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I love to make chicken that is packed full of flavour and this air fryer peri peri chicken recipe is always a winner in my home.
This recipe is super simple to follow, as you make your own dry rub / peri peri seasoning, sprinkle it all over and then begin cooking!
I often make a huge batch of chicken, such as this peri peri chicken in the air fryer, and then use it for a couple of uses including peri peri chicken pasta or even just serving in a nice, fresh tortilla wrap. Shop bought work great if you don’t want to make them yourself!
My air fryer is one of my favourite ever kitchen purchases! These days I have a Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 and it is absolutely fantastic! If you’ve got a Ninja Foodi be sure to check out my Ninja Foodi roast potatoes.
Using the air fryer is perfect for quick hot lunches, which I always want to enjoy during the colder months. Having tasty chicken to hand in the fridge, ready to serve in salads or sandwiches in next to no time, is something that stops me from ordering takeaways so frequently, which in turn saves me a significant amount of money!
I love to make air fryer chicken recipes as they’re usually fast and packed full of flavour.

Ingredients for air fryer peri peri chicken:
640g chicken mini fillets
Peri peri seasoning– if you don’t want to make your own I love the one from Tesco and would recommend this!
Method for cooking peri peri chicken in the air fryer:
Add the chicken mini fillets to a bowl.
Add the peri peri seasoning and then massage it all over the chicken breasts. You CAN use thighs, or any other chicken of choice, if you don’t want to use chicken breasts, or don’t have them to hand.
Spray the air fryer basket with a little spray oil or olive oil, if you’d like.
Place the chicken fillets into the air fryer basket.
Cook for 20 minutes at 200C (400F), turning the chicken when the cooking time is 10 minutes in.
When cooking if you overcrowd your air fryer basket then ensure that you give it a good shake at least every 5 minutes while cooking.
Check the temperature of your peri peri chicken before serving, to ensure it is 74C/165F internally.
That’s it! Enjoy your juicy succulent chicken however you fancy. It is great served with a nice portion of air fryer frozen chips or air fryer potato wedges.
What to serve with peri peri chicken?
You can enjoy this with your favourite air fryer items, such as air fryer jacket potatoes or air fryer mashed potatoes. Any rice would work very well with this and a nice big pile of lightly charred vegetables would be super tasty too.
I love to serve with no yeast flatbreads, top an air fryer flatbread pizza with it, or with coleslaw, garlic and herb dip, roasted peppers, air fryer roasted tomatoes, spicy rice, hasselback potatoes or just air fryer chips. A nice dipping sauce, such as mayonnaise, works very well with these too!
What types of chicken can you use for peri peri chicken?
A spatchcock chicken would work SO well with peri peri! You can use chicken thighs, for extra succulence, chicken strips or tenders if you want something super simple and preprepared or just chicken legs or wings if you want to be a little more frugal, or even feed a hungry crowd.
Want to try peri peri chicken with another meat?
Steak works great for this, though you’ll want to adjust the cooking time down of course! This is a great way to add a different flavour to the dish without much effort.
Can you freeze this peri peri chicken?
Absolutely you can! It is SO simple! I’d dress your chicken with the dry rub and then place in a freezer bag.
Defrost thoroughly, either overnight or for up to 24 hours, and then following the cooking method I’ve already shared.
Fancy trying something different in your air fryer?
- Air fryer potato wedges
- Mashed potatoes in the air fryer
- Air fryer mashed potato balls
- Chicken nuggets in the air fryer
- Air fryer frozen sweet potato fries
- Cookies in the air fryer
- Air fryer chicken wings
If you’re looking to get the most from your air fryer these these are some of my favourite air fryer accessories and cookbooks:
Something to note about air fryer recipes is that all air fryers have different sizes, depths and as such the cooking times can vary. All air fryer recipes on this website are intended as a guide, and not a guarantee that the timings will be perfect. Enjoy!
How to make peri peri chicken in the air fryer:

Air fryer peri peri chicken
Delicious succulent peri peri chicken breasts or thighs cooked in the air fryer
Ingredients
- 640 g chicken mini fillets
- Peri peri seasoning See above for my recipe
Instructions
-
Add the chicken mini fillets to a bowl.
-
Add the peri peri seasoning and then massage it all over the chicken breasts.
-
Spray the air fryer basket with a little spray oil, if you’d like.
-
Place the chicken fillets into the air fryer basket.
-
Cook for 20 minutes at 200C (400F), turning the chicken when the cooking time is 10 minutes in.
-
When cooking if you need to overcrowd your air fryer basket then ensure that you give it a good shake at least every 5 minutes while cooking.
-
Check the temperature of your peri peri chicken before serving, to ensure it is 74C/165F internally.
-
That's it! Enjoy your juicy succulent chicken however you fancy. It is great served with a nice portion of air fryer frozen chips or air fryer potato wedges.
Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.
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