostly for quick meals and protein-heavy snacks. You don’t have to constantly monitor it, just set the timer, and you’re sorted.
As easy as it may sound, the air fryer isn’t a magical machine, and you have to consider certain things. The most common problem that I faced was how quickly the chicken dried out, especially when I was using boneless pieces or thinner cuts. The texture would turn out noticeably dry by the time the outside crisped up properly.
One thing that I noticed with the Philips NA120/00 specifically is that it browns food quite aggressively once temperatures cross 180°C because of the rapid hot-air circulation inside the compact basket. While that’s good for the crispy exterior, it also dries out chicken faster than expected. The label on the air fryer says that you should cook chicken at 180°C for around 20 minutes, but that wasn’t working for me.
I made it my life’s mission to find out ways so that the chicken doesn’t dry out, tried out some Instagram hacks, followed some fellow reviewers’ tips, and some trial and errors of my own too. After cooking chicken in it regularly over time, I started noticing a few things that helped improve my results. I am going to share all the insights from those experiments, so that your chicken doesn’t come out dry from that air fryer basket. You can thank me later!
Lower Temperature, Longer Cooking Worked Better
The first mistake I was making was that I was cooking the chicken aggressively at very high temperatures throughout. Lesson learnt: don’t follow the recipes to the T. Most recipes tell you to cook the chicken at temperatures like 200°C for almost everything because people want quick cooking and visible browning.
The problem with that is that with chicken breasts, boneless cubes, strips, or thinner thigh cuts, can dry before the inside stays juicy.
So, what worked for me was starting lower to let the inside cook and then increasing the temperature to get the crispy texture on the outside. I started cooking at around 160–170°C then increased to about 190°C for a couple mins and finished at 200°C for like 30 seconds.
A Little Oil Actually Helps
Air fryers are marketed as machines that don’t require any oil for cooking and yes while it’s true that air fryers significantly use less oil than deep frying, but that does not mean using no oil always gives you the best results.
I noticed that when I lightly brushed my chicken pieces with oil before cooking, it didn’t dry out as before. Not only did it improve browning, but it also seemed to reduce how quickly the outer layer dried out under circulating heat.
It doesn’t make your dish unhealthy immediately. You can use a bit of ghee, olive oil, sesame oil, instead of refined oils and when you use a brush, you are not using a lot either.
Marination Makes a Big Difference
This probably helped my chicken dishes the most. Earlier, I would season the chicken quickly and throw it directly into the air fryer basket. Then I started marinating it, overnight is better but on rush days I have even cooked it after 30-40 minutes.
I used ingredients like curd and lemon juice, and the chicken retained moisture much better during cooking. Pro tip: you can even add a spoon of oil/butter in the marinade.
Don’t Overcrowd the Basket
When the air fryer basket gets overcrowded, the hot air cannot circulate evenly around each piece of chicken. So, only some pieces are cooked properly, while others release moisture and steam into each other. That often creates uneven texture where one side dries out while another side feels softer.
This is soSo, as much as you are tempted to just cook everything at once, cooking in smaller batches gives the best results.
Air Fryers Are Fast, Sometimes Too Fast
One thing that I have realised after using an air fryer regularly is that you have to be precise with timings, especially if you are using a manual air fryer like me. Since cooking feels so quick, it becomes very easy to leave the chicken inside for a couple of minutes just to get extra crispness but those extra few minutes matter much more in an air fryer than they do in a conventional pan or oven.
Chicken can go from juicy to dry surprisingly fast once the moisture starts escaping. That’s why now I check on my chicken much earlier than I think I need to.
So, Is Air Fryer Chicken Always Dry?
No, air fryer chicken doesn’t always have to be dry. The problem is usually not with the appliance, but how you use it. Air fryers cook fast, circulate heat intensely, and continue crisping the surface quickly once temperatures rise.
Once I stopped treating it like a mini deep fryer and started being more careful and patient with it, the results turned out much better. Now, after a few adjustments, I now cook juicy, yet crispy chicken in the air fryer.
After a few adjustments, I started enjoying chicken recipes in in the Philips NA120/00 much more because it still gives you the convenience and crispiness people buy air fryers for, and my chicken was coming out juicy as well.
