Ninja Foodi Whole Chicken

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Ninja Foodi Whole Chicken. Have you ever wanted to cook a Ninja Foodi roast chicken? Then this is for you. We will be showing you how to cook a whole chicken using both the Ninja air fryer and the Ninja pressure cooker.

Ninja Foodi Whole Chicken

My most cooked food ever in my air fryer is an air fryer whole chicken. Its my easy, family, go to dinner.

We are a family of five and its easy it dump a whole chicken in the air fryer, then load some vegetables into the instant pot. Or if our whole chicken is frozen, we will cook an instant pot frozen whole chicken and then do air fryer vegetables.

When I received my first Ninja Foodi last summer, my first thought was making a Ninja Foodi whole chicken.

Would a Ninja air fryer roast chicken be better, or would a Ninja pressure cooker roast chicken be best, or should I mix and match the two?

I experimented.

I tried many ways to cook a whole chicken in the Ninja Foodi and today, after months of experimenting and a lot of chicken eating, I am sharing with you the best.

Can You Cook A Roast In A Ninja Foodi?

Yes, you can. You also have a few different options for how you cook your roast in a Ninja.

You can:

• Cook a frozen roast using the pressure cooker. Dump it in whilst it is still frozen, and you will have a wonderful roasting joint to enjoy.

• Cook a thawed roast using the pressure cooker. It doesn’t have to be frozen to be cooked in the pressure cooker. You can just throw it in, add some seasonings and let the pressure cooker do the hard work.

• Cook a thawed roast using the air fryer crisp. It will be wonderfully crispy like a roast that you have cooked in an oven. Yet you will not need to load the skin up with loads of butter and can enjoy it for less calories.

• Cook using both the pressure cooker and the air fryer crisp. I love this because you can have tender meat from the pressure cooker, with a crispy skin thanks to the air fryer.

Though, in case this is Ninja whole chicken information overload I will share with you what is the best way for you.

Can I Cook A Whole Frozen Chicken In My Ninja Foodi?

Yes you can. I do it a LOT and its fantastic for when you have dinner that needs making and you don’t have a thawed whole chicken.

The cook time, because you are using the pressure cooker of the Ninja Foodi is short and a lot of the time I choose to cook a frozen whole chicken over fresh, because it never feels like its much of a difference.

Ninja Foodi Roast Chicken

The ideas I have mentioned would apply to any type of roasting meat in the Ninja Foodi. But my personal favourite will always be a Ninja Foodi roast chicken. Or you might call it a Ninja Foodi rotisserie chicken or a Ninja Foodi whole chicken.

I buy whole chickens in bulk and then load them into the freezer for when us Milner’s want one. Each one will be in a zip loc bag and normally I will buy them in a pack of four and then separate them for the freezer.

Then the night before we plan to eat one, I will grab one from the freezer and transfer it to the fridge.

Or if I need something last minute for dinner, then I know I can go to the freezer, grab a frozen one and then serve that for dinner in record time.

Ninja Foodi Frozen Whole Chicken

If you are cooking a frozen whole chicken in the Ninja Foodi the best option is to cook it using the pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker does a much better job of making food tender. You can then finish it with the air fryer lid if you want a crispy skin.

Though, if meal prep is your thing, frozen or thawed, ninja foodi pressure cooker chicken is the best option.

You see, if you just want to shred a chicken or maybe you follow Slimming World or Weight Watchers and want it oil free, you can just dump it in the pressure cooker and let it do the hard work for you.

Then once the chicken is cooked and cool, you can shred the chicken and use it for soups, stews, meal prep, salads etc. Or if you have a favourite leftover rotisserie chicken recipe, then you can use that.

Ninja Air Fryer Whole Chicken

Probably the most common way to cook a whole chicken in the Ninja Foodi is to use the air fryer crisp lid.

Then it is similar to a roast chicken in the oven.

It is also the way us Milner’s cook a whole chicken the most.

For Ninja Foodi, or air fryer beginners it is a dream too. Because you season your chicken and then cook it on each side in the air fryer basket and there is nothing else to do. You kind of do a Ninja air fryer whole chicken and wonder what the catch is, after tall it can’t possibly be this easy.

If you are wondering if you should pressure cook or air fry, think about it like this:

• The pressure cooker is easiest.
• You don’t get crispy skin with the pressure cooker.
• The air fryer is like traditional roast chicken.

How To Cook A Whole Chicken In Ninja Foodi?

If you want to cook a whole chicken in the Ninja Foodi this is how you do it with the air fryer only method:

1. Rub extra virgin olive oil into the chicken skin.
2. Add seasonings.
3. Cook breast side down.
4. Turn.
5. Cook breast side up.
6. Serve.

Or if pressure cooking your Ninja Foodi whole chicken you would do the following:

1. Place a cup of chicken stock in your pressure cooker.
2. Season chicken.
3. Add chicken.
4. Pressure cook + serve.

As you can see, both methods for cooking a whole chicken in the Ninja Foodi are very simple and mix and match methods, to see which you prefer.

How Long To Cook Whole Chicken In Ninja Foodi?

The cook time for a whole chicken in the Ninja Foodi can differ depending on the method of cooking that you are following.

Plus, don’t forget that the size of the chicken can alter cook times too.

From our various experiments with Ninja Foodi whole chickens we found that:

• 60 minutes is ideal for Ninja air fryer whole chicken. With a 30 minute cook on each side.

• 30 minutes under pressure was perfect for a frozen whole chicken. Followed by 10 minutes on the air fryer lid if you wanted crispy skin.

• 25 minutes under pressure for a thawed, fresh whole chicken.

• 22 minutes pressure cooked, followed by 12 minutes with the air fryer lid if you wanted to pressure cook and then crisp up.

Though note, that we use a 1.2kg/2.6 lbs whole chicken and that your cook times will vary if you have a smaller, or a larger chicken.

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