Air Fryer Roast Chicken and Stuffing Recipe
Beyond air frying a whole chicken as it is, you can also stuff the carcass with delicious homemade stuffing
- 1 medium whole chicken (giblets removed)
- 1⁄2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- Salt and black pepper
- For the stuffing
- 1⁄2 medium onion
- 150g sausage meat
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 large egg
- 1 heaped tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
- Salt and black pepper
To make the stuffing, finely dice the onion and put it in a mixing bowl. Add the sausage meat and dried herbs to the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix with your hands, breaking up any bigger bits of sausage meat as you go and making sure the ingredients are well mixed. Crack the egg into the bowl and mix, then add the breadcrumbs and mix until you have a big ball of stuffing.
Put the stuffing into the chicken cavity, pushing it down to fit it all in. Once stuffed, tie up the chicken legs with string.
Place the whole chicken, breast side down, into the air fryer basket. Make sure it is pressed down and fits properly. Rub half the olive oil into all the visible skin, sprinkle half the dried herbs over the chicken and season with salt and pepper.
Air fry the whole chicken at 180C/360F for 30 minutes.
Use tongs to help you flip over the whole chicken without burning yourself to get it breast side up.
Drizzle over the remaining olive oil and rub into the skin, then add the remaining herbs and season again with salt and pepper.
Cook at the same temperature for a further 30–40 minutes, or until it reads an internal temperature of 70C/160F or above before serving.
Stuffing balls
In the Milner kitchen, we prefer stuffing balls over stuffing the cavity of the whole chicken. Plus, it helps keep the cook time down. Make our stuffing but instead of stuffing the carcass, divide the stuffing into six equal portions and roll into balls. Eight minutes before the chicken is done, find some gaps around the chicken and add the stuffing balls. Cook for the final eight minutes and the chicken and stuffing will then be ready at the same time.
Last-minute frozen whole chicken? You can also cook a whole chicken from frozen; it takes a little longer but still tastes amazing. Perfect for answering “What’s for dinner?”, when all you have is a freezer of frozen food. Place the frozen whole chicken into the air fryer basket, breast side down. Air fry at 80C/175F for 20 minutes, or until almost thawed.
Then you can follow our air fryer chicken recipe and cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 70C/160C or above at the thickest part of the breast. If the chicken is a little bigger, it might need another 10 minutes cook time.
