Our Top 10 Whole30 Air Fryer Recipes From Chicken Nuggets to Curry Wings

These Whole30 air fryer recipes celebrate the art of the crisp. We got the Ninja Foodi a year ago, a pressure cooker air fryer combo, and now we air fry nearly every day. The air fryer isn’t just brilliant for frozen chicken nuggets or fries. Air fryers are amazing for veggies, burgers, homemade sweet potato fries, and even zoodles. The air fryer also saves money since you aren’t heating up an entire oven to cook. All the magic happens in a hug-sized air fryer. I have hugged the Foodi before, it felt amazing. I’m very much in love.

Air fryers are bliss at reheating food too. You can take a casserole, veggies or meat and just air fry them at 350 for 5-10 minutes and the food has that fresh cooked texture with minimal effort.

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What is Whole30?

Whole 30 is a reset where you eliminate common foods that people have allergies or bodily issues with. I love that this approach allows an individual opportunity to discover what works for you. No two bodies are the same. I have an identical twin and even we have different food preferences and troubles.

On Whole 30 you eliminate certain foods for 30 days and replace them with whole foods. Love how it’s all in the name. After 30 days you reintroduce the foods you eliminated one by one and see how you feel. Then you pause for two days and go back on Whole 30 and repeat. A Whole 30 can be a Whole 60 when it comes to re-introduction. Read more about my tips after finishing five rounds in this article: My Top 12 Whole 30 Tips for Surviving and Thriving.

What is the Best Air Fryer?

We use the Ninja Foodi because it was designed to be wide and hold things like an entire chicken. You can pressure cook something and then broil, bake or air crisp it (they’re trying to change the fried wording since it’s pretty myth like as it is more crispy than fried tasting). 

I used the instant pot for a year and while it created delicious food I really started to miss crispy food, especially when doing a Whole 30. The Ninja Foodi can bake, broil, air crisp, steam, dehydrate and make yogurt just like the Instant Pot can. Instead of taking a full chicken to the oven to broil and having to energize the whole oven with heat, you just dump out the water, put the basket back in, and air fry or broil it in the same device. 

While we used the Ninja Foodi for these recipes any air fryer will work. Only cook as many ingredients in your air fryer as you can fit into the air fryer without them touching. You want the circulation of heat in the air fryer to be able to move between the ingredients for maximum air crisping.

Best Air Fryer Equipment to Keep it Easy

Meat Thermometer – Because air fryers can vary in size, the best way to know when meat is ready is to do it with a thermometer. We use them often in recipes.

Oil Spray Bottle – Investment that then saves a blisston. Oil spray bottles with the oil already in them are double the price of just buying the oil so make this one time investment then fill it with oil for years to come.

Silicone Tongs – To avoid scratching your air fryer grab these tongs to flip your dishes with.

Why Air Frying is Amazing for Cooking Meat

For crispy air fried chicken, turkey, or any meat we use the air fryer for rapid convection. The heat in the air fryer crisps the skin and as the fat renders it self-bastes the meat and it becomes extra juicy with barely any work. Just spray the thighs, breasts, legs, or wings with oil, salt them, herb them, and walk away. You can also dance away if you’re feeling it.

List of Whole30 Air Fryer Recipes

Whole30 Air Fryer Turkey Thighs

Watch our Video on How to Make Air Fried Turkey Thighs:

These deliciously crispy thighs were one of the first Whole30 air fryer recipes we tried in the air fryer and they were mouth changing. The crispiness on the skin with the juice locked inside was like the perfect harmony of crunch, salt, and turkey, You can add any herbs you want to these, from Italian seasoning to rosemary.

If available try using fresh rosemary and taste how incredibly the herb infuses into the meat just by laying it over the top. Thyme also tastes brilliant. I made chicken for my dad once and only used fat, salt and fresh rosemary and he kept trying to add more. “Trust”, I said. He walked away with a skeptical face but once he ate I saw respect at first bite. He now knows you can get all the flavor you need from one herb. I find just using one herb means you get to fully appreciate and understand the full flavor of that flavor.

Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

I love bacon-wrapped everything. If there were a bacon-wrapped cake, I would eat it. I must also say that chocolate-covered bacon became my favorite thing after Rule.me showed me the true world of chocolate possibilities. This air fryer bacon-wrapped asparagus is superior to using the oven because you don’t have to flip it or heat up a whole oven. Even without a flip, the air fryer circulates hot air and crisps the whole thing. You can watch Netflix the whole time the asparagus is cooking while breathing in bacon-filled air.

Whole30 Air Fryer Chicken Recipes

Considering “it tastes like chicken” is a way of saying “it’s safe and delicious” here in the US it’s pretty obvious how much we love it here. These Whole30 air fryer chicken recipes celebrate my childhood and Texan life. There’s chicken nuggets, BBQ chicken and even buffalo wings, because that’s the chicken I grew up on.

Better than Childhood Whole30 Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets

I honestly thought when making these chicken nuggets that I would be disappointed and crave boxed ones instead. Oh my bliss was I wrong. The chicken is so freaking plump and juicy and the almond flour crisps up so well in the crust that it’s just epic. My husband tried one and then we devoured a pound in about five minutes, looks of shock and happiness on our faces because neither of us believed they would be so good. Try these for yourself to know how amazing Whole30 air fryer recipes can be, and that fully stand up with any other recipes.

Whole30 Air Fryer Buffalo Wings

I’m a little obsessed with wings in the air fryer. The way the skin crisps on the outside and then soaks up buffalo sauce is so delicious and a bit like magic. Magic buffalo chicken wings could be a band name. To make these chicken wings Whole30 we use ghee instead of butter and stick with the classic cayenne pepper sauce since it is Whole30 compliant and why change from the classic when it’s so blissing good? If you’re not feeling like making your own sauce then the New Primal buffalo sauce is also delicious. We also using baking powder (oh yeah, it’s a legit thing) to really crisp up the skins.

Sweet and Tangy Whole30 Air Fryer BBQ Chicken

That BBQ char you get from grilling with delicious sauce can be done in an air fryer and this Whole 30 air fryer BBQ chicken proves it. The sauce is slightly sticky in true BBQ fashion. In the end, we use the cooking sauce from the Ninja Foodi to create an epic dipping sauce and you can easily make one without a Ninja Foodi as well.

As a Texan living in Austin, Texas I’ve never been further than ten minutes from epic BBQ. Franklin’s is around the corner but I love La Barbecue more since it’s female-owned and their BBQ sauce is better. Texas BBQ has made a name for itself and my standards for BBQ are very very high because I’ve tasted it all my life. I’m working on a separate post for BBQ sauce because the variety of sauce is what can really make BBQ sing. In Texas, we have espresso BBQ sauce, pepper BBQ sauce, vinegary BBQ sauce, and also mild. All shine in their own way and usually, you get about five sauces and switch it up throughout the meal.

Air Fried Everything Bagel Chicken

I have recently become mouth obsessed with everything bagel seasoning. It was love at first lick and I immediately imagined where it could be used rather than bagels. Chicken was the answer. Juicy on the inside and crunchy bliss on the outside.

Air Fried Curry in a Hurry Chicken

Curry in a hurry is an amazing award winning jar of curry sauce. You can use it as a marinade or as a dip, or as I love it you can do both.

Street Food Style Curry Chicken Wings

Once you start the air fried curry chicken journey you just have to try it on everything chicken. These wings are sooooo crispy and the buttery filled ghee flavor is so delicious. When it comes to Whole30 air fryer recipes this is as indulgent as you can get.

Whole30 Air Fried Veggies

Whole30 Air Fryer Zoodles

Not all of our Whole30 air fryer recipes are meat because besides meat being epic air fried, zoodles and tons of veggies fry up incredibly well in the air fryer. Although I think zoodles cooked in a pan are okay, they aren’t able to cook long enough to get crisp. In the air fryer, these zoodles crisp up so well that I’m never going back to the pan. The Whole30 alfredo sauce is super delicious and uses nutritional yeast for that epically cheesy flavor.

Air Fried Green Beans

We have these blistered mouth joys every week multiple times a week. They’re as easy as dumping the beans in the air fryer, spraying them with oil and grinding fresh salt over them. Then just mix and drop that lid. Once you make these once you’ll never need to use the recipe again they’re that easy and so fricking delicious.

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What are you favorite Whole30 air fryer recipes?