My air fryer chicken came out dry until I read a USDA fact sheet.

I was trying to make crispy chicken thighs in my Ninja air fryer but they kept turning out tough. I looked up the USDA safe cooking temp for poultry and saw it's 165 degrees F, not the 180 I was using. Do you guys use a meat thermometer every time or just go by the air fryer timer?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.thomas2d ago

Nah, you're overthinking it. I never use a thermometer and my chicken is fine. The timer on the air fryer is there for a reason, just follow that. If it's coming out dry, you're probably cooking it too long, not at the wrong temp. All that extra checking just makes cooking a hassle.

joseph_hart2d ago

Yeah, my buddy thought the same as @stone.thomas and just used the timer on his new air fryer. Ended up serving chicken that was pink near the bone, and his whole family got sick. A timer doesn't know how thick the chicken is or if it was still cold from the fridge. Now he uses a cheap thermometer every single time, says it takes two seconds and saves a lot of trouble. It's not about overthinking, it's about not taking a dumb risk with food safety.

felix_coleman872d agoRising Star

Consider how much recipes can vary for the same dish. A timer works if everything is exactly the same each time, but my chicken pieces are never identical. The thermometer just cuts through all that guesswork for me.