The air fryer has become a cult kitchen appliance, and if you’ve ever eaten fries made in one, you’ll know it’s deserving of some high praise.
But can the air fryer take on an entire Christmas dinner? And, is it a better alternative than 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, Brussels sprouts, it was time to get cooking.
At this point, I’ll sheepishly admit that at the time of writing, 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 Turkey anyway).
When it came to navigating 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 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.
After the 37 minutes were up, I tipped in all my veggies 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 Brussels 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.
Overall, I’d say I could fit 10 potatoes, 10 stuffing balls and four portions of carrots in the air fryer, but you could fit 15 potatoes at a push.
And how did I know the meat was ready? I don’t have a thermometer, so I stuck the meat with a knife to check the juice ran clear.
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 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 centrepiece – 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 were some cons to my meal too.
One area the air fryer 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.
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.
But overall, I loved my air fryer 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.
However, you’ll struggle to fit even a regular-sized turkey in there, so if you have a large bird to cook, you won’t be successful.
If there’s more than three of you, you’re never going to be able to make enough food in one go, so it may be best to stick to the hob and oven.
The pros and cons of cooking Christmas dinner in an air fryer:
Pros:
- Cooking time was cut in half – the meat took just 55 minutes
- I didn’t have to boil the potatoes before roasting them
- There was less mess as the cooking was contained to one drawer
- The meat was juicy, and the veggies were fork-tender
Cons:
- You can’t make gravy in the air fryer, and there was less juice in the tray
- The veggies and potatoes were delicious, but didn’t have the best colour with blackish patches
- The potatoes wouldn’t crisp up
- You cannot cook enough food for more than three people, as there is not enough space
This story was first published on December 7, 2023.
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