Almost ordered takeout tonight but had ground chicken thawing in the fridge and figured I had to do something with it before it went bad. I've been wanting to try making air fryer chicken kofta for a while now and tonight felt like the right night to finally just go for it. Honestly I wasn't sure ground chicken would hold together as well as lamb or beef, so I was a little skeptical going in. Put the whole thing together here if anyone wants it: [https://www.amgroyal.com/air-fryer-chicken-kofta](https://www.amgroyal.com/air-fryer-chicken-kofta)  
  
Here's what I used:  
  
1 onion medium-size / peeled (about 1/2 cup)  
1 lb ground chicken  
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs  
2 cloves garlic minced  
1/4 teaspoon baking soda  
1 teaspoon ground cumin  
1 teaspoon sweet paprika  
1 egg  
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt  
1/2 teaspoon black pepper  
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional  
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley chopped  
1 tablespoon olive oil to use when shaping the kofta (or water)  
  
Here's how it went:  
  
1. Grated the onion on the large holes of a box grater and then strained all the juice out using a fine mesh strainer and the back of a spoon. This step takes a few extra minutes but it really does matter.  
  
2. Threw the drained onion into a big mixing bowl along with the ground chicken, panko, garlic, baking soda, cumin, paprika, egg, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and parsley.  
  
3. Mixed everything together with my hands until it was fully combined. It comes together faster than you'd think.  
  
4. Poured a little olive oil into a small bowl, oiled my hands lightly, and shaped the mixture into 10 oval patties. I used a cookie scoop to keep them roughly even and it helped a lot.  
  
5. Set the shaped koftas on a plate, covered with plastic wrap, and let them rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Did not skip this part.  
  
6. Preheated the air fryer to 375 degrees F and gave the basket a light spray of oil. Arranged the koftas in a single layer with some space between each one.  
  
7. Air fried for 12 to 13 minutes, flipping halfway through. Checked the center with a meat thermometer and pulled them when they hit 165 degrees F.  
  
A few things I noticed:  
  
The baking soda is a small thing that I almost left out because it seemed weird, but they held their shape really nicely so I think it does something. Fair warning, don't skip the resting time either because I think that helped too.  
  
Squeezing the juice out of the onion is genuinely the most annoying part of this whole recipe but the texture of the finished kofta was really smooth and even, no crunchy onion bits anywhere, so it was worth it.  
  
These reheated surprisingly well the next day. I had two leftover and just tossed them back in the air fryer for a few minutes and they were almost as good as fresh. Honestly maybe slightly crispier on the outside which I didn't hate.  
  
Flavor-wise these were warm and savory with just a little kick from the red pepper flakes. My kids wiped out most of them before I even got to make a proper plate for myself which I'm taking as a win.  
  
What do you guys usually serve alongside spiced chicken skewers like these? I did warm pita and some cucumber yogurt sauce but I'm curious what other people pair with this kind of Mediterranean-style dinner.

Air Fryer Chicken Kofta Tender 25 Minute Weeknight Dinner