How to roast pork in the Air Fryer

I LOVE roast pork!!! But I hate the mess it leaves in my oven so I very rarely cooked it except at Christmas or special occasions. However something fabulous happened – I learnt how to roast pork in the Air Fryer!!! This has been such a gift because a lot of our family members love roast pork. Now I serve it at most of our family gatherings.

There are a few steps in the cooking process, none of which are difficult or time consuming but they result in the perfect roast.

First steps for preparing the roast pork

My favourite cut of pork for the roast is a deboned pork loin roast. The size you buy will depend totally on your air fryer. I have this Ninja Foodi Multi Cooker and the biggest I can go is 2.3kgs (around 5 pounds).

The first thing you will need to do is buy your pork a day or two ahead of time. The night before you are going to roast it remove it from the packaging. Please take note of the size of your roast because this will be important when it comes to cooking.

Place on a plate on some kitchen paper towel. Score the skin if necessary. I like to add extra scoring so that I can easily break the crackle. Wipe the roast as dry as you can get it and then rub salt all over it. Cover with some more kitchen towel or a tea towel and put in the fridge overnight.

About a half hour before you intend on putting it on to roast remove the meat from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. After it has come to room temperature wipe it dry again. Having your meat dry helps a lot with getting some good crackling.

Cooking the roast

I don’t use a thermometer and have never had an issue with undercooked meat but you can purchase a meat thermometer from Amazon or any good kitchen shop. They say a pork loin roast is cooked when the thermometer reads 71C (160F) in the thickest part of the roast.

I spray my air fryer cooking basket with oil before starting. If you are new to air frying YOU MUST sit your air fryer on a timber chopping board, never directly on your bench. I have heard horror stories of damaged benches if things go wrong.

You will then want to rub oil all over your roast. Add salt again.

Place the roast in the basket. If you use the largest size of roast you can fit in your cooker it will be very snug. Don’t worry though I have never had mine burn. In fact I find the edges of the meat dryer and more well done in a small roast.

To start the cooking process you will cook your roast for 20 mins at 200C (390F).

After this initial 20 minutes how long you cook the meat for depends on the size of your roast. I allow 25 mins per 500g or part thereof (about 1 pound). My roast was 1.4 kgs so I cooked it for 75 mins.

You will then lower the temperature to 180C (355F) and cook for 50 minutes. I lowered the temperature to 160C (320F) for the remainder of the cook time (in my case 25min).

The pork turns out beautifully moist with crunchy crackle.

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5 from 1 vote

Air Fryer Roast Pork

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Resting Time1 day d

Equipment

• Air Fryer

Ingredients

• 1 Pork Loin Roast
• Olive oil
• Spray oil
• Salt

Instructions

• Prepare the pork roast the day before by removing the packaging. Take note of the size of the roast for cooking time. Wiping the meat dry. If necessary score the meat. I always add more scoring even if the butcher has done it. Place on kitchen paper towel on a plate and cover with salt, rubbing into the score lines. Cover in kitchen towel or a tea towel and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
• Remove the roast from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature. Before cooking wipe dry again, cover roast in oil and salt.
• Spray the cooking basket of your air fryer with oil.
• Place the prepared roast in the basket and shut the lid of the fryer.
• Cook on 200C (390F) for 20 minutes.
• Now cooking time depends on the size of your roast. I allow 25 mins for every 500g (1 pound) or part thereof (this time is additional to the first 20 minutes of high temperature cooking). My roast was 1.4 kg so my total cook time will be 75 mins. Reduce temperature to 180C (355F). Cook for 50 minutes.
• Reduce the temperature to 160C (320F) and cook for the balance of your time. The balance of my cook time was 25 mins.
• Leave roast to sit for 15 mins before carving.

Hope you have success with your roast. Leave me a comment and let me know. Good luck. If you want a different sort of celebration roast what about a baked ham. The baked ham is definitely not an air fryer option though.