Colm O'Gorman: How to make roast chicken in an air fryer in under an hour

This herb, lime, and chilli salsa sauce will give it bags of flavour

This week’s recipe is the result of a last-minute meal I made a few weeks ago. I was working from home and had not planned what to cook for dinner. 

I had a whole chicken in the fridge, so I decided to roast it in my air fryer as it is much quicker method than cooking it in an oven. 

You can roast a whole chicken in just 50 minutes, and if you brush it with a simple paste of olive oil, herbs, and spices, it will be moist and succulent, with bags and bags of flavour.

I fancied a chilli-based sauce to go with the chicken, so I came up with this beautiful herb, lime, and chilli salsa. It takes mere minutes to make and honestly, it is sensational. 

This is a seriously elevated roast chicken dinner, but it is also incredibly quick and easy to prepare.

Roast Chicken with Herb, Lime and Chilli Salsa

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

I served this with a simple side salad and fresh crusty bread, but this would also be lovely served with chips.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 60 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Roast Chicken

• 1 whole chicken, 1.6kg in weight

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp garlic granules

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• Herb, Lime, and Chilli Salsa

• 35g fresh parsley

• 15g fresh coriander

• ½ tsp dried oregano

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 small shallots

• 1 red chilli

• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 75ml extra virgin olive oil

• 1 lime

• 1 ½ tsp caster sugar

• 1tsp flaky sea salt

Method

1. Prepare the chicken for roasting. Pop the olive oil, oregano, garlic granules, smoked paprika and salt into a bowl and stir into a loose paste. Lightly pat the chicken all over with some kitchen paper to dry it a little and use a brush to apply the paste all over the breast and the topside of the chicken, working it into the legs, thighs, and wings.

2. If your air fryer basket has a removable crisper tray, take that out and place the chicken breast side down in the basket. This will allow the chicken to roast in its own juices and give you fabulously moist and tender meat. Brush the underside of the chicken with the remainder of the paste, again, working it into all the nooks and crannies.

3. Roast the chicken at 180 Celsius for thirty minutes, then turn the chicken over so that the breast is facing upwards. Baste the chicken in its cooking juices and pop it back into the air fryer at the same temperature for another twenty minutes.

4. While the chicken is in its final cooking stage, prepare the salsa. Peel and roughly chop the shallot. You want about 50g in total, which will be one or two shallots depending upon their size. Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Wash the chilli, and roughly chop that too. I like a bit of heat in this salsa, so I just cut away the stalk at the top, and chop the whole chilli, leaving the seeds and pith in, but remove those if prefer a milder salsa. Wash the parsley and coriander.

5. Pop all the above into a blender along with the olive oil and the red wine vinegar and blitz until quite smooth. Transfer to a bowl and add the zest of the lime, the salt, caster sugar, and finally, the juice of half of the lime. Stir well to combine and set aside for about ten minutes to allow the flavours to more fully develop.

6. When the roast chicken has had its final twenty minutes in the air fryer, it should be perfectly cooked. I find that a 1.6kg chicken cooks perfectly in my air fryer in fifty minutes, but the time you need may vary depending upon the air fryer you use and the size of the chicken, so do check to make sure it is properly cooked before serving. The easiest way to check is to insert the probe of a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast of the chicken. If it reads 74 Celsius, it is perfectly cooked. If it is below that temperature, give it another few minutes and then check again. If you do not have a meat thermometer, remove the chicken from the basket and stick a skewer or knife into the thickest part of the chicken. If the juices run clear, it is done, if they are a little pink, the chicken needs a little more time in the fryer.

7. When your chicken is perfectly cooked remove it from the basket and cut it into portions. Place the chicken on a chopping board, breast side up. Use a large fork to gently pull the leg and thigh way from the body. Cut through the skin and down through the joint at the base of the thigh using a sharp carving knife. You can separate the drumstick from the thigh if you wish or serve both as one portion. Repeat to remove the other leg portion.

8. Use your knife to cut lengthways through the centre of the crown of the chicken. Separate each breast from the backbone and the lower part of the chicken carcass with the wings attached. I like to serve the wings still attached to a portion of the breast, so I simply cut each breast portion in two widthways. This method will give you six portions in total, four from the breast and two from the legs.

9. Arrange the chicken on a platter. Taste the salsa, adding more lime juice or sugar if required. Drizzle a little of the salsa over the chicken and scatter some fresh parsley over the top. Serve with the rest of the salsa on the side.