Anyone tried half a chicken + veg in the Ninja Foodi dual zone?

[Thomas Martinez]

Found a guide to doing half chicken in one basket and veggies in the others at the same time. Seems like the idea is to use both zones so the chicken can roast while the veggies get murder while the chicken finishes.
How do people here actualy cook this? The guide says it’s super simple, but there’s a half chicken which has skin on it that will need to be crisp up, and the veggies that dont have the same cooking time as the chicken. The dual zone function ensure that both cook simultaneously despite having different temperatures and cooking times.
What are people’s experiences cooking this combo?

 

[3D Karate Jr]

half chicken fit fine in mine, as long as its a smaller bird. Anything over 1.4kg and the chicken will be touching the top of the basket. Cooked skin side up the whole time. Roasted at 200c for around 35 minutes.

 

[Elegant Eel]

Sync is the whole reason to own this thing. Roast the chicken at 200c and the veggies at 180c. Simple. Works.

 

[Motionless Mantis]

Sync is the whole reason to own this thing. Roast the chicken at 200c and the veggies at 180c. Simple. Works.

wait does the sync function adjust the cooking temperatures for the different baskets or just start times?

 

[Elegant Eel]

wait does the sync function adjust the cooking temperatures for the different baskets or just start times?

The sync function will delay the start time of whichever basket finishes first. The cooking temperatures for each basket remains the same.

 

[European Met]

The thigh side of the half chicken is never the bottleneck in the cook times. The breast will dry out before the thigh side of the chicken. Probe the breast at 70c and pull the chicken out.

 

[Famous Fla]

i just cook each separately. Cook the chicken then cook the veggies in the other side while the chicken rests.

 

[Envious Emu]

i just cook each separately. Cook the chicken then cook the veggies in the other side while the chicken rests.

hard disagree. The sync function for cooking roast chicken is the only reason i havent sold mine.

 

[Crazy Crane]

Always toss the veggies in oil and salt (and smoked paprika) before adding them to the baskets. Dry veggies in an air fryer basket will come out shrivel.

 

[Motionless Mantis]

does anyone preheat the baskets before adding the chicken?

 

[3D Karate Jr]

does anyone preheat the baskets before adding the chicken?

Cold start of the baskets is fine. The chickens hit the target cooking temperature in around 2 minutes. Preheating the baskets does not make that much of a difference.

 

[Forbidden Plunger Babi]

The suggestion that chicken skin needs a hotter blast is overthinking it. 200c the whole way is the easiest way to cook a chicken.

 

[The Muppets Turtl]

Got mine last Christmas and the half chicken and roasted root vegetables is the meal of choice every week. Chicken needs to be skin side up in the basket at 200c for the whole time. Do not flip the chicken. Dry the skin with a kitchen roll before seasoning. Rub a tiny bit of oil into the skin. Par boil the potatoes for 8 minutes and drain them. Toss them in semolina and goose fat and cook in the other side of the basket at 200c. The sync function takes care of the cooking times. Par boiling the potatoes will make them crispy instead of raw. The half chicken will fit in the basket as long as its under 1.5kg. Anything over that and the tip of the wing will touch the heating element and burn.

 

[Stormy Stag]

Got mine last Christmas and the half chicken and roasted root vegetables is the meal of choice every week. Chicken needs to be skin side up in the basket at 200c for the whole time. Do not flip the chicken. Dry the skin with a kitchen roll before seasoning. Rub a tiny bit of oil …

semolina on the potatoes is the move, everyone sleeps on that

 

[Famous Fla]

Got mine last Christmas and the half chicken and roasted root vegetables is the meal of choice every week. Chicken needs to be skin side up in the basket at 200c for the whole time. Do not flip the chicken. Dry the skin with a kitchen roll before seasoning. Rub a tiny bit of oil …

par boiling defeats the entire point of an air fryer lmao

 

[The Muppets Turtl]

par boiling defeats the entire point of an air fryer lmao

the point of an air fryer is good food not skipping steps. Boil the spuds.

 

[Motionless Mantis]

Got mine last Christmas and the half chicken and roasted root vegetables is the meal of choice every week. Chicken needs to be skin side up in the basket at 200c for the whole time. Do not flip the chicken. Dry the skin with a kitchen roll before seasoning. Rub a tiny bit of oil …

is goose fat necessary or will regular vegetable oil work for the potatoes?

 

[The Muppets Turtl]

is goose fat necessary or will regular vegetable oil work for the potatoes?

vegetable oil works but goose fat is better. Beef dripping is also great. Olive oil will burn at that temperature so do not use that in the air fryer.

 

[European Met]

vegetable oil works but goose fat is better. Beef dripping is also great. Olive oil will burn at that temperature so do not use that in the air fryer.

olive oil does not burn at 200c. The smoke point of refined olive oil is around 240c. People insist on this myth so much its annoying.

 

[Star]

Always shake the veggies once at the 1/3 mark and again at the 2/3 mark. Once is not enough especially if you are roasting peppers.