Can You Air Fry a Whole Turkey?
For most Americans, the Thanksgiving menu is never complete without the perfectly cooked turkey. Preparing the turkey perfectly is always the key to a successful Thanksgiving meal, but this has been challenging since the dawn of time. There are many steps involved in cooking this large bird, but you should be aware that there are other options besides using the oven. So can you cook a turkey in an air fryer? Well, you can. The contemporary air fryer oven is quickly gaining popularity as a viable alternative to ovens.
In this article, we’ve explained the advantages of roasting a turkey in an air fryer oven, the size of the air fryer oven needed to roast a turkey, and more. Read on.
What Size Air Fryer Oven Is Needed To Roast A Turkey?
An air fryer oven is a relatively contemporary invention that functions like a convection oven inside of a bucket by rapidly circulating hot air around the food using a mechanical fan or infrared light. When considering air-frying a turkey breast, it's important to take your air fryer's size into account.
A whole turkey, complete with skin, bones, and all, can possibly be baked in a big countertop air fryer oven.
In smaller air fryers, you may have to slice the turkey and roast it. We recommend that you use an air fryer oven larger than 18 quarts, for example our 20-quart Air Fryer Oven FT1 can roast turkeys up to 11 pounds.
If you are roasting a turkey for a large family of more than 8 people, then a conventional oven is your best choice.
If you are preparing a Thanksgiving roast turkey for a small family, we highly recommend using a roast chicken instead of a turkey, which avoids having leftovers the next day and is very much in line with a sustainable lifestyle.
How to Cook an Air Fryer Turkey?
A typical brine or stuffing can be used to prepare the turkey, but an air-fried cooking technique does not require these. The turkey should be patted dry and chilled for a few hours before baking if you plan to brine it. The dryer the crust, the quicker it will cook. If you are confused as to what is used to prepare turkey, here are some steps on how to easily prepare an Air Fryer turkey.
- Mix olive oil, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the turkey with olive oil.
- Then, put a slice of butter under the turkey's skin.
- Place the turkey skin-side down in the air fryer basket. Cook for 50 minutes at 380 degrees or you can choose the chicken preset. Depending on the size of your turkey, cook it for an extra 10 ~ 15 minutes after flipping.
- After removing the turkey, let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice, then serve.
Advantages Of Air Fryer Roasted Turkey For Air Fryer Turkey?
The prime benefit of air frying a turkey is the amount of cooking time it saves. With an air fryer, you can easily prepare a thanksgiving-style turkey meal any night of the week.
Additional advantages of air-frying turkey breast include the following:
- Extra oven space: Using an air fryer frees up valuable oven space, making room for more side dishes.
- Even cooking: Since air fryers move air around the meal, the turkey cooks on all sides to the same temperature.
- Crispy skin: Your air fryer will do a terrific job of giving the turkey a crackly, crispy skin.
- Healthy meal: The air fryer retains moisture while using less butter and oil to cook a turkey breast. This produces a juicy, moist fowl that has the same flavor as one that has been fried but uses less fat.
An air fryer offers you countless culinary cooking options, and cooking turkey is one among them. With less fat and more crispy skin, you can cook that perfectly roasted healthy turkey for Thanksgiving with an air fryer.