This air fryer BBQ chicken is a savory, easy to make, quick chicken dish that satisfies! Cooking chicken in your air fryer might just become your go-to method!

bbq chicken cooked in the air fryer sitting on a white plate

BBQ Chicken is a dish that always makes me think of summer. Specifically, sitting out on the deck, face and fingers covered with sauce, sun beating down with no plans of going down for hours.

Can’t you just feel it?

Whether you’re making wings (side note: you can’t miss these jerk chicken wings), drumsticks, tenders or whatever, BBQ Chicken is such a tasty, savory, crowd pleasing dish and if you’re not a grill master, the great news is you can easily whip it up right in your air fryer!

What ingredients do you need to make BBQ Chicken?

It’s really simple, and you can switch it up any way you’d like, but for this recipe I stuck to:

Chicken Tenderloins – I used just one pound of chicken for this recipe. This makes it easy to scale the amounts of the other ingredients to fit how much chicken you’re cooking.
Salt
Pepper
BBQ Dry Rub – You can always swap this out for your favorite chicken seasonings, from onion powder and paprika to just leaving it out completely if you’d prefer just to just use the sauce.
BBQ Sauce – go ahead and use your favorite sauce! Because I follow a low carb diet, my go to, just like in my recipe for air fryer ribs, is Ken Davis Sassy 2 Carb. I think it’s the best low carb BBQ sauce on the market, and I’ve tried quite a few of them!

How long do you cook chicken in the air fryer?

sliced bbq chicken on a cutting board with a fork picking up one piece

Every air fryer is different, but right now I’m using the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL. Typically it takes just about 12 minutes to get my chicken to the USDA recommended 165°F internal temperature.

I learned that timing works best for me with my air fryer chicken parmesan. It came out cooked thoroughly, but not dry.

I also use tongs to flip my chicken halfway through the cook time. This helps it get evenly cooked on both sides.

How should I serve my air fryer chicken?

three tortillas wrapped around bbq chicken, ranch dressing and cheddar cheese

The possibilities are endless for how you can enjoy this dish. One thing that I immediately thought to do was slice up the chicken and put it in a low carb tortilla with ranch and shredded cheese to make a tasty snack wrap!

You can also serve it with traditional BBQ side dishes like potato salad, or cauliflower potato salad, if you’re keeping it low carb!

Yield: 4 Servings

Air Fryer BBQ Chicken

Name: Air Fryer BBQ Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 pound chicken (I used tenderloins); 2 tablespoons BBQ Dry Rub; 1/2 Tsp Salt; 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper; 2 Tbsp BBQ Sauce

This air fryer BBQ chicken is a savory, easy to make, quick chicken dish that satisfies! Cooking chicken in your air fryer might just become your go-to method!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 17 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound chicken (I used tenderloins)
2 tablespoons BBQ Dry Rub
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tbsp BBQ Sauce

Instructions

Season chicken with salt, pepper and dry rub or any other seasonings you’re using.
Place chicken in air fryer basket and set temperature to 350°F and timer to 12 minutes.
Halfway through cook time, use tongs to carefully flip each piece of chicken before turning the air fryer back on.
When about 3 minutes of cook time remains, carefully brush each piece of chicken with BBQ Sauce for finishing. I add it near the end of the cook time to keep it from burning.
After the internal temperature of the chicken reaches at least 165°F, use tongs to carefully remove chicken from air fryer basket. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 278

Any Nutritional Information provided is an amateur estimate. Please verify with your own brands and ingredients if nutrition is important to you.