Brothers.  Sisters.  You've gotta sear your meat first.  

I know what you're thinking.  Another layer of cooking, another pan to wash up.  Isn't the point of air fryers to get away from this hassle? 

Hear me out.

Why not just use the air fryer?

Because you need the maillard reaction.  The chemical trigger between amino acids and sugar to create that savoury crust and intense flavour.  

To get this reaction, you need temperatures above 150°C on the surface of the meat immediately. A pan delivers this direct heat instantly. An oven takes much longer to dry out the surface and brown it, by which time the inside will be overcooked.  You need both.  Sear for a couple of minutes on each side, and then transfer to the air fryer to continue heating evenly.

• The Oven's Job:

• It stays in its lane.  The oven provides indirect, ambient heat. This cooks the meat evenly from all sides, ensuring the centre reaches the safe temperature (like 74°C for chicken) without drying out the outer layers.
  

• The frying pan gives you that wham, bam thank you mam.  You need that initial shock and awe.  

Cooking is a two step process.  

• intense direct heat for flavour, and gentle ambient heat for texture.  This is not an either / or strategy.  It is both.  Searing, then air frying is a micro version of how a restaurant chef cooks in a commercial kitchen.  It is what we call Pan Roasting.

Now you're cooking like a pro

The last bit of the puzzle is nailing the temperature.  You want that chicken cooked to the goldilocks zone.  74'C.  And for that you need your Air Fryer Probe .     

You have two minutes to save your dinner.

Once the chicken passes 75°C, the muscle fibres contract tightly and squeeze out moisture. The temperature rise accelerates  here as the water (which buffers temperature change) evaporates, leaving the meat with less thermal mass.  It's a doom spiral.  And you have less than two minutes between your chicken hitting 74, and climbing past 80'C.

By probing your meat and taking it away from the heat at 74'C you capture your work at its peak.  And who doesn't want peak performance.. 

Check out this chart to understand the urgency.