The biggest mistake you’re making when cooking Easter lamb in an air fryer

Easter is coming up this weekend, and as air fryers have become most people’s go-to kitchen appliance, you might be planning to cook your Easter leg of lamb in yours – but make sure you don’t make this very crucial mistake.

As Easter approaches, many people will be looking to cook their Easter lamb in their best air fryer this weekend. Most air fryers have a roast setting or an extra large basket that can easily tackle the cooking of a leg of lamb, but Philips – the brand that introduced the first ever air fryer in 2010 – has pointed out one big mistake that could ruin your Easter lunch.

To find out more, I spoke to Martin Senders, Philips’ in-house air fryer chef and cooking expert who gave him advice on how to cook your Easter lamb in your air fryer.

Easter lamb in an air fryer: what NOT to do

The biggest mistake you could make when cooking a leg of lamb in your air fryer is placing it incorrectly inside the basket – especially if you’re using bone-in lamb. Doing this can cause the bone within the meat to heat up too quickly which can lead to inconsistent cooking, plus you can even damage your air fryer.

Senders explained to me that “the bone absorbs heat faster than the surrounding meat, which can lead to overcooked or undercooked areas.” Aside from not wanting to give food poisoning to your family, the bones could also scrape against the sides of your air fryer if you’ve "overcrowded the basket or used large bone-in cuts that don’t fit properly.” This could damage the basket and even affect the healing elements over time.

How to cook Easter lamb in your air fryer

With this in mind, it’s important to place your leg of lamb in your air fryer correctly – but how, exactly? Senders explained that you should “always position the thicker, meatier side of the lamb facing outward, never inward. That way, the heat always circulates evenly around the meat for a perfect roast.”

He went on to say that to get the best cooking results, “you could loosely tent a piece of kitchen foil over the lamb for the first half of cooking to regulate the heat in the air fryer and prevent the bone from overheating.” Senders further elaborated that the lamb shouldn't be wrapped too tightly or block the airflow as it could stop the air fryer from actually cooking the meat.

A leg of lamb isn’t particularly small so you’ll need a fairly big air fryer to get the job done. Philips’ 5000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer has a combined nine litre cooking capacity with its asymmetrical drawers. One basket is six litres while the other is three litres, so you could use the bigger basket for the lamb and the smaller basket for your sides.

Personally, I’ve tested my fair share of air fryers as T3’s Home Editor but I often used my oven when making roast dinners or cooking big cuts of meat as I find the cooking to be more thorough and less stressful. If I were you, I’d cook your Easter lunch sides in your air fryer, like roast potatoes and vegetables, and roast your leg of lamb in the oven – here’s our guide on making the best roast dinner sides in your air fryer.