Asian-style duck legs in air fryer. Combining your favourite flavours such as sweet chilli marinade, garlic, ginger and Chinese 5 spice, perfectly crispy and ideal for your next fakeaway. 

If you have not cooked crispy duck legs in the air fryer, then this is an easy recipe to get you started.

Duck Legs In Air Fryer
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Air Fryer Duck Legs

My husband doesn’t believe in the air fryer and then I cooked your air fryer duck legs recipe and he cant stop eating them. He asked what we were cooking next in the air fryer.

Those are the exact words from my recipe tester and food stylist on her first week of cooking new air fryer recipes for you.

He was a typical guy that likes steak in a pan and yet we had made him fall in love with the air fryer and its possibilities.

I would totally agree myself, as you have to try air fryer food to appreciate just how good it is.

If you want to win someone over with air fryer food, then it must be these duck legs. They taste so good, they have great flavour, but best of all we love how crispy air fryer food is compared to the traditional way to cook it.

Plus, if you are a big fan of crispy duck and pancakes you can use this recipe and shred the duck after air frying. Or if you want a bigger portion do check out the Air Fryer Easy Everyday Cookbook as this features our air fryer duck and how we use it to make a delicious duck noodles recipe.

Time & Temp Chart together with 2 books

Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?

Yes, you can air fry duck legs, and you will love duck legs in the air fryer. They go lovely and crispy like they do when cooked in a shallow pan and don’t require much effort. Making them perfect for lazy days or for those that don’t like cooking all that much.

Can You Cook Legs In An Air Fryer?

Yes, not just duck legs, but you can also cook chicken legs or turkey legs in the air fryer. Turkey legs might struggle to fit your size of air fryer, but chicken legs are cheap and so easy to air fry.

Why Do Duck Legs Take So Long To Cook?

Duck legs, just like turkey legs, and chicken legs take so long to cook because of their size and shape. Its getting them cooked by the bone that takes the time and also think about the size.

Our air fryer duck breasts are small compared to one duck leg and duck breast takes 12 minutes vs 18 minutes for leg.

Can You Overcook Duck Legs?

Yes, you can and traditionally duck is served still a bit pink unlike its other poultry friends. For example an air fryer chicken leg will take 25 minutes vs 18 minutes for duck and they are of similar size.

If you cook duck for too long it can become dry and not taste very well. So its important to keep an eye on the duck and make sure its not overcooked.

Ninja Air Fryer Duck Legs

If you’re cooking duck legs in Ninja Air Fryer then this is just as easy. Use the air fryer setting and then position the duck legs so that they are still on a single layer but are not overlapping and sticking together.

If your Ninja is a dual (this is the one we have) then you can cook 2 duck legs in each drawer, or like in our new cookbook you can cook the duck legs in one and the stir fry ingredients in the other.

Duck Leg Air Fryer Ingredients

Duck Leg Air Fryer Ingredients

Duck – We cooked 2 duck legs and they were the Gressingham duck legs. Though you can use any.

Wet – Lets talk next about our duck leg wet ingredients. We want that beautifully sticky duck that will help with the crispy process. We went with sweet chilli sticky sauce, garlic puree and ginger puree.

Dry – Next in went our dry ingredients to add more flavour. We included salt, pepper, and Chinese 5 spice.

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 Legs In Air Fryer?

air-fryer-duck-legs-step-by-step
  • Slice. Start by preparing the duck. We recommend slicing through the skin of the duck to create flavour pockets, then the flavours are getting everywhere rather than just on the skin.
  • Mix. Next season the duck with salt and pepper, add it to the bowl with the remaining seasonings and mix well so that the duck is well coated.
  • Cook. Next place the duck legs in the air fryer on a paper liner and air fry for 18 minutes at 180c/360f or until the duck is nice and pink and done how you like it.

Now that is how simple it is cooking duck legs in air fryer and now it’s your turn.

How Long To Cook 2 Duck Legs In Air Fryer?

The duck legs air fryer time is JUST 18 minutes for beautifully pink duck. The cooking time is the same for 2 duck legs in the air fryer as it is for 1. You can do 4 (to in each drawer) if you have a dual air fryer.

Sam & Doms Top Tips For Success

We love air fryer crispy duck legs and if your duck skin is not quite crispy enough for your liking, simply spray the top of the skin with extra virgin olive oil and add another 3 minutes to the cooking time at the increased temperature of 200c/400f.

Blue dragon marinade packets – These are brilliant because the sauces are overly thick and are great for avoiding a watered-down marinade. We used the sweet chilli version but their oyster sauce version and their teriyaki are also firm favourites.

blue dragon sweet chilli in air fryer

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

More Comfort Food In The Air Fryer

Plus, if you love fakeaways also try: air fryer doner kebab, air fryer chicken gyros, air fryer burgers, or how about some air fryer part baked bread to serve with it?

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Duck Legs In Air Fryer

Asian-style duck legs in air fryer. Combining your favourite flavours such as sweet chilli marinade, garlic, ginger and Chinese 5 spice, perfectly crispy and ideal for your next fakeaway.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 23 minutes
Servings: 2

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Score your duck legs to create flavour pockets for your marinade.
    Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?
  • Season the duck generously with salt and pepper.
    Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?
  • Then transfer the duck legs into a mixing bowl with the other ingredients and mix well with your hands.
    Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?
  • Line your air fryer with paper liner and add two duck legs over the paper, making sure the duck legs are not on top of each other.
    Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?
  • Air fry the duck legs for 18 minutes at 180c/360f or until cooked to your liking.
    Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?
  • For a sticky duck leg, we recommend when the air fryer has 5 minutes left, that you brush some extra marinade over the duck skin.
    Can You Cook Duck Legs In An Air Fryer?

Notes

Please note This air fryer duck leg recipe was tested in our Cosori air fryer XL basket. (its this one) and our Ninja Dual (this one) Air fryers vary so adjust if necessary, depending on the quality of your air fryer. Or consult the temperature test on page 18 of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook.
Featured. These duck legs appear in both Air Fryer Easy Everyday Cookbook and our Air Fryer Cooking Guide.

Nutrition

Calories: 510kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 47g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 197mg | Sodium: 792mg | Potassium: 34mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 4IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 4mg
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About Sam & Dom

Hi! I am Sam and along with my chef hubby Dom we love sharing with you easy everyday recipes using kitchen gadgets. We are also the authors of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook, an amazing air fryer cookbook filled with 140+ everyday air fryer recipes.

Beyond the air fryer we also love the instant pot, slow cooker, soup maker, ninja foodi, pie maker and several other kitchen gadgets.

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