Air Fryer Chicken Bites with Sweet Mustard Sauce

Today I'm making a simple dish of air fried chicken bites with a side of sweet mustard dipping sauce. Crispy, savory, and delicious. Little bit of breading, some chicken, and you got yourself a tasty treat.

Ingredients for Chicken Bites

• Chicken Breast - Diced up and seasoned.
• Chicken Coating
  • Flour - All-purpose.
  • Egg - Beaten.
  • Breadcrumbs - Panko, or regular. I've added some left over chopped parsley into mine.
• Dipping sauce - Sweet mustard

The Chicken

Cut up a chicken breast into cubes. Think bite size pieces, about 1 inch or so. Place it into a sandwich bag with some oil, herbs, salt and pepper and let it marinate for at least 20 minutes.

What I normally do is make a HUGE batch of these pre-portioned chicken bags. And throw them all in the freezer. Then the night before, I'll defrost one in the fridge. So I always have some chicken protein ready to go for whatever meal I'm cooking.

The Coating of the Chicken

Setup your coating station. You should have a small plate/bowl for your:

• Raw Chicken
• Flour
• Egg
• Breadcrumbs
• A plate to place them on

Now let the dredging begin (flour, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs)! Dredge your chicken into the flour first. Use some tongs or a fork to keep your hands clean.

Make sure to get the other side too.

Then drop it into the bowl of beaten egg.

Gotta get that other side.

Now drop the chicken into the breadcrumb bowl. Get both sides.

Then place the coated chicken onto your spare plate. And continue for the rest of the chicken pieces.

You may need to top up each bowl as they get low. As you can see here my breadcrumbs were getting a bit antsy.

Now that you've got a full plate of coated chicken, it's time to air fry!

Preheat your Air Fryer

I like to preheat my air fryer just before I start cooking. If I preheat it any earlier, then by the time I'm finished the prep, it's already cold. Plus it only takes 3 minutes for it to preheat while I wipe over my surfaces.

Preheat your air fryer to 180°C / 350°F for 3 minutes.

Air Frying your Chicken

I like to give me basket a quick spray with oil so the chicken doesn't stick to the bottom.

Then layer your chicken into the basket. Give it some space between pieces to breath.

I hit it with another spray of oil to make sure they crisp up.

Now return the basket and air fry at 180°C / 350°F for 8 min.

Give the basket a shake. Try to get most of the chicken turned over.

Nearly there. Give it another 8 minutes.

They should be golden brown and cooked through.

Depending on how thick your chicken pieces are, you may need to cook it for a few minutes more/less. The internal temp of cooked chicken should be above 74°C / 165°F, and should have a white center.

Make up some Sweet Mustard

During the time it takes to air fry your chicken pieces, you should be able to whip up some sweet mustard dipping sauce.

Very simple! Just combine equal parts:

• Mustards
• Mayo
• Maple Syrup

About a 1 tbsp each. Give it a good stir. Done!

The Plating

Place your chicken in a bowl with a ramequin of dipping sauce in the middle. Finish with some sea salt and a sprinkle of fresh cut herbs.

Let them cool down for a sec, then dip and eat!

Phil, thoughts?

Nah yeah, I was really happy with these. It does take a good few minutes to coat each chicken. Not to mention all the dishes left to clean up. So I'd prefer batter-less bites, just to save me on time. But breading them does make for a good texture.

And having the chicken already diced up helps out on prep / clean time. So if you're in for the night, and want to dress them up a bit then give this recipe a go!