This whole chicken air fryer recipe is a favorite choice for dinner. It's incredibly simple and results in a remarkably succulent chicken every time! Preparing a whole chicken in the air fryer is straightforward and consistently yields perfect results.
Pair this air fryer chicken with your favorite vegetable side, mashed potatoes, or a green side salad for a complete meal.
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Simply season the whole chicken and let it cook in the air fryer for about an hour. You'll consistently get a chicken with crispy skin and tender, juicy meat.
While oven-roasted chicken is a timeless family favorite, using an air fryer streamlines the process and delivers equally delicious results with crispy skin and succulent, fall-off-the-bone meat every time.
Consider cooking an extra chicken to use the meat for leftover chicken recipes such as casseroles, sandwiches, soups, or salads.
🥘 Ingredients
In addition to your air fryer, there are only a few things that you'll need for this delicious air-fried chicken! Aside from the chicken, you might already have everything else at home!
- Whole Chicken – One 3½-pound whole chicken. Find one that is around 3.5 lbs but still fits into your air fryer basket.
- Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil has the best flavor, but you can use your preferred cooking oil.
- Salt & Pepper – ½ teaspoon of both salt and pepper to taste. These base spices add so much flavor!
- Garlic Powder – ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder. The flavor is a bit more intense than fresh garlic, and rubbing it into the chicken skin infuses the flavor throughout your chicken.
- Onion Powder - ¼ teaspoon of onion powder. Dried onion flakes can also be substituted.
- Paprika – ⅛ teaspoon of paprika. This spice is a great visual garnish for the chicken and gives a wonderful peppery flavor.
***You can also try my amazing poultry seasoning; it's perfect for any chicken dish and easy to make up in large batches!
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🔪 How To Cook A Whole Chicken In The Air Fryer
This air fryer chicken is beyond easy to make! Use pantry-staple spices to coat the whole chicken, then drop it into your air fryer basket, set the timer, and get a perfect roast chicken!
Depending on the size of your chicken, you will have roughly 4 servings of meat, about a quarter of a chicken per person.
Step 1: Prepare the Chicken. Ensure your chicken is fully thawed if previously frozen, which typically takes about 12 hours in the refrigerator. Remove giblets and neck from the body cavity if present, trim any excess fat, and pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
Step 2: Season the Chicken. Generously rub the entire 3½-pound whole chicken with olive oil. Create a seasoning blend with ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper, ¼ teaspoon each of onion and garlic powder, and ⅛ teaspoon of paprika. Massage this mixture onto the chicken, ensuring it's evenly coated.
Step 3: Cooking in the Air Fryer. Place the chicken breast side down in the air-fryer basket. Cook at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes. Starting breast-side down yields a beautifully presented chicken, but starting breast-side up can make the breast meat even more tender and juicy.
Step 4: Flip the Chicken. Carefully remove the basket and flip the chicken over so the breast side is now up. Return the basket to the air fryer and cook for an additional 25-30 minutes.
Step 5: Check for Doneness. Use a digital meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken. Once it reaches 165°F (74°C), it's fully cooked. For bone-in chicken, you might prefer it cooked to 180°F (82°C) for optimal texture.
Step 6: Rest and Serve. After cooking, let the chicken rest in the basket or on a curved cutting board to catch any juices for about 10 minutes. This resting period allows the juices to redistribute, making the chicken more moist and flavorful. Then, carve and serve your deliciously air-fried chicken!
While the bird is cooking, make up a batch of my chicken gravy! Enjoy!
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- You can also use the extra meat to make a killer chef salad for lunches! Or use the leftover chicken in my chicken spaghetti with rotel or chicken noodle soup!
- There will be a lot of juices coming from the chicken while it is resting, so I prefer to keep it in the air fryer basket for easier cleanup or use the drippings for my chicken gravy recipe.
- A meat thermometer is the best way to ensure that your chicken is fully cooked. Take a look at my guide to internal chicken temperatures to learn more.
🥡 Storing & Reheating
If there are leftovers, store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
If stored properly, the frozen chicken will last up to 6 months but is best used within the first 4 months.
To reheat, the best method is to microwave or return to the air fryer until warm.
>>>>See all of my recipes here<<<<
❓ Recipe FAQs
For air frying a whole chicken, you will want to use an air fryer that falls into the 6-10 quart range. Of course, it also depends on how large your chicken is!
Absolutely! Just ensure you have an air fryer basket that will fit the chicken. This cooking method is effortless and easy and will yield a tender and flavorful chicken every time!
At 350°F (175°C), your whole chicken will take about an hour to cook. This includes flipping the bird over halfway through cooking. If your chicken is larger or smaller, you must adjust the time accordingly.
🍗 More Awesome Chicken Recipes
- Air Fryer Frozen Popcorn Chicken - Check out this recipe to learn how to make some frozen popcorn chicken in your air fryer!
- Crockpot Chicken Recipes - This is a collection of all of my favorite slow cooker chicken dishes!
- Bacon-Wrapped Baked Chicken Drumsticks - Seasoned drumsticks are wrapped in bacon and popped in the oven for an effortless dish!
- Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings - These crispy and flavorful wings are the perfect appetizer or snack for game day!
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken - Use your Instant Pot to make some quick shredded chicken that can be used in any recipe!
- Doritos Chicken Casserole with Cream Cheese - Crunchy nacho cheese Doritos and a creamy and rich sauce are the stars of this chicken casserole!
Do you love a recipe you tried? Please leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
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📖 Recipe Card
Air Fryer Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 ½ lb whole chicken (thawed, if frozen)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)
- ½ teaspoon each, salt & pepper (to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ⅛ teaspoon paprika
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Make sure that your chicken is completely thawed if using a frozen chicken. Remove the neck and giblets from the body cavity if they are present. Remove the tail and trim any fat or excess skin if desired. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
- Rub the entire 3 ½ lb whole chicken with the 1 tablespoon olive oil, then sprinkle the chicken with seasoning (¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon onion powder, ⅛ teaspoon paprika ½ teaspoon each, salt & pepper)and rub that in as well.
- Place the chicken into your air fryer basket with the breast facing downward. Cook at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
- Remove the basket and flip the chicken so that the breast is facing upward. Return the basket and chicken to your air fryer and continue cooking for 25-30 minutes. The chicken is done when it has an internal temperature of 165°F (75 °C).
- Remove the cooked chicken from your air fryer and allow it to rest in the basket, on a serving tray, or on the cutting board for 10 minutes before carving and serving.
Notes
- You can also use the extra meat to make a killer chef salad for lunches! Or use the leftover chicken in my chicken spaghetti with rotel or chicken noodle soup!
- There will be a lot of juices coming from the chicken while it is resting, so I prefer to keep it in the air fryer basket for easier cleanup.
- A meat thermometer is the best way to ensure that your chicken is fully cooked. Take a look at my guide to internal chicken temperatures to learn more.
Shamma says
The recipe looks amazing! Thanks Angela! Just a little note (completely irrelevant to the recipe), I'm reading the recipe from the Arabic website, and the only issue is that there are many mistranslations in the recipe, making it hard to understand. Just to clarify, this is not your fault, Angela. Arabic is not an easy language, and even machine translators, like google translate, tend to mistranslate many sentences and phrases. I'm not forcing you to fix this issue; you don't really have to. I just wanted to let you know. Other than that, I wanted to thank you for providing us with such an amazing recipe!
Donna Snoke says
I assume this recipe is good for a large oven air fryer?
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Not necessarily! If you look at the process photos, I squished this chicken down into my basket air fryer (and that was before upgrading to an XL capacity)! It works wonderfully. Enjoy!
Rodie says
De hele kip in de airfryer is verrukkelijk! Lekker knapperig velletje. Ziet er ook heel smakelijk uit. Zal het recept zeker vaker gebruiken. Heb de gekruide kip een nacht in laten trekken. Zal de volgende keer wel wat meer van het kruidenmengsel maken om ook de holte van de kip te kruiden.
"The whole chicken in the airfryer is delicious! Nice crispy skin. Also looks very tasty. Will definitely use the recipe again. Let the seasoned chicken soak overnight. Will make a little more of the spice mixture next time to season the cavity of the chicken as well."
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Hartelijk dank voor uw vriendelijke woorden! Ik ben het daar natuurlijk mee eens en vind dit een erg lekkere manier om kip te maken. Ik ben erg blij dat je genoten hebt van het recept, bedankt voor het delen van je resultaten!
"Thank you very much for your kind words! Of course, I agree and think this is a very tasty way to make chicken. I am very happy that you enjoyed the recipe, thank you for sharing your results!"
Cor & Thea van Biljouw says
Wij Cor & Thea hebben een AIRFRYER maar we weten niet hoe je een KIP moet braden in de airfryer hoe lang en wat moet je doen dat het goed gaat, in afwachting van uw bericht Hartelijk dank hiervoor Cor & Thea
We Cor & Thea have an AIRFRYER but we don't know how to fry a CHICKEN in the airfryer how long and what do you have to do to make sure it goes well, waiting for your message Thank you very much Cor & Thea
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Hallo! De kooktijden voor een hele kip staan hier op de receptenkaart. Hoop dat dat helpt! Angela
Hello! The cooking times for a whole chicken are here in the recipe card. Hope that helps! Angela
Clancy says
After discovering your roasted split-chicken breast recipe, which was is a Keeper, I began reading ALL your recipes. I have a general question regarding this one and your other recipes about using paprika. You use it quite a bit, mostly your chicken recipes. My question is do you use regular/sweet paprika or smoked paprika? Both have different tastes with the smoked giving a smoky taste. I sure would like to know your preference. Thanks in advance.
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
I do love paprika, especially for seasoning meat in general. Not only does it add great flavor, but it can also save your meaty main from looking bland too! For seasoning meat, I would happily use smoked over regular or sweet paprika. When seasoning meats that I intend to smoke, I always opt for regular paprika. (Just about every spice blend that I make homemade + my BBQ sauces also have paprika in them) The preferred use of paprika actually started after using it to add a great caramelized color to pan-seared steaks a long, long time ago now 🙂