Description

Air Fryer Cornish Hen is a date night dinner dream! Delicious, easy to prepare and inexpensive. It’s a simple and special meal, made in the air fryer, that you’ll make over and over, again. (See NOTES for conventional oven instructions.)

Ingredients

Scale

2 Cornish Hens (1.25 to 1.5 lbs. each)
1 large red onion, quartered
1 large lemon, quartered with rind still on
5 or 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 – 3 Tablespoons avocado oil
salt and pepper

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Instructions

Preheat air fryer oven to 375°F.
Use paper towels to thoroughly pat dry each Cornish hen.
Generously sprinkle salt inside the cavity of each Cornish hen.
Place 1 quarter of the red onion and 2 quarters of the lemon into the cavity of each hen. (Dice the last half of the onion to add to the potatoes and carrots.)
Also add 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme inside each cavity.
Massage avocado oil into the skin of each Cornish hen. Be sure to cover the entire surface area of each bird. Coat the back, breast, legs and wings over and under.
Once the Cornish hens are covered in oil, turn them breast side up and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Turn the hens over and sprinkle the backs with salt and pepper.
Place both hens on the preheated air fryer rack in your air fryer oven, breast side down.
If not air frying vegetables under the hens, add a thin drip tray to catch the Cornish Hen drippings. To cook vegetables WITH the hens, follow the instructions in the NOTES section.
Air fry for 20 minutes breast side down. Then using tongs, flip each Cornish hen so it is breast side up and air fry an additional 15 to 20 minutes until the skin is golden brown and crispy and the internal temperature is 160°F.
Remove the Cornish hens from the air fryer and allow to rest on a platter or cooling board for at least five to 10 minutes, before serving. Don’t skip this step. It will allow the bird to come up to the safe serving temperature of 165°F and redistribute the juices so you have moist and tender chicken.
Serve.

Notes

To Make the Roasted Vegetable Side Dish at the Same Time as Cornish Hens:

3/4 lb. baby yellow potatoes, quartered
1/2 lb. baby carrots
1-inch slice red onion, quartered and separated
2 Tablespoons avocado oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Place Cornish Hens on the air fryer rack with a second rack directly underneath. Slide the tray of vegetables onto the second rack and center it directly underneath the chickens.

Air fry according to recipe instructions, cooking the vegetables at the same time as the hens.

To Roast in a Conventional Oven instead of an Air Fryer

Follow the recipe instructions, as written, except preheat your conventional oven to 375°. (Use the convection setting if your oven has it.)

How to Make This Recipe in the Oven

You don’t need an air fryer to get the same delectable results from this recipe. You’ll follow the instructions exactly as written, except you’ll use your oven instead of the air fryer. If you have a convection setting on your oven, use that. But if not use your regular oven settings.

When I make this recipe in the oven, I still use an oven-sized air fryer rack _{[affiliate link]} like the one you see in the pictures in this post.

Before I had that, I would sit the hens directly on the oven rack and then, I devised another approach.

I used the rack from my broiler pan _{[affiliate link]} to easily move the chickens in and out of the oven. I would put the rack directly on the oven rack with nothing underneath. You can easily use that method too.

Then I put all my vegetables in the bottom of the broiler pan and slid them in on the rack directly under the Cornish hens.

You can accomplish the same thing by flipping an oven safe cooling rack upside down and using that to move the chickens in and out of the oven and then place a baking sheet with the vegetables on the rack directly underneath.

Being able to have the hot air circulating all around your birds is going to help create that crispy skin we got with the air fryer and allow the luscious, savory drippings from the hens to season the vegetables below.

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 40 min
Category: Meat, Chicken, Main Dish
Method: Air Fry
Cuisine: American