Healthy Crispy Chicken Wrap {in the air fryer!}
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Are you looking for something delicious and fast for lunch or dinner? Then look no further than this easy Crispy Chicken Wrap! The tender, crunchy chicken is air fried and loaded into a soft warm tortilla with deliciously healthy toppings you can customize to whatever you love. This is the perfect healthy fast food at home option any day of the week.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Healthy: Fast Food chicken tender wraps are deep fried and loaded with trans fats. My chicken wraps are air fried, cutting the fats to virtually none.
- Quick lunch or dinner: The fast prep and cooking time make these perfect for a busy weeknight or a quick healthy lunch.
- Make ahead options: There are several ways you can make parts of this crispy chicken wrap recipe ahead of time to make them even faster when you want them.
- Customizable: The flavor options and toppings are virtually endless for these chicken wraps! I can’t wait for you to get to that section below!
Have leftover chicken? Try these recipes: Wagamama’s Chicken Ramen, Healthy Chicken Tikka Masala, or KFC Popcorn Chicken.
What is a Crispy Chicken Wrap?
A crispy chicken wrap is a soft tortilla wrapped around fried chicken tenders and topped with things like lettuce, cheese, tomato, and mayonnaise. They are a popular “healthier” option at many fast food chains.
But the crispy chicken wraps made at the big fast food chains are not REALLY healthy! Fatty, deep fried McDonalds, Burger King, and even KFC chicken wraps have nothing on these healthy wraps that I am going to show you how to make.
My healthy, air fried chicken wraps are made with less fat, higher quality ingredients, and loads of good-for-you toppings.
How to Get Extra Crispy Breaded Chicken Wraps
The key to extra crispy chicken in my crispy chicken wrap recipe is using flour, crushed cornflakes, and an egg coating. The cornflake pieces turn extra crunchy as the chicken cutlets cook compared to regular bread crumbs. You’ll also enjoy a crispy texture from the fresh lettuce and onion slices. These ingredients combine to create an extra-crispy chicken wrap.
What is the best tortilla to use?
I recommend using a large tortilla you love for these air fried chicken wraps. I find that 8” – 10” in diameter works best.
I love the regular white tortillas for their soft pillowy texture, but this recipe will also work with gluten free tortillas, low carb tortillas, spinach tortillas, tomato tortillas, or even corn tortillas. However, I have found the ones that hold up best to all the loaded up toppings and chicken are the traditional white tortillas.
Ingredients
The main ingredients that make this Crispy Chicken Wrap recipe fantastic are the following:
Chicken Breast
I prefer using chicken breast strips to create my crispy chicken wraps since they do not have bones, they are lower in fat than thighs, and they tend to have a better texture. If you want a vegetarian-friendly option, consider using meat-free crispy chicken strips. I like the ones from Quorn.
Cornflakes
The key to extra crispy chicken in my chicken wrap recipe is a coating of crushed cornflakes. Air fried corn flakes become super crunchy and give the extra crispy chicken texture I love. If you don’t have any, you can also use panko or breadcrumbs. As a note, these swaps will still create crispy chicken, but it won’t be quite as crispy without the cornflakes.
Cheesy
I love using cheesy singles in wraps as they add a delicious flavour. However, you can use any sliced (or shredded) cheese you’d like. Gouda, cheddar, and mozzarella are all great options for these air fried chicken wraps.
See the recipe card for full information on all ingredients and quantities.
Variations/ Adaptations
By doing something as simple as changing up the toppings or sauce on these wraps, you can make them incredibly personalized to your liking! Check out all of these crispy chicken wrap ideas for customizing your chicken wrap!
Try out these different toppings for your crispy chicken wrap:
- Fried onions
- Feta cheese
- Black Beans
- Avocado slices
- Guacamole
- Coleslaw
- Shredded vegetables
- Tomatoes
- Pickles
- Bacon
- Different cheeses
- Melted Cheese
- Jalapenos
- Eggs and hashbrowns (for a crispy chicken breakfast wrap!)
Crispy Chicken Wrap Sauce and Dressing Ideas:
- BBQ sauce
- Ranch
- Garlic Mayo
- Honey Mustard
- Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
- Peanut Sauce
- Avocado Crema
- Chipotle ranch
- Buffalo hot sauce
- General Tso Sauce
- Nandos Perinaise
Just layer it all up and figure out how you like it!
Lower the Calories: If you want a lower-calorie version of this recipe, you can swap out the tortillas and turn them into lettuce wraps. You’ll need large pieces of romaine or iceberg lettuce for this swap. These breaded chicken wraps can also be turned into breakfast wraps. Simply add scrambled eggs and hash browns and enjoy these protein-filled wraps in the morning.
Make them vegetarian by using breaded and fried halloumi cheese.
Vegan Options: To make this a vegan chicken strip wrap, you can use pre-made breaded chicken strips from Quorn or you can make your own using breaded and fried meat substitute of your choice or tofu.
Assemble the wraps faster with pre-made frozen chicken strips from Birdseye, Iceland, Tyson, or Purdue.
How to make Crispy Chicken Wraps
Preheat your air fryer to 200°C/390°F
- Using a chopping board, start by slicing the chicken into long thin pieces (Image 1).
- Using a different cutting board and knife, slice the tomatoes and red onion (Image 2).
*Place the cornflakes into a ziplock bag over a large chopping board and using a rolling pin (or bottle) crush/roll over the cornflakes until a coarse breadcrumb texture is achieved.
Add the flour to a plate (season with salt), whisk the eggs onto a second plate and on the third plate, combine the seasoning (onion powder, garlic powder and paprika) with the crushed cornflakes.
3. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. One by one, coat the chicken in the flour and then the egg (Image 3).
4. Then ensure you coat each chicken piece with a covering of the cornflake mix and lay the chicken pieces on a tray (Image 4).
5. Once every strip is breaded, spray with oil and place ready on the tray (Image 5).
6. Now add the chicken to your air fryer. Depending on how big your airfryer is, you might need to fry in batches. For maximum crispiness, don’t overlap the chicken. Cook for 5 minutes then rotate and cook for another 5 minutes (Image 6).
7. Once the chicken is fully cooked and crispy, season generously with flaky salt (Image 7).
8. Prepare your wrap using 1 large tortilla, a layer of lettuce, tomato and red onion and 2 cheese slices. Top with a few crispy chicken tenders. You can also add a dressing of your choice, before you roll up the wrap ready to enjoy (Image 8).
Enjoy some of my other wrap recipes, after you have tried this one: Sweet Chilli Halloumi Wrap, Loaded Vegetable Quesadillas and One Pot Chicken & Veg Fajitas
Tips for the best result
Use separate hands for wet and dry ingredients when breading chicken
If you use the same hand for the wet and dry ingredients, you’ll be left with a clumpy flour/cornflake mixture and a breading-covered hand. Using separate hands makes the process (and the cleanup) easier.
Pat cornflakes onto the chicken with a dry hand to avoid mess
Save time on cleanup by patting the cornflakes into the chicken instead of rolling the chicken strips in the cornflakes. This tip also ensures you get a more even coverage on the chicken.
Season chicken strips with salt right after air frying
It can be easy for flakey salt to fall off in the air fryer, so I recommend adding the salt right after pulling them out.
Cook pre-sliced chicken in batches of similarly sized pieces to prevent over or under-cooking
Add the same amount of chicken pieces to the air fryer each time, ensuring they’re evenly spaced. This will allow you to continue cooking chicken for the same amount of time without worrying about whether it’s under or overcooked.
Depending on the size of your chicken strip, increase or decrease the cook time
If you slice the chicken into bigger pieces, you may need to add time. Likewise, smaller pieces will require less time. Check the internal temperature of each piece to ensure it’s fully cooked. The meat thermometer should read 165F.
Wrap tightly: Start by laying the tortilla on a flat surface (like a counter). Add the fillings to the centre of the tortilla without overfilling. Fold the left 1/3 of the tortilla and the right 1/3 into the centre. Then, fold the bottom flap over the toppings and start rolling from bottom to top. As you’re rolling the wrap, ensure you’re keeping the tortilla taut over the filling.
What to serve with Crispy Chicken Wraps
Not sure what to serve a crispy chicken wrap with? Here are some ideas!
Dips: You can add dips to the side for a bolder flavour. Some dip options include ranch, nacho cheese, and honey mustard.
Side dish ideas: For a more filling meal, consider adding some of these sides; Crispy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Cubes, Air fryer Zucchini Fries, Crispy Homemade Oven Chips
Soup or salad – Soup or salads are also great side dishes for chicken wraps to try. Here are some of my favorites; Creamy Parsnip Soup, Roasted Vegetable Soup, Budget Green Goddess Salad
Make Ahead Ideas
Chicken Strips: Make these ahead of time and then freeze them. When you want to use them, pop them back in the airfryer to cook for about 15 minutes.
Sauces: If you are using a homemade sauce, then consider making ahead of time and storing it in the refrigerator.
Slicing: Planning to use the same veggies on your wrap all week is a great idea. And best of all, you can chop them all at the beginning of the week to be prepped and ready to go when you need them.
Leftover Storage and Reheat Instructions
Storing: I don’t recommend storing the assembled chicken wraps in the fridge, as the chicken will get soggy. If you don’t mind soggy chicken, you can keep them in the fridge for up to four days. For the best results – store the chopped veggies, cheese, tortillas, and crispy chicken separately. Then, heat the chicken in the air fryer for a few minutes and assemble the wrap a few minutes before you’re ready to eat it.
Freezing: Skip freezing the veggies for this crispy chicken wrap dish, as veg like tomatoes and lettuce don’t freeze well. However, you can freeze the cooked chicken and reheat it later. The chicken goujons should be good in the freezer for up to six months.
Reheating: To reheat chicken from the fridge, add it to the air fryer in a single layer (do it in batches if needed) and heat for about 3-4 minutes. If you’ve frozen the chicken, you can reheat it right from the freezer (no need to defrost). It will take about 10-15 minutes for the goujons to reheat from frozen, depending on the size of the fried chicken strips.
FAQs
For this crispy chicken wrap dish, I do not recommend making the wraps ahead of time. The chicken will be soggy after it sits in the fridge. This Southern fried chicken wrap is best when made fresh.
When making wraps, you’ll want to grab tortillas that are at least 8″ in diameter. If you want to include extra veggies, consider buying tortillas that are closer to 10.5″ in diameter so you can fit all the toppings into the wrap.
Flour tortillas are best for wraps, as they’re typically more pliable than corn tortillas. Meaning they’re less likely to rip as you’re digging into the wrap.
If you’re tight on time, you can use pre-made grilled chicken or rotisserie chicken. Since pre-made chicken is typically already seasoned, you likely won’t need to add seasoning to the chicken. As a note, the wraps will not be crispy since the chicken is pre-cooked. However, they will still be tasty with pre-made or rotisserie chicken.
I use flour in this recipe because the cornflakes take care of the extra crispy texture. However, if you do not plan to use the cornflakes, I recommend adding cornstarch to your flour. The combination makes a delicious crunch.
After patting the chicken pieces dry, you will want to dip them in the flour first. This dries the surface of the chicken even more and gives the eggs something to hold onto.
Yes, but you need to defrost the chicken first. One thing that is good about frozen chicken, is that when it is partially thawed, but still sort of stiff, it is easier to cut into strips.
Yes, a chicken cutlet wrap would be perfectly fine to make. I just suggest you slice the cutlets into strips before breading and cooking so they cook faster and fit better on the tortilla when wrapped.
Here are more recipe options for leftover chicken breasts: Chicken Pho, The BEST Teriyaki Chicken Bowl, or a Chicken Shawarma Bowl.
If you tried this Crispy Chicken Wrap recipe, it would mean so much to me if you could leave a review & a star rating to let me know how you found it! I love hearing about your experiences – it motivates me to keep creating more and more recipes for you guys 💛 Let’s get cooking! – Mimi x
Healthy Crispy Chicken Wrap
Ingredients
- 600 g chicken breast, cut into strips (£4.70)
- 200 g cornflakes (£0.85/2)=(£0.43)
- 2 eggs (£1.50/6x2)=(£0.50)
- 1 round lettuce (£0.58)
- 6 salad tomatoes, thinly sliced (£0.85)
- 8 white wraps (small) or 4 large (£1.10)
- 200 g cheesy singles (£0.65)
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced (£0.15)
Cupboard Essentials
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- Vegetable oil spray 2-4 sprays per goujon
- Flaky salt
Method
Preheat your airfryer to 200°C/390°F
- Start by preparing your salad ingredients and slicing the chicken breasts into pieces and pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.
- Place the cornflakes into a ziplock bag over a large chopping board and using a rolling pin (or bottle) crush/roll over the cornflakes until a coarse breadcrumb texture is achieved.
- Add the flour to a plate (season with salt), whisk the eggs onto a second plate and on the third plate, combine the seasoning (onion powder, garlic powder and paprika) with the crushed cornflakes.
- Now start the conveyor belt by coating the chicken in the flour, egg and the cornflake mix and lay the breaded chicken pieces on a tray.
- Once every strip is breaded, spray them with oil and place them into your air fryer. Depending on how big your air fryer is, you might need to fry in batches. For maximum crispiness, don’t overlap the chicken. Cook for 5 minutes 200°C/390°F then flip the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Once the chicken is fully cooked and crispy, season generously with flaky salt. Meanwhile, prepare your wrap using 1 large tortilla, a layer of lettuce, tomato and red onion and 2 cheese slices, then top with a few goujons.
Notes
- Use separate hands for wet and dry ingredients when breading chicken.
- Pat cornflakes onto chicken with the dry hand to avoid mess
- Season goujons with salt right after air frying and cook the sliced chicken breast pieces in batches of similarly sized pieces to prevent over or under-cooking.
- Depending on the size of your goujon, increase or decrease the cook time.
Nutrition
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