Chicken Skin Chips (Pan, Oven, or Air Fryer) SO EASY! (VIDEO)
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Have leftover chicken skin? Use my foolproof Chicken Skin Chips (Cracklings) recipe to turn them into a delicious, crunchy snack, or crispy topping – you can make this in the pan, oven, or air fryer!
Watch the Chicken Skin Chips recipe video!
A Note from CJ
Crispy Chicken Skin Chips are my favorite snack!
By now you know how much I love crunchy, crispy things – when I realized you can cook the chicken skins into chips, I knew I had a winner recipe! Not only are the cracklings delicious, but I also love using the rendered chicken fat to cook potatoes or other vegetables!
Try my crunchiest or crispiest dishes like Air Fryer Chicken Wings, Baked Chicken Wings, Easy Fried Chicken (or Air Fryer Fried Chicken), Crispy Pork Belly (or Air Fryer Crispy Pork Belly), or Fried Chicken Tenders!
Very helpful step by step – the pictures made it particularly easy to know I was doing it correctly! Turned out just as promised: crisp and delicious! Also, love the step with adding water for additional fat rendering – I’ll be adding this to my little book of cooking tricks.
Ingredient Tips
- chicken skin – when removing the skin from the chicken thighs or breast, try to keep them intact – larger pieces are easier to fry, have less of a tendency to curl, and they will shrink considerably when cooked. For this recipe, I used about 8 pieces of skin. Make sure to keep any excess yellow fat from the chicken.
- seasoning – I used a combination of kosher salt, white pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper – it’s delicious and complements the crunchy chicken skin. You can adjust this to your preference!
How to Make Chicken Skin Chips
Refer to the recipe card tips for air fryer and oven instructions!
Cook The Chicken Skin – Place chicken skin face down in a cold nonstick pan along with any excess chicken fat. Turn the heat to medium and cook until you hear sizzling, about 1-2 minutes, then add water to the pan and bring to a high simmer. Reduce the heat back to medium and continue cooking until the water has evaporated, leaving the rendered fat to crisp up the skin, flipping as needed until a deep golden brown.
Remove, Drain, and Season Chicken Skins – Remove and drain on a paper towel. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle on chicken skin while hot.
My Pro Tip
CJ’s Recipe & Storage Tips
Use a large, non-stick pan to avoid any skin tearing if/when stuck to the pan.
Keep the chicken skin flat! Lay the chicken skin fat side down, and let the chicken skin render in the pan as it gradually comes to temperature. This initial rendering of the fat will help the chicken skin hold its shape resulting in flat pieces.
Season after cooking (not before!) – the chicken skin will shrink considerably once cooked, so seasoning before can lead to them being overseasoned.
Storage: Store the chicken skin chips (cracklings) in an airtight container or plastic ziplock bag for 2-3 days. They will keep longer than this but they may not be as crunchy.
If you tried this Chicken Skin Chips (Cracklings) or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
Chicken Skin Chips (Crackling) (VIDEO)
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ lb chicken skin, about 8 pieces of skin removed from thigh or breast, including any excess yellow fat from the chicken
- ½ cup water
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Place chicken skin face down in a cold nonstick pan along with any excess chicken fat.
- Turn the heat to medium and cook until you hear sizzling, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add water to the pan and bring to a high simmer. Reduce the heat back to medium and continue cooking until the water has evaporated, leaving the rendered fat to crisp up the skin, flipping as needed until a deep golden brown.
- Remove and drain on a paper towel. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle on chicken skin while hot.
- Alternatively, cut chicken skin into bite size pieces and use on top of stir fries, noodles, soups for extra crunch. Strain the rendered chicken fat into a glass or airtight container to use for potatoes or vegetables!
Video
Notes
- when removing the skin from the chicken thighs or breast, try to keep them intact – larger pieces are easier to fry, have less of a tendency to curl, and they will shrink considerably when cooked.
- For this recipe, I used about 8 pieces of skin. Make sure to keep any excess yellow fat from the chicken.
- I like to render the fat out and save as a cooking fat in an airtight container for cooking potatoes or other vegetables!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This Crispy Chicken Skin Chips recipe was originally published in December 2023, and updated in December 2025.
Very helpful step by step- the pictures made it particularly easy to know I was doing it correctly!
Turned out just as promised: crisp and delicious!
Also, love the step with adding water for additional fat rendering- I’ll be adding this to my little book of cooking tricks.
Thank you so much Shaffi!
Looks delicious!!
so easy to follow and the ingredients used are already available in my pantry.