My brother in law keeps putting wet battered chicken in his air fryer and wonders why the coating slides off
He made wings at his place in Sacramento last month and the breading came out in one rubbery sheet stuck to the basket, and he blamed the machine instead of the wet batter. I told him to do a dry flour or cornstarch coat instead, or at least pat the chicken totally dry and spray a little oil, and he still thinks I am making it up. Does anyone have a coating trick that actually stays put on raw chicken in an air fryer, or should he just be par cooking the chicken first?
Man, you are right that wet batter is a mess in an air fryer, but I gotta say I see it differently on the par cooking part. Par cooking the chicken first is way more work than he needs to do, and honestly it dries out the meat. The real fix is simple, he just has to ditch the wet batter completely and do a dry coat with a little oil spray on top, that is what gives you that crispy shell without the slide off problem. I get why he thinks you are making it up though, because air fryer ads make it sound like you can throw anything in there and it comes out perfect. Tell him to try a light dusting of cornstarch, then spray, then a second dusting, and he will never go back to that wet mess again.