I had an Air Fryer sitting around the house that I haven’t used in awhile and thought that it was about time to try again this Thanksgiving. Trying to eat healthier these days, so using an air fryer and thinking that anything I can do to get crispy skin on my turkey, checks off a couple of my happy boxes. My friends Alex and Dana were coming over to join me in my Pre – Thanksgiving test. Time to have some fun!
Everything I looked at regarding cooking with an air fryer said, cook 10 minutes per pound until internal temperature reaches 160 °. Rubbed my turkey with oil and some basic spices. Do not use sugar as a major ingredient to your spice rub because you may burn that beautiful crispy skin. You can make your spice rub spicy, like in a “blackened cajun style”, or just your basic salt and pepper. Which ever way you choose, be a little heavy handed on your turkey with the spices. You will be rewarded with a nicely, spiced crispy skin! Some butter rubbed on under the skin doesn’t hurt!
What kind of side dish did I want to make? No carbs tonight, so decided on a little sauté of Brussels sprouts with chanterelle mushrooms and bacon. Bacon with sprouts is a natural. So yeah, lots of bacon. Shredded my sprouts with a food processor. Nice and quick! Yes, food processor was a pain to clean but, I wanted that nice thin slices for my sprouts. Again, another success!
Next day I have to decide what to do with leftovers. Yes, I could have done the typical turkey sandwich, but I had some leftover gravy that was made with my turkey drippings that I needed to deal with. Just to let you know, I love my gravy. So, I could just about drink a bowl of gravy as a protein drink and allow myself to believe I was eating healthy.
So, I took a big sided pan and added my sautéed sprouts, gravy, herbs, more mushrooms and some Parmesan cheese to some turkey pieces. I am now a happy man. Let’s just say, after I added some big pieces of fried turkey skin to garnish the top of my dish brought a smile to my face as I thought of taking a bite out of that crunchy spiced skin!
When I have my Standard Thanksgiving Dinner with my family, I will have my typical Dressing/Stuffing and my Butternut Squash Soup. As of now, I am wallowing in an awesome prelude!
As always, thanks for Spending Time in My Kitchen!
Yum! Crispy skin and juicy inside, just how I like it! I, too, could drink gravy or perhaps slather it over everything for the next week. Well written as always 🦃 Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Thank you for the kind words. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours also!
It turned out absolutely amazing…As always, Dana and I are very thankful for another wonderful meal. Love spending time in your Kitchen.
Thank you my friend…