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AirFryday: Bacon-wrapped roast chicken with rosemary butter

29 Nov 2024

Brush a chicken with melted rosemary butter, pop some rosemary sprigs in the cavity, wrap it in bacon and roast it in your air fryer.

I have a confession to make: I don’t remember when last I roasted a chicken in my big old conventional oven. As long as the bird isn’t so big that it’s halfway to being a turkey (like British chickens), an air fryer does the job perfectly.

Have you seen the whole chickens in British supermarkets? Some of them could easily be confused for turkeys, they’re enormous compared with the average South African chook.

I’ve learnt that it’s quicker to roast a bird in an air fryer, because of the intensity of the hot air being blown around it. Everything is more concentrated, and the hottest air is near the bird, so the job just gets done faster.

The chicken to use is the one that fits in your air fryer basket while leaving space around it for the hot air to do its work. My largest air fryer is 5.7 litres with a single fairly large basket. A 1.5 kg chicken can fit neatly without being crowded by the edges of the basket.

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So choose a large bird by all means if you have an air fryer of bigger proportions, but increase the cooking time accordingly. Use your common sense in calculating an adjusted cooking time, but I suggest you don’t increase the temperature. Test for doneness by inserting a skewer through the fleshiest part, pressing down with your fingers and examining the liquids that leak out. If they’re pink it’s not done; clear and it should be fine. Test twice if you’re not sure.

Don’t use too much butter, only enough to coat the outside well. Use a basting brush to do so, rather than pour it over, which will err on the side of using too much. An air fryer needs minimal fat.

Tony’s bacon-wrapped roast chicken with rosemary butter

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1 small chicken, about 1.5 kg (or larger if your air fryer is big)

⅓ cup butter

2 or 3 rosemary sprigs

8 rashers of streaky bacon

Salt and pepper

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan on a low heat and add the rosemary sprigs. Simmer on the lowest heat for the rosemary to infuse with the butter.

Rinse the chicken and pat it dry inside and out. (Use wads of scrunched kitchen paper to mop up the liquids inside).

Season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper. Fish the rosemary sprigs out of the butter and put them in the cavity. Add more sprigs if you like.

Baste the outside of the chicken with rosemary butter, leaving a third for later use.

Preheat the air fryer to 180°C.

Place the bird in the air fryer basket breast side down.

Roast at 180°C for 30 minutes.

Turn the chicken over and cover the breast side with the bacon rashers.

Roast for another 30 minutes at 180°C.

Remove the bacon and reserve.

Increase the air fryer temperature to 200°C and run the machine for 5 minutes without the bird in it, to be sure it’s very hot.

Baste the bird with the remaining rosemary butter.

Put the chicken back in, breast side up (without the bacon, remember), and cook for another 10 minutes at 200°C or until the skin is beautifully browned. Your chicken is ready. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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