Chicken drumsticks in an air fryer

Manufacturer figures with no state given

Each of these is a published figure for one named machine. The manufacturer does not say whether this is fresh or frozen. So they are kept apart from the figures above, and not used as the answer for any of them.

Whichever it is, this comes first: Poultry must reach 70°C in its thickest part and stay there for two minutes, or an equivalent pair from the FSA's published table.

• Tower T17067 4L Digital Air Fryer (under a safety recall: check the recall before using this machine): 180°C for 25–30 min

  Published range for a stated 100–600g, with about half a spoon of oil.

• Tower T17088 9L Dual Basket Vortx Air Fryer: 180°C for 18–22 min

  Published range with no quantity stated. Seven minutes shorter at each end than the same manufacturer's figure for its 4-litre model.

• Tower T17038 Xpress 11L 5-in-1 Air Fryer Oven: 180°C for 25–30 min

  Published range for a stated 400–800g.

• Philips Airfryer XXL HD9650 series: 180°C for 18–35 min

  Published range for a quantity band of 200–1800g. The range is wide because the quantity band is wide — nine times the smallest load at the top end. No number of drumsticks is printed.

• Tower T17023 2.2L Air Fryer (under a safety recall: check the recall before using this machine): 180°C for 18–22 min

  Printed against a 100–400 g band. No number of drumsticks is printed.

• Cookworks 5L Digital Air Fryer KDF-596D: 200°C for 20 min

  The Drumsticks programme's default of twenty minutes at 200°C. Nothing more is printed about it.

• Philips Essential Airfryer HD9252/91 4.1L: 180°C for 18–24 min

  Published for two to six pieces of around 125g each.

• Philips Airfryer Series 5000 XXL HD9285/93 7.2L: 180°C for 18–28 min

  Published for two to twelve pieces of around 125g each. The time band is ten minutes wide beside a count band that runs from two to twelve.

Questions people ask about chicken drumsticks

Where do I check a drumstick to know it is cooked?

In the thickest part of the meat, close to the bone without touching it. The bone end is the last place to come up to temperature, and a probe resting on bone reads the bone rather than the meat. The target and how to judge it without a thermometer are in the safety rule at the top of this page.Governed by the food-safety rule on this page. Where to put a thermometer

Should I score drumsticks before cooking them?

One manufacturer's chart says to: cut open the surface of each drumstick with a knife before seasoning. The cuts let heat reach the meat beside the bone, which is the slowest part. No other chart on this page mentions it.From a manufacturer’s printed instructions: Panasonic Air Fry Combination Microwave Oven NN-CD88QS — Operating Instructions.

Do drumsticks need turning?

Part-way through, yes. The skin needs steady heat to render and the meat by the bone needs time, and a drumstick left lying on one side gets neither evenly. Several of the charts here say to shake, turn or stir; with drumsticks that means turning each one over.From the figures on this page.

What usually goes wrong

Skin that never crisps, over meat that is done. The skin needs sustained high heat to render its fat, and the meat next to the bone needs time at a lower one — so the cook who protects the meat gets flabby skin and the cook who chases the skin dries the outer meat. Turning them part way is what resolves it, and almost nobody does.

Running the appliance safely

The rules for the machine are the same whatever is in it: plug it straight into a wall socket, leave clear space round it, do not overfill it, do not leave it running unattended, and unplug it at black smoke or an electrical smell. They are set out once, each with its source and what to do if it has already happened, and not repeated on every food. Every rule for running an air fryer safely.

Chicken in fast-moving hot air

Lean chicken muscle holds little intramuscular fat, so once its water has gone there is nothing left to keep it palatable — which is why a breast passes from juicy to dry within a couple of minutes and a thigh does not. Skin behaves as a separate material: it needs sustained heat and dry air to render its fat and crisp, and it will stay flabby at a temperature that cooks the meat underneath perfectly well. Bone conducts heat slowly and shields the meat around it, which is why bone-in cuts finish later than their weight suggests.

More on chicken

Where to go from here

The pages that answer the questions this one tends to raise.

• Using a thermometer, and where to put itThe times above are for a piece that is not the one you are holding. A probe measures yours, which is what the safety rule on this page asks for.
• How food actually gets crispyWhy patting it dry, spacing it out and a little oil are all the same instruction — so you can apply it when a page runs out.
• Cooking from frozenUsually cooler and longer than the same food fresh, and never worked out from the fresh figure.
• Reheating leftoversA different question governed by a different rule — steaming hot throughout, and only once.
• Why published timings differIf another chart says something else, this is usually why — and which one to believe.

Easily confused with

• Chicken thigh — A different cooking problem with a different answer.
• Chicken wings — A different cooking problem with a different answer.