If You’re Not Cooking Roasted Chicken in the Airfryer, You’re Doing It Wrong

A roasted chicken can feed a crowd for dinner or provide protein for meal prep throughout the week. Cooking a whole chicken is economical, good for maintaining healthy habits, and super easy, especially when you do it in the air fryer.

Roasting chicken in the air fryer takes less time than a wall oven — and requires virtually no preheating — and there’s minimal mess to clean up. This speedy method of cooking a whole chicken also results in incredibly crispy skin and no dry-out meat.

To make a perfect roast chicken in 45 minutes with very little prep and almost no cleanup, all you need is a air fryera chicken and a few basic spices and pantry ingredients. I’m pretty good at the joy of cooking in the airfryerbut preparing chicken in the air fryer is perhaps the best discovery I made while experimenting with the high-speed convection cookers.

This is how I make the perfect chicken from the air fryer almost every week.

Can you really cook a whole chicken in an air fryer?

It certainly can. The secret to a great roast chicken is a high temperature, but not too long, for a crispy skin with juicy, tender meat. A airfryer is the perfect appliance I prefer this method because it envelops the food inside with hot, fast-moving air and crisps the outer layers better than a full-size convection oven, which has a more widely distributed heat. The air fryer’s smaller cooking chamber also means more consistent temperatures throughout a single session.

Air fryers tend to be smaller than wall ovens, but many models can handle a 3- or 4-pound chicken. I cooked a full 4-pound roasting pan and it fit comfortably in my Dreo 6-quart ChefMaker smart air fryer oven.

Read more: Grill, bye. Make your next burger in an Airfryer and thank me later

What size air fryer do you need to cook a whole chicken?

This fancy souped-up air fryer has a steam function and smart cooking programs, but I didn’t need or use them. I cooked the chicken on the basic air fryer setting at 360 degrees Fahrenheit for 55 minutes, flipping the chicken after 25 minutes (ha!). You you don’t need an expensive air fryeror. This $120 Instant air fryer (for sale for $90) will do the job. And this one too. $60 Gourmia model.

There was minimal prep needed for this air fryer chicken recipe, which I adapted from a few recipes I found online and my favorite oven roasted chicken recipe. I whipped together a quick marinade with olive oil, grain mustard, salt, pepper, and a few of my favorite Mediterranean herb mixI stuffed the chicken with half an orange, some green onion and a bunch of fresh parsley that was left over. last days in the refrigerator.

What to serve with roasted chicken?

I served the chicken with rice made in my quick and effortless rice cookerbut I could just as easily have added some potatoes or other root vegetables to the chicken and then I could have made a complete meal for four or five people, prepared in the limited space of one non-stick basket in the air fryer.

Air fryers cook quickly, so be careful not to burn the skin

My only other note when making an air fryer bird is to keep a close eye on the bird, especially towards the end. The heat of an air fryer is intense and can burn the skin if you turn it up too high or leave it in too long. If the skin seems to be browning faster than the chicken is coming up to temperature inside, turn the heat down a bit and keep an eye on it.

You can always light it again when the meat is done to get crispy skin before serving. You’ll know the meat is done when a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit when you insert it into the thickest part of the breast.

Ingredients for roasted chicken in the airfryer

• 4 pound chicken, giblets removed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coarse mustard
• Herb mix (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Lemon or orange
• Fresh herbs

How to make roast chicken in the airfryer

1. Preheat the air fryer to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Mix together olive oil, mustard, herb mix, salt and pepper
3. Rub the whole chicken with the mustard marinade
4. Place the chicken breast side down in the air fryer basket on the rack and bake for 25 minutes.
5. Turn the bird’s breast over and cook for the remaining 25 minutes
6. Remove when juice runs clear or an internal thermometer reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit
7. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving and pour the juice from the air fryer basket over the sliced ​​chicken