You Should Be Cooking Whole Chickens In Your Air Fryer. Here's Why
When it comes to small kitchen appliances everyone has their favorite piece of equipment they like working with. Some people are partial to food processors, the Instant Pot, or a slow cooker. In the past few years, there's been a buzz around one small kitchen appliance in general, and that appliance is the air fryer. All that attention is well-earned, because, once you try food from an air fryer, you probably won't go back to cooking it any other way.
And if an air fryer already graces your kitchen countertop, then perhaps what you value most is its versatility. You've probably used it to elevate your vegetables to next-level crunchiness, as outlined by Taste of Home. Or maybe you love using it to reheat leftover pizza, as The Pioneer Woman suggests. Of course, the air fryer also gets French fries golden and crispy, and some say It makes the perfect grilled cheese. While it's true that all these things are amazing when made in the air fryer, it's also great for cooking raw meat like making your chicken wings crispy, while keeping the inside tender and flavorful.
The perfect chicken, cooked quickly
If you've made chicken breasts, thighs, or wings in your air fryer with great success, then you may want to try cooking a whole chicken in it. Using this tool to make a whole chicken can be a real game changer since it cooks faster than in the oven, and it's also a great method for busy cooks because you don't have to keep a close eye on it during the cooking process. As Epicurious details, the air fryer is an ideal method for cooking a whole chicken, since it results in an evenly cooked, juicy bird with crispy, golden skin, plus it's done in around 60 minutes.
If you want to up the flavor and ensure your air fryer-cooked chicken stays extra moist, you may want to try massaging a compound butter under the skin, as Wholesome Yum suggests. And if making a chicken this way sounds delicious, but you're not sure that your air fryer is large enough to safely cook a whole chicken, try making a smaller bird. The Epicurious article has a suggestion to opt for cooking a Cornish game hen in the air fryer to get a similar flavor and perfectly crispy skin. The next time you want a moist, flavorful chicken in a short amount of time, try preparing it in the air fryer.