Frozen popcorn chicken makes a quick meal or game day snack. Ready in about 12 minutes, with no preheating required.
You can cook frozen Tyson popcorn chicken in the air fryer, or use this method to cook any other brand you enjoy. Just like frozen chicken patties, frozen chicken tenders and frozen chicken nuggets, these directions are easily adapted to different sizes and types of frozen chicken.
What You’ll Need
- Frozen Popcorn Chicken: We are cooking a bag of Tyson’s any’tizers chicken in the air fryer. Don’t thaw them beforehand!
- You’ll probably want some dipping sauce too. I like ketchup, barbecue sauce, or honey mustard dip.
How to Make Them
- Remove the popcorn chicken from the packaging. You can cook as much of it as will fit in your air fryer.
- Place the chicken in the air fryer basket. Be sure to keep it in a single layer so that each piece can get super crispy.
- Air fry at 400°F/200°C for 10-12 minutes. Flip the chicken over halfway through the cooking time.
- Serve hot with your favorite dipping sauces.
How to Serve
I suggest that you serve popcorn chicken with at least one tasty dipping sauce! Try BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, Buffalo sauce, or sweet and spicy sriracha sauce.
On the side, enjoy some air fryer tater tots or air fryer sweet potato fries.
Any brand of frozen popcorn chicken can be air-fried using these easy instructions!
Tips for Extra Crispiness!
For extra crispiness, I suggest cooking it for 2-3 extra minutes!
Technically popcorn chicken will be warmed through after about 10 minutes in the air fryer, but I always cook it for 12 minutes because I like it very crispy.
If there are extra large pieces of popcorn chicken or extra small ones, you may want to take the small pieces out after 10 minutes, and then continue cooking the large ones until they’re crispy.
How to Reheat
Once you’ve cooked frozen popcorn chicken in the air fryer, keep any leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat popcorn chicken by putting it back in the air fryer at 350°F and cook for 2-4 minutes, or just until they’re warmed through.
FAQs
Yes! We tested this recipe specifically with Tyson frozen popcorn chicken because it’s the brand that our readers and group members said they cooked most often.
It’s called that due to its size! You can pop these little chicken bites into your mouth just like kernels of popcorn.
Frozen popcorn chicken won’t need any oil to cook up perfectly crispy in the air fryer. Like most frozen appetizers, this one is packaged with oil in the breading, which will activate as it’s heated to crisp up the chicken.
Frozen Popcorn Chicken in Air Fryer
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 package Tyson's Popcorn Chicken frozen
Instructions
- Remove the popcorn chicken from the packaging.
- Place the frozen chicken in a single layer of the air fryer basket. Cook in multiple batches if needed.
- Air fry at 400°F/200°C for 10-12 minutes, flipping halfway through, until golden and the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F/74°C.
- Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
- The nutrition details for this recipe will be found on the packaging of your frozen popcorn chicken.
- Do not thaw popcorn chicken before air frying.
- Cook frozen chicken pieces in a single layer in the air fryer basket in order to get them extra crispy. If you need to, cook the popcorn chicken in two batches.
- Feel free to use this method to cook as many servings as you need. You don’t need to cook the entire bag at one time if you only need one or two servings.
Nutrition
Well there was me looking for the popcorn shrimp post, and I spotted this! Remembering I had a bag of popcorn chicken in the freezer, I decided to give this a try. I’m so happy I did, as I wouldn’t have thought to do the chicken in the air fryer!
I may need to replace the kids popcorn chicken before weekend now, though…but boy is it worth it! LOL
HAHA! I’m glad it was worth it, Daisy! I’m sure the kids won’t mind…especially if you share your next batch with them!