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This post is all about how to make air fried Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers; juicy chicken pieces that are basted in the most delectable garlic parmesan butter sauce.
Looking to steal the spotlight at your next gathering? These garlic parmesan chicken skewers are the perfect party appetizer or equally amazing for an easy weekday dinner and they’re bound to be one of the best chicken dishes you’ve ever had!
Basted throughout the cooking process, these garlic parmesan chicken skewers are so tender they just fall right off the skewers.
After my Hot Lemon Pepper Chicken Skewers went crazy on social media, I had to give ya’ll with another incredible flavor using the same easy and fail-proof method.
You can easily make these in the air fryer (method used for the photos) or you can bake or grill them. I paired my skewers over warm rice and added some of the leftover garlic-parm butter into the rice for the most incredible meal.
This recipe post is all about how to make air fried Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers.
Key Ingredients in Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers
- Chicken Tenders – you can use breast or thighs but I prefer how moist tenders are.
- Butter – one stick of butter is used.
- Garlic – lots of garlic is used, about 8-10 cloves
- Parmesan – grated parm is the best for this recipe as it easily incorporates in the butter sauce.
- Hot sauce – just a tablespoon to give this chicken a little kick without adding too much heat.
- Seasonings – paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes
- Fresh Parsley – the fresh parsley adds the perfect herbiness to balance the savory butter sauce.
- Don’t forget the wooden skewers!
How to Make Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers
Step 1: Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes.
Combine spice mixture in a small bowl and set aside. Prep your chicken by cutting in 3″ pieces. Place them in a bowl and toss in olive oil and the spices, coating well on all sides.
Step 2: Pack the chicken onto each skewer, making sure they are tightly packed with no space in between to ensure maximum juiciness. If needed, snip the top few inches of the skewers to fit in the air fryer after the chicken is skewered
Step 3: Make the garlic parmesan sauce by combining all ingredients into a saucepan over low heat. Scoop out 1/3 of the sauce and use that for basting the chicken as it cooks. Reserve the remaining sauce for basting the cooked chicken so you don’t cross contaminate.
Step 3: Cook 2-3 skewers at a time in an air fryer at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove and flip the skewers and baste with sauce, returning to cook an additional 2 minutes at 400 degrees.
Baste with more sauce and cook another 5-6 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 165 degrees. A total cook time of 12-14 minutes. Once they are finished cooking, hit them with a final pass of the garlic sauce (the reserved sauce) and sprinkle with some parmesan and serve.
Tools I Use:
Air-Fryer Sized Skewers
Metal Air Fryer Sized Skewers
Stainless Steel BPA-Free Air Fryer
Looking for More Delish Recipes?
Easy Chicken Tetrazzini
Fried Chicken Elote Tacos
Hot Lemon Pepper Chicken Skewers
Smothered Chicken & Gravy
Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rolls
I hope you enjoy this easy Air Fryer recipe for Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers. Be sure to comment below with any questions or feedback! If you make these or any other recipes, don’t forget to tag me on IG @BadBatchBaking to be featured on my story. Seeing your recreations makes my day!
Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken tenders, thighs or breast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Garlic Parmesan Butter Sauce
- 1 stick butter
- 8-10 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup parmesan, grated
- 1 tbsp hot sauce more if desired
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
Chicken Seasonings
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Prep and Skewer Chicken
- Before you start, make sure to soak your wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes.
- Start by combining your chicken seasoning mixture in a small bowl and set aside. Prep your chicken by cutting in 3" pieces. Place them in a large bowl or ziptop bag and toss in olive oil and the spices, coating well on all sides.
- Pack the chicken onto each skewer, making sure they are tightly packed with no space in between to ensure maximum juiciness. If needed, snip the top few inches of the skewers to fit in the air fryer after the chicken is skewered.
Make the Garlic Parmesan Butter Sauce
- Add the butter and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until partially melted. Add in red pepper flakes, hot sauce, parsley, and parmesan. Whisk together until combined. (If sauce separates, add 1-2 tablespoons of softened butter and stir to re-emulsify.)
- Scoop out 1/3 of the sauce and use that for basting the par-cooked chicken. Reserve the remaining sauce for basting the cooked chicken so you don't cross contaminate. Be sure to wash your basting brush in between.
Cook The Chicken
- Cook 2-3 skewers at a time. Place in an air fryer and cook at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove and flip the skewers, baste with sauce, return to cook an additional 2 minutes at 400 degrees.
- Flip them back, baste with more sauce and cook another 5-6 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Total cook time of 12-14 minutes. This time will vary based on your air fryer.
- Once they are finished cooking, hit them with a final pass of the garlic sauce (the clean reserved sauce) and sprinkle with some extra parmesan and serve.
Notes
Here are some additional photos for your Pinterest boards:
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING. What an easy way to bake an entire family-pack of chicken breasts. First, I cut each breast horizontally in half, and ended up filling two smaller bread loaves. I also try to cook low calorie for my family, so I only used 4 Tbl of butter and added 1/2 cup of chicken broth. It worked perfectly, and the chicken was super juicy and cooked to perfection.
Thank you so much for sharing this! So happy to hear it turned out wonderfully. You’ll have to try my similar recipe but making it in a loaf pan, it’s incredibly tender and even easier to assemble.
Can’t wait to try this recipe, however, I have a question. Are there more than 1 chicken tenders per skewer or are there several per skewer? Thanks for your help!
No problem, I dice the tenderloins in half (or into 3″ pieces) and then skewer on about 5-7 pieces lengthwise (depending on the size of the chicken pieces and skewers). So there are about 2-3 tenderloins per skewer. You can take a look at the photo in the blog post for a visual of how it looks raw when skewered for reference. I hope this helps!
This was an unbelievably easy and delicious recipe! If you haven’t tried it yet, you are missing out!
Absolutely delicious!
Will make again and again
Just tried this last night and it turned out great! Would have been nice if there was something to dip the chicken in. Some cream type sauce. Anyone have any ideas?
Aioli
Wow.wow.wow.
I skipped the skewers and flattened the chicken breast.
Delicious and easy to put together! I didn’t change a thing, very good!
So good! We just basted the chicken breasts on the grill and skipped skewering them. Worked great! I enjoyed mine without the last final basting (cut some fat and calories), the rest of the family loved it with the extra final basting.
I just made this for dinner tonight using sliced pork chops (you know the cheap boneless $5.00 thin ones at Kroger) slicing the pork in strips and coating with mayo and all of your seasoning and EVERYONE Loved it!!! This made 5 skewers and fed 3 people. I will be doubling this recipe next time and will freeze the extra cooked ones wrapping them individually. Thank you so much!
This was so good! I flattened and cut two chicken breasts into strips and the sort of threaded them into the skewers. Definitely will make again. Thank you!
The chicken baked in garlic butter sauce was delicious.
Warning though, don’t use fresh grated Parmesan cheese as I did or you’ll end up with a big gloopy mess of a sauce. Crisis was averted by basting with the garlic parsley butter and taking the Parmesan cheese out and topping onto the skewers so it melted over the chicken, still yummy but a lesson learned.
The recipe calls for the fake processed powdery Parmesan cheese in a can, not real Parmesan!