This Air Fryer City Chicken recipe is a real game changer. It’s incredible how quick and effortless it is to whip up, and it results in the most deliciously crispy City Chicken. With just 4 simple ingredients, this is perfect for a weeknight dinner when you’re short on time.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Crispy and crunchy – Air fryers are really good at giving the best crunch to breaded foods and this recipe is no exception.
- Only 4 simple ingredients – All you need is cubes of pork, Italian breadcrumbs, butter, and vegetable oil.
- Adaptable to your tastes – You can add your spin to the dish by adding your favorite seasonings and flavor combos!
What is City Chicken?
City Chicken isn’t actually chicken at all. It’s a skewered pork dish that is made to resemble mock chicken legs. It is a simple recipe that dates back to at least the Great Depression, but similar mock chicken dishes can be traced back to 1908.
During this time, chicken was more expensive than pork, so people came up with a clever way to mimic the taste and appearance of fried chicken drumsticks using pork. The pork is cut into cubes, skewered on a stick, breaded, and then fried to resemble a fried chicken leg. It gained popularity in “Rust Belt” cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and other cities in Great Lakes adjacent states.
City Chicken is a family favorite for us and is a popular dish in Pittsburgh and its surrounding region. When our family had a restaurant, just north of Pittsburgh, this dish and our Italian Wedding Soup were amongst the most popular dishes and often sold out. At the restaurant, we made the dish in the traditional manner where you pan fry the skewers of pork and finish cooking in the oven. But, we’ve found that this Air Fryer City Chicken takes a fraction of the time and is just as good as the original cooking method.
Ingredient Notes
Pork: We use boneless pork loin that we cut into cubes. Sometimes you can find pre-cut “City Chicken” pork cubes in grocery stores in cities like Pittsburgh, but that is not very common.
Italian breadcrumbs: You can use regular or panko Italian seasoned bread crumbs. If you want to change the seasonings, you can use plain and add your own combination of seasonings. Spices like garlic or onion powder, dried herbs of all sorts, and chili powder all work great to put your own twist on the recipe.
Melted butter: Salted or unsalted butter is fine. If you use unsalted, you may find you want to season a bit more with salt and pepper or to your liking.
Cooking oil: Any light-colored oils such as vegetable oil, canola oil, or light-tasting olive oil will work great in this recipe. Choose your favorite or use what you have on hand.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Add the pork cubes to the skewers, leaving a little space on each end of the skewer for easy handling.
Step 2: Add the melted butter and oil to one shallow bowl and the breadcrumbs to another. Season the breadcrumbs with salt and black pepper, if desired. Roll the skewered meat in the butter-oil mixture and then in the breadcrumbs.
Step 3: Add the pork skewers to your air fryer basket. Cook at 320 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or a meat thermometer registers at least 145 degrees F.
Expert Tips and Variations
- Use 6-inch wooden skewers to ensure that your skewers fit into the basket. You can also cut or break the 12-inch skewers in half if that’s what you have available.
- For an extra burst of flavor, add shredded parmesan cheese to the breadcrumbs.
- For a different meat option, some people like to substitute veal cubes for pork or use a 50/50 ratio of pork and veal.
FAQ
What kind of meat should I use for City Chicken?
We used boneless pork loin that we cut into 1-inch cubes of meat. You can also use boneless country ribs, cut into cubes. Both work well for this recipe.
Can I make this recipe gluten-free?
Yes, you can definitely use gluten-free breadcrumbs without any issues.
What is the cooking time for Air Fryer City Chicken?
Using this method, it takes about 15-18 minutes at 320 degrees F. To check the doneness, pork is done when it reads at least 145 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.
How to Serve
You can serve this dish in the traditional method with some sides like mashed potatoes and/or green beans. Other options include:
Try a dipping sauce, like honey mustard or BBQ sauce, or with a side of pork brown gravy. Other sauce options include:
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Air Fryer City Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- 12 six-inch wooden skewers
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. pork loin cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tbsp. butter melted
- 2 tbsp. cooking oil vegetable, canola, or light-tasting olive oil
- 2 cups Italian breadcrumbs regular or panko
- Salt and pepper to taste, optional
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 320 degrees F.
- Add the pork cubes to the wooden skewers, leaving room at each end of the skewer for easy handling. (About 4-5 cubes should fit on each skewer.)
- Add the melted butter and oil to a shallow dish, and then the breadcrumbs to another shallow dish. Season the breadcrumbs with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Roll the pork skewers in the butter-oil mixture, then into the breadcrumbs, pressing the breadcrumbs into the pork as you roll.
- Add the pork skewers to the air fryer basket and cook for 15-18 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches at least 145 degrees F on a meat thermometer.
Notes
- Use 6-inch wooden skewers to ensure that your City Chicken skewers fit into your air fryer. You can also cut or break the 12-inch skewers in half if that’s what you have available.
- For a different meat option, some people like to substitute veal cubes for pork or use a 50/50 ratio of pork and veal.
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This recipe was so easy, will make again!
Easy and really flavorful!