The Trick for Impossibly Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Is a Cheap Pantry Staple You Wouldn’t Expect

Nothing quite compares to that moment when you bite into a super-crispy piece of chicken. To save time and nix the need for a huge pot of hot oil, home cooks tend to lean on their air fryers to make this deliciously satisfying dish. 

Even with thousands of recipes on the internet, for some reason it’s still difficult to achieve perfectly crisp fried chicken using an air fryer. A recent hack posted by @groovyfoodiess offers a brilliant solution to this problem.

In the Instagram clip, racking up nearly 230K views, creator Sarah Banh walks hungry followers through a recipe for Taiwanese popcorn chicken, alluring them immediately by biting into an ultra-crunchy piece at the start of the video. Banh proceeds to marinate chicken thighs, cover the protein in an egg white, and, what’s most impressive, offers up an ingenious hack which involves coating the pieces in potato starch before popping them in the air fryer. 

Followers rushed to the comment section to obsess over this culinary hack. “That crunchy sound is wonderful,” said one user. “So glad I made this recipe!!! Delicious and crispy. It’s definitely a keeper,” another person mentioned. 

The Kitchn spoke with Sarena Shasteen, the culinary content specialist & marketing community engagement strategist at Bob’s Red Mill — one of the makers of the most popular potato starch products on the market — to explore why this pantry staple works so well to create a crispy coating for fried foods. 

“Potato starch is the perfect alternative to cornstarch when making extra-crispy chicken or tofu. Because it’s able to tolerate higher temperatures than cornstarch, it can stay longer in ovens, deep fryers, or air fryers, which allows for a crispier texture without burning as easily, says Shasteen. “It’s also a great gluten-free option for those who can’t tolerate the gluten in cornstarch,” she adds. 

This creative kitchen trick doesn’t have to be reserved for chicken, either. You can test it out with air fryer tofu, air fryer wings, or zucchini fries. Say bye-bye to soggy eats, and hello to a future of satisfyingly crispy bites.