If you love duck, then you will love this super-easy air fryer duck breast in a sticky, flavoursome teriyaki glaze.
Made with a handful of simple everyday ingredients, and easy to mix and match with any of your favourite Asian sauces.
Duck Breast In Air Fryer
I first made duck breast in the air fryer a few years ago now when we lived in Portugal. We had a really good posh supermarket there, that cost a small fortune. It was where the posh of The Algarve went shopping and the normal Portuguese supermarket never sold anything as exciting as duck.
We would visit this posh Portuguese supermarket, which was about a 50-minute round trip, once a year but when we did it was always for the duck breast and kale for some air fryer kale chips.
On our return to living in the UK I remember how excited I was to see beautiful duck breast in a mainstream supermarket at a normal price.
Since then, we have had so many dinners of air fryer duck breast and it has even made it into our 2nd air fryer cookbook (which you can get here)
Air Fryer Easy Everyday
In our first air fryer cookbook, The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook (get it here) we chose to focus on learning how to use the air fryer basket with simple information teaching people how to use the air fryer.
In our 2nd air fryer cookbook (get it here) we are focusing on different air fryers and how they compare and how you can make the recipe across different machines and then get the same end result.
One of them is duck breast and transforming it into a duck breast stir fry with noodles.
But what we also realise is that not everyone wants a complete meal and just wants a quick duck breast recipe, so today, we are giving you the duck breast air fryer part of the recipe from the book.
Can You Cook Duck In An Air Fryer?
Yes, you can cook duck breast in air fryer, and you will love it. Plus, it is so simple and who doesn’t love a simple air fryer recipe. When you cook duck breast in the air fryer its no more difficult than air fryer chicken breasts, air fryer pork steaks, or air fryer sausages and bacon.
Can You Cook Crispy Duck In Air Fryer?
Yes, you can also cook crispy duck in the air fryer. This is just about what you are putting on the duck to make it crispy and focusing on the crispy skin. Also in our 2nd air fryer cookbook (on page 74) we cooked crispy duck and pancakes, which can also be easily achieved in different air fryers.
Ninja Foodi Duck Breast
Or if you have a Ninja Foodi, you can also cook duck breast. Simply use the air fryer setting of the Ninja Foodi and then follow this duck air fryer recipe and you are all sorted!
Or if you have a Ninja Air Fryer (such as this dual air fryer we recommend) you can cook the air fryer duck breast fillets in one drawer, and then be cooking air fryer asparagus in the other.
Duck Breast Air Fryer Recipe Ingredients
Duck. We cooked a single pack containing 2 duck breast fillets with skin on in the air fryer. If you want crispy duck, we recommend scoring the skin for extra flavour and crispy texture.
Crispy. For air frying duck breast, the simple way is a crispy coating on the duck. You can just add this to the duck, or also add the sticky suggestion we have below. For crispy we are going with salt, pepper, dried Chinese 5 spice and some extra virgin olive oil.
Sticky. Then to transform your air fried duck into a sticky Chinese style deliciousness we are adding thick teriyaki sauce, ginger puree, garlic puree and soy sauce.
As you can see these are very simple ingredients that are easy to cook with in the air fryer. If you just want air fryer crispy duck then you can avoid the sticky sauce. Or you can also mix and match with other sauces, such as plum sauce, oyster sauce or a homemade sauce.
Can You Recommend An Air Fryer?
I often get asked which air fryers I recommend and which one I use. In 95% of our air fryer recipes, we use either the Philips Air Fryer XL or the Cosori XL because they are the best ones, we have found out of many air fryers we have tried over the years. You can click on the links above and read up on them. But if you would rather have a dual air fryer we recommend this Ninja Dual (make sure you order the right one as not all are good) or the Philips Dual.
How To Cook Duck Breast In Air Fryer?
- Crispy. Let’s start by making your duck breast nice and crispy and almost cooking it. Place the duck skin side down into the air fryer basket, add the oil, five spice and generously season with salt and pepper. Air fry the duck for half the cooking time.
- Mix. In the meantime, mix together your duck sticky sauce in a little bowl.
- Sticky. Flip the duck breasts over to skin side up and brush with the sticky sauce.
- Cook. Air fry duck breast for the remaining cooking time before slicing and serving for dinner.
You have now quickly cooked with little prep, duck breasts in air fryer – well done!
Love duck, then you will also love: instant pot whole duck, air fryer rotisserie duck, air fryer duck fat roasted potatoes, or my personal favourite air fryer duck eggs.
How Long To Cook Duck Breast In Air Fryer?
The air fryer duck breast time is JUST 14 minutes. This includes 7 minutes on each side for a perfect pink duck breast colour. Though add an extra 3 minutes if you don’t link your duck pink and want it well done.
Sam & Doms Top Tips For Success
We love to mix and match our ingredients. The thick teriyaki sauce from Blue Dragon (this one) is our favourite because of how thick it is and how well it cooks in the air fryer. But you can also try there other ones such as the sweet chilli version or the oyster sauce with spring onion is amazing too.
Get Air Fryer Confident
It can be daunting when you first get an air fryer, you land on a recipe site and then think now what?
Well, we love helping new people to the air fryer as we remember the struggle ourselves when got our first air fryer back in 2012. That is why we have put together these useful resources just for you.
Prefer the visual then check out our You Tube Channel – with more than 750 step by step kitchen gadget recipes. Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button to get access to new videos as they happen!
Sign up for our 100% free air fryer kickstart course. It’s a 5 day free mini series delivered by email and teaches you the basics of air frying. Get it here – its free!
We also have two amazing air fryer cookbooks that are perfect for learning the air fryer. With step by step photos for key techniques and more than 140 recipes in each book. The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook was our first and has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide, and our new baby is Air Fryer Easy Everyday.
Want to get cooking over and done with? Don’t want to always be cooking? Then let me introduce you to our meal prep course which teaches you how to efficiently use the air fryer for your meal prep.
We also have two amazing air fryer cookbooks that are perfect for learning the air fryer. With step by step photos for key techniques and more than 140 recipes in each book. The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook was our first and has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide, and our new baby is Air Fryer Easy Everyday.
More Air Fryer Resources
Listen To Air Fryer Duck Breast
Every week this year on the Magic With Gadgets Podcast we are creating a podcast each week to accompany the recipe. You can listen to this week’s below, and then follow along with me at home as you make it.
Want to learn more about our Podcast? Then click here and you can browse through past episodes and subscribe to the Magic With Gadgets Podcast.
This is an updated post. We were originally shared how to cook duck in the air fryer in 2020 and have had great fun taste testing as we have updated it for our air fryer cookbook and for our blog readers.
Learn all about air fryer duck breast below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
Though before you do, don’t forget to subscribe, and grab your FREE VIP Pass to Recipe This. You will get access to our latest recipes first, you will be able to request recipes, you will have access to free mini courses, free ebooks and useful cooking time charts and so much more.
Air Fryer Duck Breast
Ingredients
- 500 g skin on duck breasts
- ½ Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ½ Tsp Chinese 5 Spice
- Salt & Pepper
For the sticky sauce
- 60 g Pouch Teriyaki Sauce this is the one we use
- ¼ Tsp Ginger Purée
- ½ Tsp Garlic Purée
- A Splash Of Soy Sauce
Instructions
- Start by placing the duck breasts (skin side down) into the air fryer basket. Rub the olive oil onto the tops of them and sprinkle with Chinese 5 spice and then a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Cook duck in air fryer at 180c/360f for 7 minutes.
- Whilst the duck is cooking, add the sticky sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
- When the air fryer beeps, flip the duck breasts over so that they are now skin side up.
- Brush over the marinade over the breasts and then air fry for the same time and temp again.
- Allow to rest before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
Very very nice easy
I tried cooking 2 duck breasts in my Philips air fryer and omg it was letting out so much white smoke while cooking that it set off my smoke detector. Do you get a lot of smoke coming out of your air fryer too when you make duck breasts?
Hi Donna,
Yes we get alot of smoke from duck breasts, it is because of the fat from the duck, they are very fatty, so any foods that have a high fat content do create smoke and do set off the smoke alarms. Try soaking up the fat whilst the duck is cooking by dipping in some kitchen roll and soaking up the fat but it is very hot so be careful. Low quality sausages are another culprit for smoke 🙂
When using a whole Duck Brine it with a Salt, Just Cracked Black Pepper Corns, Piece of Ginger Brine Mix overnight. Stays absolutely moist when cooking but make sure you really pat it dry before cooking.
That sounds delicious David thank you 🙂
Is the duck breast supposed to be pink when cooked?
Hi Linda,
Yes we like it pink but not too much as the duck breast in our experience can turn tough to eat if cooked for longer 🙂
This recipe was very easy and turned out delicious. I was very skeptical about cooling duck but it turned out great, although a little dry. I’ll try to airfry it for 15 mins less next time.
Thanks for such a great recipe
Hi Ingrid
Really glad you enjoyed the duck 🙂
Made today for Thanksgiving, absolutely fabulous.
Thank you very much Traci, really glad liked the recipe 🙂
Amazing Sam! Thank you so much for posting this after your duck fat potatoes that i have just made.
I find what lacks in the air fryer is full air fryer meals but i can always rely on you for those.
Xx
Hello…..Just made this for supper tonight…. super easy to make.. looks and tastes delicious.
Look forward to trying out some of your other recipes x
Hi Samantha, I’ve been following you for a while. Your recipes are great easy to follow and always taste amazing. Just tried your duck fat potatoes and your roast duck and can’t believe how good it is in the air fryer.