I tried cooking an entire Christmas dinner in an air fryer — here’s how it went

I tried cooking an entire Christmas dinner in the air fryer – here’s how it went (Picture: Alice Giddings)

The air fryer has become a cult kitchen appliance in 2023, and if you’ve ever eaten fries made in one, you’ll know it’s deserving of some high praise.

But, can the airfryer take on an entire Christmas dinner? And, is it a better alternative that using a traditional oven?

Well, I put the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer air fryer to the test to find out.

After raiding Tesco for all the Christmas dinner staples; meat, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, gravy, stuffing and, of course, Brussel sprouts, it was time to get cooking.

At this point, I’ll sheepishly admit that at the time of writing, back in mid-November, I couldn’t find a single whole turkey on the shelves, so I had to settle for a chicken (we all know we collectively only pretend to like anyway).

All in all, the shop cost me just £20 – not too shabby.

The air fryer blackened the veggies a little but it made them beautifully tender (Picture: Alice Giddings)

When it came to navigating the the Ninja air fryer, which retails at £219.99, it was pretty easy – no more tricky than a microwave – and it looks pretty chic on my kitchen counter too. As someone who has no sense of time management in the kitchen, there’s also a recipe guide for cooking a whole bird along with all the veggies, which was a lifesaver.

I prepped the chicken by stuffing it with a quartered lemon, thyme, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper before popping it in the air fryer for 37 minutes.

And here, is my first word of warning:I was using the 10.5L Foodi FlexDrawer, rather than a single compartment air fryer, meaning my chicken fitted in nicely. However, it’s still unlikely you’re going to be able to fit in a large bird (such as a whole turkey) into the air fryer. The chicken I cooked was fairly small, enough for two, but would definitely not feed an entire family.

You could easily fit a slightly bigger bird in with a few more roasties and veggies (Picture: Alice Giddings)

After the 37 minutes were up, I tipped in all my veggies – honey glazed carrots and parsnips, along with potatoes – next to the meat. Again, it should be noted here that any prepping in terms of seasoning and peeling/slicing needs to be done beforehand, but that’s it – I didn’t need to boil the potatoes or vegetables before adding them into the fryer.

In hindsight, at this point in my Christmas dinner air fryer journey, I would’ve also added the Brussel sprouts but my lack of organisation was causing me to flounder.

I cooked the veggies and meat for a further 18 minutes before taking the bird out to rest and covering it with foil – yep, in total, it needed just 55 minutes cooking time. I then popped the veggies in a bowl to keep warm.

Next I did the stuffing balls and pigs in blankets, using the partition to separate my air fryer into two compartments.

If you’re looking to do cauliflower cheese, feel free to pop the stuffing and pigs in blankets in the same drawer (letting the pork cook a bit first to avoid the raw meat touching) then the cauliflower cheese in the other drawer.

All of these Christmas dinner components took about 12 minutes to cook in the air fryer for me.

One big bonus about cooking the whole dinner in the air fryer I was that I didn’t have to monitor lots of different trays and pans, keeping track of various timings and making sure they don’t boil over.

Next, it was finally time to tuck in.

I know you’re dying to know how the centerpiece – the not-really-a-turkey chicken – came out, and the results were pretty impressive. It took a fraction of the time to cook, and was still just as juicy, So, if there aren’t many mouths to feed at Christmas and you can fit your bird in your air fryer, then definitely do it.

However, there was some cons to my meal too. One area the airfryer really fell down on was the potatoes. For me, a crispy crust on my roast potatoes is a must, and with the lack of hot oil or goose fat I just couldn’t get them to crisp up – I’ll be returning to the oven method for those.

The meat took 55 minutes and was very juicy (Picture: Alice Giddings)

And then, there’s the gravy aka the best bit of the meal, which unfortunately is virtually impossible to cook in an airfryer – can you imagine the mess?

I also found that there was less meat juice to use for the gravy – I don’t typically use gravy granules, rather meat and vegetable juice, flour and meat stock.

The finished Christmas dinner with my terrible presentation skills (Picture: Alice Giddings)

But overall I loved my airfryer meal, so much so that I’m absolutely obsessed and cooking everything in an air fryer now.

So, if you’re a small family – or maybe it’s just you and your significant other this December 25 – I’d say cooking your Christmas dinner in an air fryer is a great idea.

If there’s more than three of you, you’re going to struggle, so it may be best to stick to the hob and oven.

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Air fryers can do it all (almost).