Green Goddess Air-Fried Chicken Wrap Recipe

There's something enchanting about a salad dressing called "green goddess." Without knowing the history of the creamy dressing, the promise of feeling like a goddess after eating it is certainly intriguing. The dressing wasn't given the name because of its magical effects, though: The dressing was actually named after a play, "The Green Goddess," whose star frequented the 1923 Palace Hotel. There, the chef created the tangy, herby green-tinted dressing as a tribute to the theater's latest performance. At the time, it was a simple riff on a Caesar, incorporating parsley into the blend for a green hue. Since then, chefs like James Beard have piled in the herby additions, including the tarragon that gives the modern dressing its anise-like flavor.

History aside, the most important aspect of anything "green goddess" is that it be ... green. With avocado, lettuce, and a green wrap, this green-goddess air-fried chicken wrap developed with Michelle McGlinn is loaded with vibrant color even before being dressed with classic green goddess dressing. The tangy dressing coats perfectly crispy air-fried chicken tenders, chickpeas and avocado add their distinctive flavors and textures, and romaine adds some crunch, before everything is wrapped in a spinach tortilla. This just might be the perfect fresh, nutritious (and green) lunch to throw together any day of the week.

While you can shortcut this recipe by using frozen breaded chicken and store-bought dressing, preparing both from scratch is worth the extra few minutes. To make the chicken, you'll need chicken breasts or tenders, salt, pepper, eggs, panko, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and oil. For the dressing, you'll need to add mayonnaise, sour cream, and any green herbs of your choosing (feel free to get creative): We recommend tarragon, parsley, and chives. You'll also need fresh garlic, anchovies or anchovy paste, and lemon juice. To assemble the wraps, you'll need avocado, chickpeas, lettuce, and tortillas. For extra greenness, we recommend using tortillas made with spinach.

Preheat the air fryer to 400 F.

Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Prepare a dredging station by adding the beaten eggs to a shallow bowl and mixing the panko, breadcrumbs, and garlic powder in a second bowl.

Dip the chicken into the egg, then immediately coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Add to the air fryer basket in a single layer.

Spray lightly with oil and cook for 10 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

In the meantime, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, parsley, tarragon, chives, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice, ⅛ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon pepper to a food processor.

Pulse until smooth.

To build the wraps, spoon the green goddess dressing thinly across the tortilla, then add 1 to 2 pieces of chicken. Add chickpeas around the chicken.

Add the shredded lettuce, then top with avocado.

Fold and wrap the tortilla to seal and serve.

Green goddess dressing can be made in a few different ways, so if you don't have a food processor don't give up on the recipe. The dressing is also commonly made with a blender, which blends the herbs further into the sauce, giving it a more vibrant green color. If you don't have any gadgets at all, the dressing can also be made by finely chopping all of the herbs and mixing them into the mayonnaise by hand. An Italian mezzaluna is a useful tool to help you chop the herbs as finely as possible, but you can also rely on a sharp knife or kitchen shears. Once you've added the chopped herbs, beat the dressing by hand until the anchovies are dissolved and the herbs are fully incorporated. The dressing will not have the same green hue, but the flavor will be the same as if you had blended it.

Besides switching up the method, you can also experiment with adding different green ingredients to your dressing. Avocado turns the dressing greener and also makes it even creamier. You can also add spinach, green onion, dill, mint, or even cilantro. And if you want to tame the tangy, salty flavors of the dressing, try swapping the mayo for Greek yogurt and the anchovies for crushed capers (which would also make it vegetarian). You could also add a touch of Dijon mustard for a snappy bite. 

The air fryer affords home cooks the ability to fry foods quickly without needing much, if any, oil. The fryer works as a convection oven, crisping the contents quickly thanks to high, circulating heat. It isn't the same as deep frying, which requires the food to be submerged in hot oil, and because of that the air fryer is quicker and less complicated, making the air fryer perfect for a variety of shortcuts in the kitchen. Without the oil, fried food is also a little bit lighter and less greasy — perfect for this green-goddess wrap. If you don't have an air fryer, though, you can still make light and crispy breaded chicken.

You can first turn to a conventional oven to cook the chicken. Because panko doesn't brown easily in the oven, toast it first in an oiled skillet until browned. Dredge the chicken as written and place it on a wire rack. Spray generously with oil, add to a 400 F oven, and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. If you'd rather not turn the oven on for lunch, you can also pan-fry the chicken in a shallow, ¼-inch amount of oil. Once the oil is heated, add the chicken and brown it on either side until crispy.