Loaded with the flavors of fresh lemon, garlic, oregano and more, these air fryer Greek chicken thighs are bursting with flavor. With perfectly crispy skin and meat that is so tender and juicy, this recipe is sure to be a favorite for your air fryer.
Greek chicken is one of my favorites. The taste is so vibrant! When you pick up a piece and bite in, you’re immediately greeted with a burst of flavors including lemon, garlic and pepper leading the way. And oh my goodness… the chicken comes out absolutely amazing in your air fryer.
We start with fresh chicken thighs that are bone-in and skin-on. Feel free to trim away any excess skin or fat. Chicken thighs are really the best part of the chicken. Being a dark meat, they hold more flavor, more juices, and quite frankly are easier to cook. Chicken thighs are very forgiving to cook, even if they’re done an extra minute or two.
The air fryer is perfect for cooking our Greek chicken thighs. We’re not breading or actually frying the chicken, the air fryer is like a rapid convection oven/broiler all in one. So in about 20 minutes, you get chicken that’s cooked all the way through, tender, juicy, and with a crispy skin that you won’t believe! No need to fire up the grill. Throw a few chicken thighs in the air fryer and you’ll be amazed.
Easy Ingredients
For this Greek chicken recipe, we’ll use a list of very basic ingredients, many of which you probably have on hand. We get the bright, vibrant flavors from the fresh lemon juice, lemon lest and white wine vinegar. The lemon zest is important to the overall flavor profile so make sure not to skip it. Using a zester, simple rub it over the outside of the lemon. It will wind up being about a tablespoon or so of zest from 1 lemon. You don’t need to zest past the yellow of the lemon. Just the very outer part. The white area under the skin is very bitter so you don’t want that. Or next flavor components come from the garlic and pepper. Naturally, a few cloves of fresh garlic will produce the best results. The recipe calls for 1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic, which is about 3 cloves. But really, you can even double that if you want if you’re a garlic lover. Black pepper is an important ingredient and I always recommend fresh course ground pepper. Pepper that is fresh ground provides a much bolder taste and works so well with the lemon and garlic to give us that flavor we love. And of course – oregano. Oregano is an essential ingredient in many Greek dishes. Again, the recipe calls for 1.5 tablespoon of dried oregano, but if you want to thrown in some extra, go for it!
Marinating Makes it Tastier!
Once we mix all of our ingredients, simply toss it in a large zip top plastic bag with the chicken and let it marinate. I recommend letting it marinate for at least 30 minutes. But truth be told, the longer the better. I love to marinate Greek chicken thighs overnight. The flavors then run so deep into the chicken are are so rich and delicious. Each bite just oozes with delicious flavor.
Air Fry at 380 for 18-20 Minutes
You want the internal temperature of chicken to be 165. By cooking the chicken in the air fryer on the air fry setting at 380 degrees for about 18-20 minutes, we’ll get a perfectly crispy skin with a tender and juicy meat inside. Of course, chicken thighs vary in size to for larger pieces you’ll be looking at closer to 20 minutes. For smaller pieces they will be done closer to the 18 minutes mark. If you do not have an instant read thermometer for cooking I highly recommend one! They are low cost and are so important to getting the best results when cooking meat by any means.
Best Damn Air Fryer Greek Chicken
Description
Perfectly seasoned air fryer Greek chicken. Crispy, delicious skin with tender and juicy meat inside. Bursting with flavors of lemon, oregano, garlic and pepper. Opa!
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken thighs, bone-in skin-on
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 ½ tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic (3–4 cloves)
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1 teaspoon Black pepper, fresh course ground
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Lemon slices (optional)
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, oregano, seasoned salt pepper and garlic. Whist together well.
- Add chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes (2 hours better; overnight best)
- Preheat air fryer at 380 degrees for 5 minutes.
- Set air fryer to air fry, place chicken thighs skin side down into air fryer, air fry at 380 degrees (F) for 18-20 minutes (18 min for smaller pieces, 20 min for larger). Flip chicken halfway through cooking. Add lemon slices if desired at halfway point too.
- When cooking time is complete check for internal temperature of chicken to be at least 165 degrees (F). Serve with lemon slices and your favorite side dish.
Ernie Houle
This is a great recipe and so easy to make! I’ve been looking for more recipes lately where we can use our aifryer! We’ve also been using these airfryer bowls, they make cleanup so much easier!
Rudi Pittman
Your recipes are fantastic. Would it be better to substitute plain white vinegar or red wine vinegar for the white wine vinegar if we don’t have it? Ever tried a little plain yogurt either on the side or mixed in with the seasonings? On one of the recipe pages I saw for the basket type air fryers where they “bookshelfed” multiple leg quarters with thickest side down, leg pointing up side by side…lets you fit more in the air fryer and they seem to cook quicker this way.
Assuming this shows them like I intend they were like this: I’I’I’I’ 4 leg quarters side by side in my 8 quart air fryer. ‘ = leg pointing upward. For faster cooking try inserting something to leave some airflow between the legs. Toothpicks work well.
K B
I may be late to the party…..I’ve never left a review on Pinterest, but this recipe is the bomb! I can’t believe how good this Greek chicken was. First time I made chicken in the Air Fryer. Thanks to you, it won’t be my last. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is so easy and so very good!
★★★★★
Patty
Question…can I do these on the grill or oven? My airfryer is too small for more than 4 servings…
★★★★★
Laurel
Loved it! I only let it marinate about 10 min and it was still fantastic. Thank you!
★★★★★
Amy D
I am a busy mom homeschooling my two young daughters who are growing to become foodies. I need quick recipes that are yummy and healthy. This was a fantastic recipe for our family. My daughters ate a huge piece of chicken quite quickly. Thank you for your wonderful recipes that are so big on flavor and make our family so happy.
★★★★★
Mae
What a fantastic recipe! I followed the recipe to a T – adjusted proportionally to only make 1 thigh since I live alone and don’t eat meat most days – and I know I will be making this very often. The meat was so flavorful and juicy, and the skin was perfectly crisp. I left it in the marinade for a little over 4 hours, but I look forward to leaving it in overnight next time to see if I can coax out even more flavor. Incredibly easy in the air fryer as well. I was so impressed that I would make this a meal for company if my air fryer was large enough to feed a dinner party. It’ll definitely be added to the date rotation though! Thank you recipe teacher!
★★★★★
Maritrese
Oops! I forgot. Used white wine instead of white wine vinegar. I like to stretch the lines and color out of the box.
★★★★★
Maritrese
This is totally the absolute BOMB!!!
YUMMY and FLAVORFUL! Used Chicken thighs from the Farmer. We have a farmer’s market. I also grew some Greek oregano and some parsley, so used those, also.
Forgive me Recipe Teacher, but I cheated. I used lemon and a touch of lime juice, when I ran out. After all, the Mexicans in Mexico call lemon and lime limon, so I went with it! Happened to have dried California Lemon Peel in my spice cabinet, and cheated with that as well.
My chicken thighs were so big that I could only fit 3 in the Air Fryer, so I froze the other two in the marinade.
It was great the first night, and SUPER FANTASTIC the second time I cooked them, about 2 weeks later.
Totally moist, flavorful, and not the same old, same old.
A plus for Recipe Teacher!!!