Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing

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Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing. How to cook a whole chicken in the air fryer until crispy whilst stuffed with homemade sage and onion stuffing.

You will love how easy it is to cook roast chicken and stuffing at the same time in the air fryer. A fantastic easier option for your Sunday roast or midweek chicken dinner.

We originally shared with you how to make chicken and stuffing back in 2018 and wanted to update it today for you with new photos and extra ideas.

air fryer chicken and stuffing recipe
Air Fryer Chicken and Stuffing Recipe

Chicken & Stuffing In Air Fryer

My favourite two things on a Sunday roast chicken dinner are chicken breast with the crispy skin and the sage and onion stuffing.

I could leave everything else, well apart from the slow cooker veggie bake and the air fryer pigs in blankets for these two things.

They are amazing and I always want seconds.

It takes me back to the simplicity of the English roast chicken dinner and how fantastic they are for midweek meals too.

You can dump a stuffed chicken in the air fryer basket, let it work its magic and then you have whole stuffed chicken in air fryer for everyone to enjoy for a quick dinner.

Then if you have a really big air fryer, you can probably fit in those pigs in blankets and those air fryer frozen roasted potatoes.

Today I wanted to go into detail and teach you everything good I know about cooking chicken and stuffing in the air fryer.

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Can You Stuff A Chicken With Stuffing?

Yes, you can. You can place any stuffing in the cavity of the chicken. Though do note, the cavity of a chicken is not that big, and you will be limited to how much chicken you can add.

I much prefer to stuff a turkey with stuffing because you can add a lot more stuffing to the cavity.

Can You Stuff A Chicken With Stovetop Stuffing?

Yes, you can. Stuffing in a whole chicken is not limited to homemade stuffing and as long as your mix is not overly watery, then it will work perfectly in the cavity of your chicken.

If using a box mix of stuffing then I would recommend Paxo or another similar brand of stuffing.

Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?

Yes, you can. You can add some homemade stuffing into the chicken cavity and cook it in the air fryer.

Though, its important to note, that the cook time will be a little longer when cooking a stuffed chicken compared to an unstuffed one.

Another important note is that you want to cook your whole stuffed chicken breast side up first, otherwise the stuffing will fall out.

What Is Stuffed Chicken In The Air Fryer Like?

Delicious. The skin of the chicken is crispy, the stuffing is more flavoursome and best of all the stuffing never gets dry because it cooks in the cavity.

Once cooked you can then serve up some roast chicken with the stuffing for a quick dinner.

Or make some extra sides such as our air fryer roast potatoes with rosemary or our air fryer frozen brussel sprouts.

Air Fryer Chicken & Dressing

However, if you are in the USA, you are likely to call it air fryer chicken and dressing, rather than air fryer chicken and stuffing.

If you were wondering what chicken and stuffing in air fryer was, then you now know it’s the same as the dressing, just different country, different name.

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How Do You Make Stuffing For A Chicken?

My simple stuffing for roast chicken is the same regardless of whether or not I am cooking it separately or in the cavity of the chicken.

I simply use an English sage and onion stuffing recipe.

I will cook the croutons first in the air fryer like this:

How Do You Make Stuffing For A Chicken

Then I will prep the rest of the stuffing ingredients whilst the air fryer is partially cooking the croutons.

I will add onion, seasonings, and sausage meat together along with some extra breadcrumbs and combine.

Then when the croutons are done everything will be loaded into the bowl:

simple stuffing for roast chicken

Then I can combine everything, and I now have an enormous English sage and onion stuffing ball.

Then I will divide it into two. You see this stuffing ball is too big for the cavity of one chicken and the rest can simply be made into stuffing balls and cooked beside the chicken or make ahead for another meal.

You now have your stuffing ready to go for your chicken.

How To Stuff A Whole Chicken With Stuffing?

Once you have your stuffing ready to go, it is time to stuff a whole chicken with stuffing.

I recommend holding the chicken with the cavity pointing upwards so that you can easily add in the stuffing.

Then add a little of your roast chicken stuffing at a time, until you can fit in no more.

How To Stuff A Whole Chicken With Stuffing

Then your chicken is stuffed and ready for the air fryer.

And now you know the ins and outs of making the stuffing and the process for stuffing the chicken, lets talk ingredients and how to cook your air fryer whole chicken with stuffing.

Stuffed Chicken Air Fryer Ingredients

Stuffed Chicken Air Fryer Ingredients

Chicken – I recommend that you cook a small whole chicken in the air fryer. That is because most air fryers are only big enough to go to a medium and with stuffing in as well, you want a good overall cook.

Stuffing – You can cheat and use a stovetop stuffing such as Paxo sage and onion stuffing. I prefer to make my own and you will need sausage meat, onion, breadcrumbs, stale bread, and some sage.

Oil – I recommend some extra virgin olive oil for the skin of your chicken. It will then produce amazing crispy skin that you will think has been roasted in the oven with loads of butter.  

Seasoning – I like to keep it simple with my air fryer roast chicken and will usually use salt, pepper, and a little oregano.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this roast chicken and stuffing recipe, it has just been our Air Fryer. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes and perfect for roast dinners.

How To Cook Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?

air fryer chicken and stuffing step by step
  • Stuffing. Start by prepping your stuffing. I love to have croutons in mine. They give a fantastic crisp to your stuffing balls. I will therefore make air fryer croutons first, whilst I prep the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Then I will make into a stuffing ball ready for stuffing the roast chicken with.
  • Stuff. Load your stuffing into the cavity of the roast chicken. Any spare stuffing can be made into balls and cooked around the chicken.
  • Prepare. Next you need to prepare the chicken. Tie up the chicken legs and then season and oil the chicken whilst it is breast side up.
  • Cook. Load into the air fryer breast side up and cook for half an hour. Then turn the chicken over and do 20 minutes on the other side with an extra dose of seasoning and oil.

How Long To Cook Stuffed Roast Chicken?

The ideal air fryer cook time for a stuffed roast chicken in the air fryer is JUST 50 minutes. We have experimented with this a lot over the years and have found that going in at a lower temperature works best.

For example, if I am cooking an air fryer whole chicken, I would do a 45 minute cook time at 180c/360f. But because you have a stuffed chicken we have found that an extra 5 minutes at 170c/340f gets better results.

Plus, if you go too hot with your stuffed chicken, it will burn because of the stuffing and not cook all the way through.

Listen To Air Fryer Roast Chicken with Stuffing

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Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing
Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing

Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing. How to cook a whole chicken in the air fryer until crispy whilst stuffed with homemade sage and onion stuffing.
Prep Time8 minutes
Cook Time54 minutes
Total Time1 hour 2 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Air Fryer
Servings: 4
Calories: 323kcal

Ingredients

Kitchen Gadgets:

Chicken & Stuffing Ingredients:

Instructions

  • Slice up stale bread slices into crouton chunks, toss in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with thyme. Air fry for 4 minutes at 180c/360f.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?
  • Whilst the air fryer is making croutons add the rest of the stuffing ingredients into a bowl. Which includes the spring onion that you have sliced, sausage meat, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, sage, and parsley.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?
  • Add in the croutons and mix with your hands to make a huge stuffing ball.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?
  • Hold the chicken up and place the stuffing into the cavity, any leftover stuffing can then be reserved for stuffing balls.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?
  • Place the whole chicken breast side up on your clean chopping board. Tie the legs with some string. Smoother in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano. Place the chicken, breast side up into the air fryer basket. Be careful making sure no stuffing falls out. Air fry for 30 minutes at 170c/340f.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?
  • When the air fryer beeps, turn over and cook for a final 20 minutes on the other side on the same temp, making sure you add oil and seasoning to the other side.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?
  • Then when it beeps allow it to rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
    Can You Cook A Whole Stuffed Chicken In Air Fryer?

Notes

Leftovers. Place leftovers into the fridge and you can reheat them the next day. Any leftover stuffing can be placed in the freezer uncooked and frozen for some future make ahead stuffing balls.
Method. The usual method for cooking a whole chicken is breast side down. We do the opposite in this recipe, otherwise the stuffing will fall out.
Quantity. Stick to a small whole chicken if you can. As with the chicken a big one will take too long to cook with the stuffing, and it will be easy to dry it out.
Thanks for reading our air fryer chicken and stuffing recipe on Recipe This. We have many more air fryer recipes for you to check out next. Though if you would like to more chicken recipes, I recommend you try our air fryer frozen chicken breast recipe next.

Nutrition

Calories: 323kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 538mg | Potassium: 222mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 159IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition InfoPlease Note: Nutrition values are our best estimate based on the software we use at Recipe This and are meant as a guide. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
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stuffed chicken air fryer recipe
Recipe This

Hi! I am Sam and along with my chef hubby Dom we love sharing with you easy everyday recipes using kitchen gadgets. We are also the authors of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook, an amazing air fryer cookbook filled with 140+ everyday air fryer recipes. Beyond the air fryer we also love the instant pot, slow cooker, soup maker, ninja foodi, pie marker and several other kitchen gadgets. CLICKING HERE →

4 thoughts on “Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing”

  1. 5 stars
    I love chicken and stuffing and mine turned out great, it was the first time cooking a chicken with stuffing in and i was wondering if it would be cooked inside and your tips really helped me. Thank you.

    Reply
  2. 5 stars
    Cannot beat a whole air fryer chicken but I must admit I was sceptical you could get it cooked properly with stuffing inside without drying the chicken, but your recipe was great and the chicken was so juicy and the stuffing was amazing.

    Reply
    • Definitely new to air fryer cooking. I prefer to do a bread stuffing as I am not a fan of sausage. Would this affect the cooking time for the chicken ? Would it need less
      Cooking time ?

      Thank You

      Reply
      • Because you are still putting stuffing in the chicken the times should be around the same but just check the temp of the chicken around the 45 minute mark 🙂

        Reply

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