Crunchy Chickpeas, by Diane

 

I've been making these in the airfryer as a snack, or a crunchy salad topping. They couldn't be easier and way healthier than storebought dried chickpeas which tend to have a lot of oil and random ingredients. I've listed my current spice blend below, but you can obviously vary this as needed. I out the spices in order of how much I tend to sprinkle on. Once I figured out how to keep the moisture out of these after cooking and for storage I was all set!

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed and patted dry

Spices- smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, fine sea salt, curry powder, turmeric, black pepper

1 tsp EVOO

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and toss well to coat evenly.

2. Spread in an even layer in the airfryer at 400 for about 20 minutes or until the chickpeas are completely dried out and crunchy. Open and shake the basket about halfway to evenly dry the chickpeas.

3. Spread chickpeas onto a plate in an even layer to cool- you don't want to put them in the storage container yet while hot so they don't build moisture back up. Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container.

Airfryer Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp, by Diane

Last week was best of airfryer chicken, and this week has been best of airfryer shrimp. I started off strong with one of my favorite recipes, Airfryer Shrimp Tacos in Lettuce Wraps because it's just so good. Today, I tried this recipe, from fitslowcookerqueen on IG. Apparently this is a food truck staple in Hawaii, and I decided to give it a go in this airfryer version. Easy peasy, and delicious! I cooked the garlic too long but it was still amazing, and I also took the shells off before coating- all the recipes had them on before coating which makes no sense to me because you take them off when you eat them. So I left the coating where it belongs- on the shrimp itself! This recipe was whole30 but you can sub in any flour you like.

Ingredients:

1 lb shrimp, cleaned and deveined with tails on

4 tbsp ghee or butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp arrowroot flour

1.5 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

parsley, finely chopped for garnish

spray avocado oil

Directions:

1. Dry the shrimp as much as possible and coat with arrowroot, paprika, salt and pepper. Place evenly spaced out in a single layer in the airfryer. Spray the tops with the oil lightly. Cook at 350 for 8 minutes, flipping halfway to coat again with avocado oil.

2. While the shrimp cooks in the last few minutes, melt the ghee in a small pan over medium heat then add garlic and cook 2-3 minutes until light brown. 

3. Toss the shrimp in the pan with the garlic butter, top with parsley and serve.

Best of Airfryer Chicken Round Four: Popcorn Chicken, by Diane

 

This week to mix things up, I've decided to play Best of Airfryer Chicken for lunches. 5 days, 5 recipes. I am always looking for a good airfryer chicken recipe, and I figured this was the best way to give this one a shot and discover a great go-to recipe. I also hate cooking lunches and usually batch them during the week, so bonus if the recipe was going to store well. This was also the week I found out raw chicken only lasts 1-2 days in the fridge...

Round four was popcorn chicken by Very Hungry Verbena. I love following her on Instagram! Her chicken came out MUCH more coated and crunchy than mine and I'm still trying to sort out what went wrong, but the flavor was outstanding and they were so juicy. I also made more of that honey mustard I'm obsessed with and damn this was a great lunch! If I could figure out how to make these crunchy like hers were, I'd be SOLD with this one as the winner.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken (I used one chicken breast and adjusted), cubed

cajun or bbq seasonings (I used a sweet and spicy bbq blend)

50 grams tapioca flour (I used about 1/2 cup just to be safe)

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking soda

Goya seasoning (I added this just to make sure the coating was flavorful)

Spray oil

Directions:

1. Marinate the chicken cubes in seasonings for 30 min in the fridge.

2. Toss the chicken in a bowl with tapioca, cornstarch, baking soda, and goya until totally covered. 

3. Shake off excess coating and place in a sprayed airfryer rack evenly spread apart. 

4. Liberally spray with oil, then bake at 400F for 15 minutes, spraying again and shaking the bin every 5 min. 

5. I served it with my honey mustard sauce: 1 tbsp mayo, 3/4 tbsp mustard, 1/2 tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, sprinkle chili powder. Stir to combine.

Best of Airfryer Chicken Round Three: Whole 30 Chinese Char Siu Chicken, by Diane

 

I added this in to show how juicy this came out!!

This week to mix things up, I've decided to play Best of Airfryer Chicken for lunches. 5 days, 5 recipes. I am always looking for a good airfryer chicken recipe, and I figured this was the best way to give this one a shot and discover a great go-to recipe. I also hate cooking lunches and usually batch them during the week, so bonus if the recipe was going to store well. This was also the week I found out raw chicken only lasts 1-2 days in the fridge...

Round three was Whole 30 Chinese Char Siu Chicken. I've only seen char siu pork (the pork with the red coating) and was intrigued. First off, this sauce was SLAMMIN and I also ate it on the roasted green beans I served this with. I would absolutely encourage eating this on everything in your kitchen, and am already planning a meatloaf glaze with it. YUM. The chicken was suuuuper juicy and overall this was a really great and very quick/easy meal. Would also be amazing on the grill over summer. Awesome. Recipe from nomnompaleo.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used 1 breast and just made less sauce)

1.5 tsp salt

1 tbsp avocado oil

1/4 plum peach or apricot jam (I used plum)

2 tbsp coconut aminos (I used tamari)

1.5 tbsp tomato paste

1.5 tbsp almond butter or tahini (I used almond butter)

1 tsp red boat fish sauce

1/4 Chinese 5 spice powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions:

1. Mix the chicken with salt and avocado oil until coated. 

2. Place on a greased rack and cook for 15 minutes (I cooked mine for 12 until a thermometer read 170F).

3. While the chicken bakes combine the remaining ingredients into a sauce. 

4. Baste on 1/3 of the sauce about 60% of the way through the cooking, another 1/3 about 2 min before ending, and then serve with the rest of the sauce. (She cooked differently because using thighs, but I liked this way better and also would use this method on a grill for summer as it gets a great color on the chicken!).

Best of Airfryer Chicken Round Two- Healthy Chicken Nuggets, by Diane

 

This week to mix things up, I've decided to play Best of Airfryer Chicken for lunches. 5 days, 5 recipes. I am always looking for a good airfryer chicken recipe, and I figured this was the best way to give this one a shot and discover a great go-to recipe. I also hate cooking lunches and usually batch them during the week, so bonus if the recipe was going to store well. This was also the week I found out raw chicken only lasts 1-2 days in the fridge...

Round two was healthy chicken nuggets by Kayla's Kitchen Fix. These were super juicy thanks to the marinade/brine, but not the total flavor of the coating I was going for. They honey mustard sauce I whipped up on the side (recipe below bc it ROCKED) was a total game changer, and it just involved instincts from my pantry. I'd make these again but would want a different coating. She has two options on her site- almond and coconut flour which I used, and cassava flour. I might try the later next time and see if that's better! 

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, cubed

1/4 cup pickle juice

1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup almond flour

2 tbsp coconut flour

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste (I used goya)

Avocado oil spray

Directions:

1. Combine the almond milk and vinegar in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes to mimic a buttermilk. Add in the pickle juice and let sit for 5 more minutes.

2. Add in the chicken, mix, and let sit for 30 minutes in the fridge.

3. Combine almond flour through salt and pepper in a bowl, mix to combine. Dip the chicken in the mixture, coating each side and move to a sprayed airfryer pan. Spread the chicken out evenly.

4. Liberally spray all the chicken well and cook at 400 for 12-15 minutes (I used a thermometer until 170F).

5. I served it with honey mustard sauce: 1 tbsp mayo, 3/4 tbsp mustard, 1/2 tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, sprinkle chili powder. Stir to combine.

Best of Airfryer Chicken Round One- Hot Honey Garlic Chicken, by Diane

 

This week to mix things up, I've decided to play Best of Airfryer Chicken for lunches. 5 days, 5 recipes. I am always looking for a good airfryer chicken recipe, and I figured this was the best way to give this one a shot and discover a great go-to recipe. I also hate cooking lunches and usually batch them during the week, so bonus if the recipe was going to store well. This was also the week I found out raw chicken only lasts 1-2 days in the fridge...

At any rate, first up was Hot Honey Garlic Chicken. I was intrigued and it seemed easy so I gave it a shot. Overall, my only complaint here was the cubing technique, which dried out the tops of the cubes slightly so I'd nix that and the butter pats that go inside them for next time. I also skipped the butter in the sauce since there was butter on the chicken. The other change I made was to brush some of the sauce over the chicken just before it was done cooking to caramelize it a bit, I made that adjustment in the directions below because that was a winner! The rest of the chicken was super juicy, the flavor was awesome, and this would definitely be great leftover for salads. This was also very quick to come together. I served it with a side of my favorite Burnt Broccoli, yum. Recipe by saucedupfoods.com

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

1 tsp each: salt, pepper, chicken boullion, cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and paprika (I used Tony Chachere's for this plus garlic and paprika)

Small dabs of butter

Minced parsley (I used dried)

3 tbsp melted butter

1 tbsp minced garlic

1.5 tbsp hot sauce

1.5 tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Score the chicken but cutting diagonal horizontal and vertical lines 3/4 of the way through the chicken. 

2. Mix the seasonings salt through parsley and rub into chicken. 

3. Stick small dabs of butter between some of the cubes.

4. Cook in an airfryer on 390 F for 15-20 min (mine took about 12, I used a thermometer at 170).

5. While the chicken cooks mix the remaining 4 ingredients in a sauce. Brush some sauce on the chicken during the last 3 minutes of cooking.

6. Pour remaining sauce over top of the finished chicken and serve.