Name: Air Fryer Half Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: Half chicken (1.5 lb); 1/2 tbsp olive oil; salt and pepper

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Air fryer half chicken – tender and flavorful and ready in no time at all! Team it with vegetables or a salad for a perfect mid-week dinner.

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Air fryer half chicken being carved on a wooden board. — Crispy air fryer half chicken.

How to Cook a Half Chicken in an Air Fryer

Air frying a half chicken is a great option if you are only cooking for two (or one), and want a super quick roast chicken.

This recipe for cooking a half chicken in an air fryer is based on my recipe for roasting a whole chicken in an air fryer, but takes way less time.

I love a quick and easy air fryer roast, some other great roast meat recipes you should try are this succulent rack of lamb air fryer recipe, or this tender air fryer pork roast.

Scroll down for the recipe card, or read on for all the details.

How to Prepare a Half Chicken for Air Frying

Not much prep is needed if the chicken has been split for you already. My local butcher will cut a whole chicken into two portions on request, so I usually have one to cook, and one to freeze.

If you have a whole chicken and want to portion it yourself then you will need a large butchers knife or sturdy pair of kitchen shears. Follow the instructions in this video: How to halve a whole chicken.

It is much easier to split a chicken if you start with a spatchcock/butterflied chicken as half the job has been done for you.

Once you have your half chicken, pat it dry, and you are ready to season it.

Air Fryer Half Chicken with Cajun seasoning

How to Season Your Half Chicken

You should add some seasoning to the chicken half before air frying it. You can keep things simple, and just use salt and pepper, or spice things up as much as you like.

Here are some seasonings that we like to use :

Simple salt and pepper
Cajun
Traditional herbs – rosemary and thyme
Lemon pepper
Garlic and rosemary

Just add a little oil first, then rub the seasoning on with a little salt.

Pro tip: If I’m cooking in a rush (almost always) I often spray the chicken with oil once it is in the air fryer basket then sprinkle the seasoning and salt on. Press it in a little with a wooden spoon and you are good to go.

Half chicken in air fryer basket — Half chicken in air fryer (seasoned using my cheats method!)

What to Serve with Air Fried Chicken

A great thing about cooking a half chicken in an air fryer is that it leaves plenty of space for also cooking the vegetables in there with the chicken.

If I’m cooking a whole full sized chicken then my air fryer is close to capacity and I can’t also air fry vegetables at the same time, so I have to cook them in batches.

Anyway, with a half chicken there is lots of room, and it is so great to be able to cook a whole meal in the air fryer.

I usually toss in some vegetables to roast up once there is around ten minutes of cooking time remaining. You can remove the chicken to rest when it has finished cooking, and pop the veg back in to the air fryer to crisp up while the chicken rests.

Any of these will air fry well with a half chicken: