I have received A TON of questions, interest and requests for this recipe from my instagram stories, so wanted to share the love of this delicious chicken. But before we get to the recipe, let me explain a little bit about the air fryer, why I love whole chickens and how to prep a whole chicken.

The Air Fryer

I received an air fryer for my birthday back in August and have been experimenting with it for a month or with recipes I found online or simply throwing things in and see how it goes…zucchini logs, broccoli, coconut shrimp, chicken tenders, Brussels sprouts, chick peas, have turned out usually wonderful, however nothing beats the day when I realized I could put an entire whole chicken into the air fryer. #gamechanger

I have the GOWISE USA Air Fryer as many ask how big the air fryer should be for an entire chicken. Think of the air fryer, as a quick oven. It allows you to multi-task your meal or batch cooking. One thing in oven, another on stovetop, maybe grill and then the air fryer. Obviously, you do not need to use all your appliances but you get what I am saying. The air fryer speeds up cooking and drains a lot of the fat, catching in below the basket. Tip: put the oil (when cooled) in a plastic cup, freeze it then throw out on garbage night.

The air fryer a quick oven & a multitasker for meals or batch cooking

Coconut Shrimp, Chick Peas, Zucchini logs, Carrots, Brussel Sprouts, Baked (Sweet) Potatoes or Fries, Chicken Wings, Chicken Thighs, Breaded Chicken, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Tofu, Salmon, Shrimp etc. etc.

We have been cooking a whole chicken on our Traegar Grill almost every week since spring and never thought we could beat the moisture and flavor the chicken gets on the wood pellet grill BUT we have! First, thought I need to tell you…

Why a whole chicken?

More Bang for your Buck! Especially when it comes to buying organic. I try and buy sustainable organic meat as much as possible. It is cheaper buying whole due to less processing.
Leftovers: with a family of 2 1/2 (Gwen is the 1/2), a whole chicken allows us to have leftovers for another meal or two. Use the chicken into a sandwich, a salad, veggie pasta salad, tacos, add some franks hot sauce and a little ranch and pair with sweet potato fries and green beans. Or simply have it as it is for the following nights dinner with a different starch and veggies.
Flavor: Cooking the whole chicken brings so much more flavor than cooking separate thighs, drums, or breasts. You get variety and you get so much more moisture and flavor. The skin (yes, I know it is fatty) is soooo good. You don’t need to have a ton of it but when you do have a piece with the skin, ah, so good! Keep the flavor going by making a soup stock with the leftover chicken carcass. Recipe here

Do not feel intimidated with cooking an entire chicken, it is super easy. I promise, when you see how good it turns out, you will make this a weekly/bi-weekly thing, Here are a few steps to Prep the Chicken make it even easier not matter if you put it on the grill, air fryer or in the oven.

Preparing whole Chicken Tips

Open the package up over garage can as we want to limit the amount of juices on the counter tops/kitchen. Near the garage can, have a few paper towels placed on top of cutting board and a few extras paper towels near by.
- NOTE: Do not put chicken in sink and rinse it. You are only spattering the chicken juices all over your sink and counter tops, gross. It does not need to be rinsed, just drained and dried
Cut packaging open with kitchen scissors before tossing those puppies in the sink to clean later. Drain the juices from the chicken into trash can (better than the sink). When chicken seems to not be dripping as much, move to the cutting board, on top of the paper towel you placed down already.
Pat dry the entire chicken with the extra paper towels before tossing those in the trash.
- NOTE: there might be something inside the chicken (gizzard, liver etc.) You can discard these or cook them up. John likes them, me, not thanks!

Now we have a dry chicken sitting on a cutting board, time to season before throwing in or on the air fryer, grill or oven. Not let’s get to the RECIPE you’ve all been waiting for!!!