You won’t believe the simple, pantry-friendly ingredient swaps we used to make our Air Fryer Cajun Breaded Chicken. This recipe is perfect for a quick weeknight supper fit for the entire family.  

Before scrolling down to the recipe, be sure to read my easy tips for making your recipes low carb, keto friendly, lower sodium, and delicious.

Note: I am thrilled to announce this post is sponsored by my fabulous friends at Tony Chachere’s, however, as always, all opinions are my own. 

Question Time: Who loves fried chicken?

I have to admit I love fried chicken. I can remember growing up on the bayou, my ‘lunch’ treat on my yearly school shopping trip to the big city (New Orleans!) was a stop at a very famous fast food chicken restaurant. I would look forward to the fried chicken more than the new clothes for school.

I have no idea why I love fried chicken so much! It could be because of the crispy skin. Perhaps the flavor. I just love it!! I would dunk each piece in a ton of dip – and I must be honest – I was a dip hoarder and eat up every last crumb. While leaving the restaurant, I would long for my next trip to NOLA for school shopping to come back and order more chicken.

Is my beloved fried chicken a thing of the past?

Skinny Louisiana Drawing Board!

It’s time to take my favorite guilty indulgence to the Skinny Louisiana drawing board to keep the flavor while cutting the carbs and sodium. The most important parts of our transformation? I needed crunch, and I needed dip! In addition, I needed my Yankee husband (Greg) and 2 kids to enjoy the dish as much as I do. With use of the Air Fryer, a few simple ingredients swaps and a little help from our friends at Tony Chachere’s, we transformed the classic fried chicken to a low carb, low sodium quick weeknight meal.

Where to Shop for Low Carb Ingredients

Before I go over ingredients, know the items used in this recipe can be found at many of your local supermarkets and Drug Emporium. Many of you know my love of Drug Emporium stores. Not only does Drug Emporium have amazing prices (often the cheapest in town), I work with this amazing company in putting on Low Carb Food Demonstrations and product selection for shelves. No Drug Emporium in your town? No worries, you will be able to find the items at your local supermarkets. 

Ingredients in our Air Frier Cajun Breaded Chicken:

• Egg whites
• Almond flour
• Parmesan cheese
• Tony Chachere’s Bold Seasoning Blend
• Tony Chachere’s Spice N Herbs Seasoning Blend
• Chicken tenders
• Olive oil mayo
• Mustard
• Prepared horseradish

Low Carb, Low Sodium Ingredients in our Air Frier Cajun Breaded Chicken

Tony Chachere’s Spice N Herbs Seasoning Blend

Looking for flavor? Salt has always been the answer for flavor, but coming in at 2300 mg of sodium in ONLY 1 tsp (yes, the small spoon), salt can wreak havoc for our heart health. I will be the first to agree, foods without salt that use other ‘salt substitutes’ are … terrible. I’m Cajun. I need flavor. I need my food to taste seasoned! Containing zero carbs AND a whole lot of kick, Tony Chachere’s Spice N Herbs Seasoning Blend gives this dish a POW without hiking up the sodium content. 

Almond Flour

With any fried item, flour is the basic, breading ingredient. It serves several purposes, mainly to ‘bread’ the product. Flour in the low carb and low net carb world makes us cringe since whole wheat flour has 21 grams of carbs and 3 grams of fiber per 1/4 cup serving. Enter almond flour! Almond flour is made of almonds that have been ground to a fine texture. It is a gluten free, keto friendly, grain free food and contains approximately 5-6 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup. Don’t panic over the carbs, almond flour has approximately 3 grams of fiber giving this flour a net carb of 3 per serving. And please don’t panic over the fat. Remember nuts are the fats we want to include in our diet. I do enjoy cooking with almond flour, but I personally feel due to it’s heavier texture, almond flour works best in bars, brownies, and muffins as well as in my batters for my vegetables and meats in the air-fryer. Almond flour makes a great low carb bread crumb when combined with grated Parmesan cheese. Please note, the type of almond flour does matter. Make sure to use super-fine almond flour from balanced almonds. We used Bob’s Mill Almond Flour in this recipe. 

Air Fryer Cajun Breaded Chicken Recipe

• 2 cup 100% egg whites
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped or milled
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp Tony Chachere’s Spice N Herbs Seasoning
• 1 tsp Tony Chachere’s Bold Seasoning
• 1 lb chicken tenderloins, defrosted
• Non stick cooking spray

Directions:

• Pour egg whites into a shallow dish. Place aside.
• In a shallow dish, combine almond flour, pecans, grated parmesan cheese, Tony Chachere’s Spice N Herbs, and Tony Chachere’s Bold Seasoning.
• Spray Air Fryer with non-stick cooking spray.
• In an assembly line fashion, dip chicken into egg white, then into almond flour mixture. Line into Air Fryer basket. Continue until Air Fryer is full making sure chicken does not touch.
• Cook at 360 degrees for 10 minutes. Open basket. Using tongs flip chicken. Cook an additional 6-8 minutes.
• Serve with Mardi Gras Dip!

Mardi Gras Dip: (OPTIONAL)

• 1 tsp prepared Horseradish
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1/2 cup olive oil mayo or Primal Kitchen Mayo
• 1 tsp Tony Chachere’s Spice N Herbs Seasoning
• 1 tsp Tony Chachere’s Bold Seasoning

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate. Serve!

NUTRITION NOTE: You will not use all of the egg white OR breaded mixture, so the good news is these numbers will be a lot lower.

Nutrition Facts per Serving (6) of Chicken: Calories: 210, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: Cholesterol: <5mg, Sodium: 370mg, Total Carbs: 6g, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 1g, Protein: 14g.

NET CARBS: 4g.

Carb count exclude sugar alcohols. New carb count is determined with the equation total carbohydrate – total fiber – sugar alcohol.

You can purchase Skinny Louisiana … in the Kitchen at the following link.

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This recipe was developed and copyright by culinary dietitian Shelly Marie Redmond. She is the author of Skinny Louisiana…in the Kitchen and Skinny Louisiana…in the Slow Cooker. She practices out of Eberhart Physical Therapy which she co-owns with her husband Greg. In her spare time, she watches Snapped and Investigation Discovery.