Recipe This | Air Fryer Prime Rib (2024)

Air Fryer Prime Rib. How to cook the best ever prime rib in the air fryer. Quick prep, amazing flavours and the best sear thanks to the air fryer.

If you wanted an easy high quality roast beef to cook in the air fryer, then it doesn’t get any better than this air fryer prime rib recipe.

Prime Rib In Air Fryer

Yesterday on Recipe This we started a NEW weekly theme. This week is dedicated to prime rib and a few different ways to cook it using kitchen gadgets.

For day 1 yesterday, we showed you how to cook instant pot prime rib and explained how we had bought a 4 rib of beef and planned to make multiple meals out of it.

After all, for the price of the prime rib, I don’t just want to eat it the once.

In the Milner house we had the instant pot prime rib on the Saturday and the next day on the Sunday we tried prime rib in the air fryer.

Firstly, there was concern.

Would this boneless prime rib even fit into the air fryer?

In the end we switched air fryers having originally planned to make it in the Cosori, to the slightly deeper Philips Air Fryer XL.

But beyond this, our prime rib air fryer recipe went amazingly well and we both agreed that the air fryer when competing against the instant pot did a superior job.

We credit the crisp that the air fryer gives on this and the depth of flavour it produces. Both ourselves and our Boxer were licking our lips with excitement as the air fryer beeped to tell us it was time to test air fryer prime rib.

Today, you can watch over our shoulder as we do prime rib in the air fryer and give you top tips so that you can repeat our success at home with your air fryer.

Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free air fryer mini course. It is ideal for air fryer beginners or those that want to get more confident with their air fryer. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

Can You Cook A Prime Rib In An Air Fryer?

Yes, you can. Prime rib, just like its sister, air fryer ribeye steak cooks perfectly in the air fryer.

The main consideration you need to make, is if your air fryer is big enough for the prime rib or if you are going to need to cut it to size.

I also wouldn’t recommend a bone in prime rib, as the air fryer is not like a big oven and if you go bone in, you will have to go very small.

Cooking Prime Rib In Air Fryer

What should you expect when you are cooking prime rib in the air fryer? Well, firstly, an air fryer boneless prime rib is BEST. It fits in the air fryer much better, and you are getting more meat for your money.

Secondly, the best way to describe air frying a prime rib roast is to compare it to taste and texture of a barbecue ribeye. It is crispy, juicy, and tender. It also retains its flavour and isn’t boring like it can sometimes be, when cooked in the oven.

Third, it will have a similar sear on it to the barbecue thanks to how crispy the air fryer can make your food.

Overall, out of different ways I have enjoyed prime rib, I have to say that the air fryer is the clear winner!

Best Air Fryer For Prime Rib

As mentioned above, our Cosori air fryer was simply not big enough to handle our boneless 2 rib of beef.

If we had tried, it would have burnt the top because they were too close to the heat elements.

In the end we found that the best air fryer for prime rib was our Philips Air Fryer XL. Dominic just slightly pushed down the beef rib roast and it was ready for air frying.

However, if you want to cook bigger prime ribs on a regular basis, I recommend that you purchase an air fryer oven instead. Such as the Power Air Fryer Oven which we have done meats such as air fryer duck, air fryer roast beef, air fryer pork roast etc in.

Prime Rib Air Fryer Ingredients

Beef – The prime rib we used, was from our butchers. It was organic prime rib and we purchased a 5.3lb prime rib and then cut it so that we could do half in the air fryer, half in the instant pot and the bones could be used for the instant pot for soup. You can do the same or get a smaller rolled ribeye roasting joint.

Oil – A little extra virgin olive oil is all you need in this recipe. You are smothering the outside of the prime rib with oil, and this will help make it crispy and give it that incredible sear. It will also create a glue for the seasoning to stick to.

Seasoning – Because the flavour is in the prime rib, you don’t need a lot of additional seasoning. Salt, pepper, and garlic powder is simply perfect.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in our air fryer prime rib roast recipe, it has just been our Philips Air Fryer XL. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer roasts.

How To Make Prime Rib In Air Fryer?

• Prep. Start by prepping your prime rib. Make sure it fits in your air fryer basket. I recommend testing the size before cooking, that way if you need to adjust it you can. Then smoother your prime rib with extra virgin olive oil and season it.
• Marinade. Allow it to sit covered in foil in the fridge overnight. This will make a huge difference to the taste once cooked.
• Cook. Remove the foil and air fry for approximately an hour. The cook time depends on the size of your prime rib and how you like it cooked.
• Rest. Allow the air fryer prime rib roast to rest for about 5 minutes, before slicing and serving.

How Long To Cook Prime Rib In Air Fryer?

The recommended air fryer prime rib cook time is an hour. This will produce a medium to well done. If you prefer a medium rare, I recommend the same temperatures and method that we use, but reducing the cook time to 50 minutes.

I also recommend that you start with 30 minutes on one side, followed by 20 minutes on the other and back over for the last 10 minutes.

What this does, is create a fantastic sear everywhere rather than one side being seared the other not.

Air Fryer Prime Rib Temperature

The air fryer prime rib recipe temperature is 180c/360f. This is one of my favourite temperatures for meat in the air fryer and gives a fantastic all round result.

However, if you would like a rare prime rib, I would recommend cooking at 160c/320f instead.

How To Enjoy Air Fryer Prime Rib Roast?

What I love about air frying a prime rib is that there are plenty of ways you can tuck in and enjoy it.

You can have it as a centre piece for Christmas, for Thanksgiving or for dinner parties. You could also have it for Sunday roast dinners.

You could treat it like a Sunday roast and then serve it with our air fryer roast potatoes and air fryer Yorkshire puddings. Then of course heat up your gravy in the air fryer too.

It can also be cooked solo and then made into delicious prime rib sandwiches. I am talking the best beef sandwiches you have ever eaten. Though this is also fantastic for your prime rib leftovers.

More Air Fryer Roast Beef Recipe Ideas

• Air Fryer Rump Roast
• Air Fryer Roast Beef
• Air Fryer Pot Roast
• Air Fryer Beef Wellington
• Air Fryer Brisket

Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!