Air Fryer Roast Chicken Dinner. Introducing you to the best ever roast chicken dinner all cooked together in the air fryer. You will love how you get to enjoy air fryer roast chicken at the same time as your favourite sides.
The air fryer is loaded up with roast chicken, sage and onion stuffing balls, root vegetables, pigs in blankets, sprouts and plenty of roast potatoes. Plus, I will also be sharing with you my gravy and Yorkshire puddings trick.
We originally shared with you how to a full British roast chicken dinner in the air fryer back in 2018 and wanted to update it today for you with new photos and even better ideas.
Table of Contents
Roast Chicken In Air Fryer
What I love most about being your go to air fryer recipe developer (check out our 500+ air fryer recipes here) is that I get to experiment. I get to try new things in the air fryer that nobody has done before, see if they work and then tell you all about them.
Some are more special than others.
This roast chicken dinner in the air fryer is among my all time favourites and was something I just tried out on a whim in early 2018.
I had this great roast chicken air fryer dinner idea.
I would cook my favourite air fryer whole chicken and rather than stopping there, I would fill every remaining gap of the air fryer basket with sides. Such as stuffing and roast potatoes and veggies.
Once cooked, it amazed me how good it was.
Then future air fryer owners saw it and bought air fryers just because of this one recipe.
Because they could imagine cooking a roast chicken dinner in the air fryer for their family.
But the original air fryer roast dinner recipe I did was when I lived in Portugal and was more of a summer sides then winter sides.
Therefore, I decided to update it but this time make it more traditional to the British Sunday roast chicken dinner.
It would include all my favourite Sunday roast chicken dinner sides:
- Roast Potatoes
- Stuffing
- Pigs In Blankets
- Sprouts
- Parsnips
- Carrots
All of which I have done separately in the air fryer, but would be combining them into one, with correct cooking times.
Though if you would rather do them as separate roast chicken dinner sides, then you can do that too. Simply follow our air fryer frozen sprouts, air fryer parsnips and carrots, air fryer stuffing balls, air fryer roast potatoes and of course our air fryer pigs in blankets.
It would be perfect for a lazy Sunday dinner or for the holidays such as for Christmas, Mother’s Day etc. Though of course, you can also do our summer version too.
Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free air fryer mini course. It is ideal for air fryer beginners or those that want to get more confident with their air fryer. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.
Can You Cook A Whole Dinner In An Air Fryer?
Yes, you can. Its one of those amazing things that you probably didn’t know that the air fryer is capable of.
But you need to keep an eye on cook times and organisation to get it right.
For example, you have some foods with a quicker cooking time and some foods that are rather long to cook and get the balance right and you have an amazing full dinner cooked in the air fryer.
Though do note this is a roast dinner idea for two and will not feed five or six people. Or if you are not big eaters I am sure it will stretch to feed 3.
Sunday Roast Chicken
When I think of a Sunday roast chicken, I am thinking about scrubbing a roast chicken tray that’s been in the oven, way too many pots and pans and three hours in the kitchen.
Whilst the prep is longer compared to air fryer balsamic chicken and vegetables, once the prep is done, you can just listen out for the air fryer to beep as you rotate the food.
A totally different way of cooking a Sunday roast chicken compared to what you probably grew up on.
English Roast Chicken Dinner
When we first arrived back in the UK, we went out for a carvery at a local pub we were camping at in our motorhome.
I saw Dominic’s excitement when he visited the carvery for the first time in many, many years and the kids excitement too.
Of course, there are certain English roast chicken dinner sides you can not (or will be too difficult) to cook as an all in one dinner.
But as we tucked into our first British carvery in years, we looked through what was included and what we could do and of course what we could do better.
We hated the fact, that the stuffing balls were WELL OVERCOOKED, and loved the seasoning on the roast potatoes and also hated how the pigs in blankets were ALSO OVERCOOKED.
Dinner In Air Fryer
When you are cooking dinner in the air fryer, you need to be looking at how the size of your air fryer basket compares to mine.
We are using this air fryer and note it is a large air fryer. I recommend that if you are using an air fryer oven you follow our turkey all in one dinner instead which includes similar sides and will help you get the timings better. Not that you have to use turkey, you can use chicken with it!
Or if your air fryer is much smaller than mine, you can use a smaller chicken. Or decrease the portion sizes of your sides.
Chicken Roast Air Fryer Ingredients
Chicken – The main ingredient you need is your whole chicken. Focus on a small or medium so that it will fit in your air fryer. And will fit well with all the roast chicken dinner sides that we are doing with it.
Potatoes – I LOVE roast potatoes and any large potatoes that you can peel and cut into roast potatoes will do the trick.
Vegetables – For vegetables I recommend some carrots, parsnips, and sprouts. I am using just fresh and not frozen, but you could swap for frozen.
Stuffing – I LOVE to make my own homemade stuffing as its so quick and easy. Simply load ingredients into the bowl, mix with your hands and make into stuffing balls. You can also use boxed stuffing such as Paxo if you prefer. Then for stuffing ingredients you will need sausage meat, onion, thyme, and breadcrumbs.
Pigs In Blankets – I cheated and used supermarket made fresh ones. You can of course make your own too. When we did our pigs in blankets, we used streaky bacon and baby sausages from the butchers.
Oil – I recommend some extra virgin olive oil for the skin of your chicken. Plus, you will also need it for your potatoes and veggies.
Seasoning – You will want your seasoning cupboard in this recipe. Because you will want seasoning for your stuffing, your chicken, your veggies, and your potatoes. Though we are keeping it simple with thyme, rosemary, and parsley.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this roast whole chicken in air fryer dinner, it has just been our Air Fryer. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes and perfect for all in one dinners.
How To Cook A Roast In An Air Fryer?
- Prep. Start by prepping your carrots and parsnips and tossing them in seasoning and oil. And getting them in the air fryer asap. By doing this, they can be cooking whilst you prep the next thing.
- Cook. Season and oil the chicken and cook it breast side down with the carrots and parsnips in the air fryer.
- Prep. Whilst the chicken has its bum in the air, its time to prep the stuffing balls. This is so easy, and you will find it will make a lot and you can save some for another meal.
- Cook. Remove the chicken and allow it to rest for 5 minutes whilst you give your stuffing balls a head start with the parsnips and carrots.
- Prep. Whilst the air fryer is cooking prep the potatoes and sprouts. Half the sprouts (they cook much quicker) and make the potatoes ready for roasties.
- Cook. Remove everything from the air fryer, put to one side and now air fry the chicken breast side up with the potatoes and sprouts in the gaps. Then after a head start add in the pigs in blankets as they are fast cooking.
- Finish. When the air fryer beeps remove the chicken, add the other sides back in and cook just the sides for the last few minutes. You now have a big Sunday roast dinner via the air fryer.
Air Fryer Yorkshire Pudding & Gravy
Do you want gravy and Yorkshire puddings with your roast chicken dinner? I know that air fryer Yorkshire puddings are meant to be eaten with roast beef, but I am from Yorkshire and have a Yorkshire pudding addiction!
If that is you too, then you will be pleased to know you can cook them from frozen at the same time as reheating your gravy.
Simply load frozen Yorkshire puddings into the air fryer and make a space for a gravy ramekin. Then add your gravy and cook for 4 minutes at 200c/400f.
You will then have crispy Yorkshire puddings and piping hot gravy to serve with your roast dinner.
And of course, this will work with any roast dinner you are cooking in the air fryer.
Healthy Roast Chicken Sides
Of course, I wanted to share with you our original healthy roast chicken sides, with a Portuguese influence as it would just be wrong not to include them.
Originally, I had a roast dinner of:
- Stuffing
- Roasted Courgettes
- Roasted Carrots
The courgettes are fantastic because they are so fast cooking and makes it easier to make. BUT we also lost time in the original recipe by stuffing the cavity as it makes it much slower to cook the chicken when you use the cavity.
Swapping for stuffing balls is a life saver.
Though if you don’t want to do sprouts (like we have done in our updated version) you can swap this for cubed courgette.
How Long To Cook Roast Chicken In Air Fryer?
Air fryer roast chicken cook time is JUST 45 minutes if cooking a roast chicken on its own.
But of course, we are going above and beyond this with a full roast chicken dinner and in total we have a cook time of 60 minutes.
Imagine that, 60 minutes for an air fryer roast chicken with six side dishes!
Listen To Full Roast Chicken Dinner
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More Roast Dinners In The Air Fryer
Today, we have shown you how to cook a roast chicken dinner in the air fryer. But what you could do, is swap the roast chicken for another meat, follow the same principles, and have a delicious dinner.
- Air Fryer Pot Roast
- Air Fryer Pork Roast
- Air Fryer Roast Beef
- Air Fryer Rump Roast
- Air Fryer Leg Of Lamb
Air Fryer Roast Chicken Dinner
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Roast Chicken Dinner Ingredients:
- Parsnips Carrots & Chicken:
- 3 Medium Parsnips
- 4 Small Carrots
- 1 Tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tsp Rosemary
- 1 Medium Whole Chicken
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
Stuffing Balls:
- 450 g Sausage Meat
- ¼ Small Onion
- 6 Tbsp Breadcrumbs
- 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 Tbsp Thyme
Sprouts & Potatoes:
- 150 g Fresh Prepared Sprouts
- 3 Medium White Potatoes
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- 8 Pigs in Blankets
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Peel and slice your carrots and parsnips lengthways. Load into a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Toss with your hands for a good coating and then load into the air fryer basket.
- Then place your chicken bum side up and smoother in extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley. Load the chicken into the air fryer basket, bum side up over the carrots and parsnips. Air fry for 25 minutes at 180c/360f.
- Whilst the air fryer is busy, load the sausage meat and other stuffing ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Make into stuffing balls.
- When the air fryer beeps, remove the chicken, and put to one side and load the stuffing balls into the air fryer over the carrots and parsnips. Cook for 5 minutes on the same temperature.
- Whilst the air fryer is busy prep your potatoes and sprouts. Slice your sprouts in half and wash them. Peel and slice your potatoes into roasted potato shapes. Toss both (separately) in extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley. When the air fryer beeps remove the contents and put to one side and load the air fryer up with the chicken, this time breast side up. Season again the breast side with extra virgin olive oil and extra parsley. Then add the potatoes and sprouts to any available gaps and cook for a further 20 minutes on the same temperature.
- When it beeps add in the pigs in blankets and cook for another 6 minutes.
- When it beeps again remove the chicken and allow to rest before carving. Load the other sides back into the air fryer and cook for a final 4 minutes.
- You now have a roast chicken dinner with six sides done in an hour.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
Looks like a delicious meal. We eat a ton of chicken so always looking for new way to fix a chicken meal.
I have just subscribed to your site, I have found that you don’t stipulate what size air fryer you are using, as a single person your chicken dinner recipe is too big for my air fryer
I would like (if you can) to see recipes for the smaller 2.2 Litre Fryer
Hi Graham,
We use the Philips XL air fryer, but until we start using a smaller air fryer you can press the slider on the serving area of the recipe card and it will decrease the amounts needed for how many portions you want to make 🙂
Got to love this idea, all these cooked perfectly but i had to decrease the portions as my air fryer is a standard size not an XL like yours 🙂
Hi there. My beautiful 79 year young bride gave me a 3 litre air fryer just before she passed away to make sure I eat so I’m just learning. I’m sorry if this sounds silly but I’m keen to try the same amount of vegies but with 2 boneless chicken breasts so I have left overs. I’m sorry if I sound thick but how could I try that? Many thanks, Aussie Jack.
Hi Jack,
Sorry to hear about your young bride but happy she helped you with buying the air fryer, we have alot of people who cook for them selves with the air fryer and they find it so useful. Ok follow the instructions with regards to the vegetables as you want the same amount, but the chicken breasts will cook alot quicker than the whole chicken, so if you put the breasts on top of the vegetables for 15 minutes but after 7 turn them and then try the temperature, if over 75c/150f then they are good to go and put them to the side and continue cooking the veg, meatballs and sausages if you are doing those until all is cooked.
Any problems just leave a comment here or send us a email 🙂
Just what I was looking for, the whole chicken dinner recipe/instructions sounds fab! My hubby not convinced it can be done!
Loving your site and recipes. The way you explain things is brilliant, guess us Yorkshire lasses (I’m from Halifax) have the gift of the gab 🤭
Hi Sue,
This made me laugh, yes we do 🙂 I changed your last word you 😉
Just going to have a go at tne full dinner
Would you part boil the potatoes first
Hi Pauline,
Sorry for the late reply, no you do not need to part boil the potatoes 🙂
Hi can i use my ninja foodi 11 in 1 for this, im new to the ninja and need help with recipe ideas for it.
Thank you
Hi Adele,
You can but this was made in a basket air fryer so follow the times then just check your chicken with a thermometer to make sure it is cooked through as when we have tested some of our recipes using the Ninja Foodi we usually had to add some time on so do not be scared to add time on if not cooked correctly 🙂