AIRFRYDAY: PETIT POUSSIN IN YOUR AIR FRYER

It turns out that a petit poussin (young chicken, or poussin) is a great choice for cooking whole in an air fryer. You can even cook two, perhaps more, at a time, depending on the basket size.

Given its diminutive size, a petit poussin obviously cooks much quicker than a fully grown specimen. You need a whole one per serving; to divide one in two would be worthy of a Scrooge.

I cooked them simply, with fresh rosemary stuffed into their cavities to flavour them from within.

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

2 petit poussin (baby chickens)

4 rosemary twigs

Salt and white pepper to taste

Rosemary olive oil or plain olive oil

2 x 500 g baby chickens

Method

Wash and dry the birds inside and out, mopping the inside with scrunched-up kitchen paper.

Season the insides with white pepper and salt, not too much.

Push rosemary twigs inside them.

Preheat the air fryer at 190℃ for 10 minutes.

Season them outside with salt and white pepper and coat with rosemary olive oil (or plain olive oil), spray the basket with olive oil spray, and place them in the basket with space between them, upside down.

Air fry for 10 minutes at 190℃.

Turn them over and cook for another 10 minutes at 190℃. Test by inserting a skewer to the bone. If the juices are pink, give it another 5 minutes.

Rest the birds for 15 minutes. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

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

2025-06-13T10:32:28Z