Author: Katie Le | Katie’s Test Kitchen
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of Mushroom Seasoning or chicken powder
- 1/2 tsp of sugar
- 1/2 tsp of Five Spices Powder
- 1/4 tsp of ground pepper
- 1 tbsp of soy sauce/seasoning such as Maggie
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
- cooking oil/olive oil
- 3 tbsp of butter
- 1 tbsp of minced garlic
- 1 bundle of watercress
- a handful of Vietnamese coriander
- salt and pepper
- a few lime wedges
6 quails (cleaned with salt and vinegar, rinsed well with water, halved with a kitchen scissor) – I get the quails in the frozen section as Asian stores.
Marinade:
Frying:
Garnishes:
Directions
- In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients under “marinade” section above. Add clean halved quails and toss well. Allow it to marinate for about an hour or more.
- When ready to cook, lay quails in a single layer in the Air Fryer. Rub a thin layer of cooking oil on the quails and set temperature to 400 F with a cook time of 12-14 minutes or until golden brown to your liking. Remember to flip the quails half way and rub more oil. Remove cooked quails and set side. Depending on the size of your Air Fryer, you might have to do multiple batches.
- In a pan melt 3 tbsp of butter on medium heat and add 1 tbsp of garlic. Once fragrant, toss quails into the pan and mix well.
- Remove and serve on a bed of watercress and a handful of Rau Ram (Vietnamese coriander). Dipping sauce is a simple mixture of salt, ground pepper and lime juice.



What air fryer/size do you have? I am interested in buying one to make this dish. 🙂
Hi Diane, I have this Philips one. It’s small but good for us 4. https://amzn.to/2SreeK7
I tried this dish today and everyone liked it. A friend asked me for the recipe so I sent her the link. Thank you so much, Katie!
Thank you, Thuu! 😊
I tried this dish and it turn out amazing!! No more spending $20 for six quail at a Vietnamese anymore. Thank you so much for this delicious recipes. Katie, please create more recipes with the air fryer.
Thanks for letting me know of your result! I’m glad you liked it. I will definitely try to come up with more air fryer recipes!
Hi Katie,
Thank you so much for all of your air fryer recipes! They are delicious.
Will you have bun bo Hue recipe for IP soon?
I appreciate you!
LD
Hi Linh, glad to hear! BBH IP is already on the blog!
https://katiestestkitchen.com/portfolio/bun-bo-hue-instant-pot-vietnamese-spicy-beef-noodle-soup/
Thank you so much for this air fryer recipe. Followed it closely and ended up with a delicious quail dinner. The lime juice salt and pepper dipping sauce really brings out the flavor of all the other spices!
So glad to hear! 😊🙏
Love your quail! Always come back to this recipe! Thank you!
Thank you, Carol! Glad you like it.