AirFryday: Spatchcock chicken heats up your air fryer

The Instant Vortex Plus air fryer shifted on the countertop and looked a bit quizzical, the way an owl cocks a cynical brow. Me, cook that? A whole spatchcocked chicken? Don’t think so. Try the Kenwood maybe.

Anyway, it did fit, with some careful planning. I sized up the chickens at the supermarket and chose one that I could envisage fitting, once spatchcocked. I hoped. I bought a small chicken with a mission in mind to see if I could spatchcock it in such a way that it would fit into the recalcitrant Vortex. I bought skewers that were several centimetres shorter than the bamboo ones I had at home. I don’t like to fail at these things, so there was a certain level of determination. I stared down the dubious machine and turned my back to face the kitchen table where I set about splaying the chicken.

You need to turn it over first, breast side down. Use a sharp knife or scissors to cut all the way down on both sides of the spine. Remove the spine and discard. Turn the bird over and push down to flatten it. You’ll hear bones crack.

This is when you push skewers through, from the fattest part of the breasts through the carriage to come out at the far side of the thigh/leg. And another skewer from the opposite side. That’s as far as I usually go. But these legs needed taming, too, to fit the basket. So I pushed a third skewer right across the lower end, through both drumsticks. You have to wiggle the skewer to find gaps between bones. In the end, the bird looked a bit “knees up, Mother Brown”. I had already snipped off the wing tips.

For a baste, I made something vaguely Portuguese in flavour, though there was no recipe other than my own. The base was a yellow pepper, with chillies, garlic, lemon, black pepper and honey. I roasted the pepper in the air fryer and then peeled off the skin.

Tony’s spatchcock chicken, air fryer style

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1 small chicken

1 yellow pepper

3 garlic cloves

3 red chillies, seeds removed (unless you want more heat)

2 tsp honey

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Method

Open the pepper and remove the core and seeds. Spray with oil and roast in the air fryer 200°C until the skin is blackened. Cool, and remove the skin. Roast the chillies and garlic in the air fryer for 3 minutes.

Blend the yellow pepper flesh with the garlic flesh and chilli. Add the lemon juice, honey, a dash of olive oil, and salt and black pepper. Blend to a paste.

For the bird:

Cut along both sides of the spine with a pair of very sharp, strong scissors or using a very sharp knife. This is discarded but can be used for a chicken stock. Turn the chicken over, breast side up, and push down hard with both hands on top of the chest. Bones below will snap and it will become flattened, hence chicken “flattie”. I also snip off the wing tips. Here’s a helpful video. 

I use two skewers, once the fowl has been flattened, to secure the bird, which makes it easy to handle. Also, this time, I used a third skewer, as described above. See the photo as a visual aid. It’s easy and is done in seconds.

Baste the breast side with half of the sauce.

Roast in a preheated air fryer on 200 for 30 minutes, breast side up to  begin with, turning halfway.

Turn it to face breast side up again.

Baste again on the breast side.

Roast again for 15 more minutes at 180, breast side up.

It was perfectly cooked at this point. You’re looking for a pleasingly blackened finish.

Serve with spicy rice and/or soft Portuguese rolls. DM

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.

 

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