Will an air fryer change my life?

To roast beets, this is what I do, be it in the oven or air fryer

Wash, top and tail

A big piece of tin foil. Spray with oil, centre the beets, season and then make a loose parcel but make sure the seals are tight, chuck in to roast. Check after 20 mins if in air fryer and check every 10 mins after. In the oven I throw in the same time as whatever joint Im cooking

Peel ( can do it with your fingers ) when cool enough to handle

You air fry them for 45 mins?

The ones in plastic are already cooked - trim fresh beats, loosely wrap in foil roast for 45 mins - top and tail and they will pop out nice and juicy

No I bought them raw from Aldi, cut off the top and bottom, peeled them resulting in pink hands and pink chopping board, cut them into segments like an orange and stood them on the rack

No - top and tail once cooked give them a squeeze and they pop out

Oh ok - do you use the cooked ones in the bags for roasting?

Ive never used fresh beetroot before but thought I should peel them yes. Pink hands. Pink chopping board.

@soupfiend do you peel your beets?

Change your life? Probably not. However it's way more user friendly than an oven and there really isn't much you can't do with it. I'v even made spaghetti Bolognese! You can also bring it outside which is useful for BBQ season. Such as it is.

Fab thank you!

On the rack, olive oil, salt and pepper and dried thyme, about 25 mins as I wanted them soft but crispy

Ooh was that fresh beetroot? I have some that was going to be for a first attempt at saukraut but I keep failing.

How did you do it?

Plastic car trim tools are helpful to hook the trays out

The Jamie Oliver Air Fryer thing on channel 4 was quite good....

Make a wee sling out of tin foil to go under the dish. Ive got asbestos fingers so I work with a tea towel and tongs

I roasted beetroot last night in it, very quick

But the best thing we have cooked so far, also last night was roasted pepper, it got it chargrilled with blackened skin but not mushy in around 8 mins, I havent even achieved the texture of that before in my oven let alone the speed. Very impressed.

@Puddypuds I use the tongs. I normally have a silicone liner and I can pick that up with tongs or oven gloves.

These are the ones I use.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CQVJ821C?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&tag=snxgb274-21&th=1

How do you get things out of them? I really struggle if I put in a dish I can't get the blinking thing back out again because the drawer is deep and small.

Mine is tiny, I live alone so I don't need a big one. It cost about £30.

Unless your children are cooking full meals then a small one works for oven chips, sausage rolls etc. Basically anything you get from Iceland will go in an air fryer as will fresh meat.

I would suggest you get liners though, either paper disposable or silicone reusable as children / teens are not known for the propensity of washing up.

@saraclara is right about needing to turn things but a decent pair of kitchen tongs sorts that problem.

@saraclara all good points. I think if I'd used one before buying I'd have bought one that took trays. They aren't an intuitive shape with the drawers.

For me, yes, it's juggling kids meals when they're eating something different. But also I don't done things the rest of the family do (eg sausages, some meats) so it's handy for that.

Baked salmon is definitely better in the air fryer.

Has anyone got a Lakeland one? My in laws swear by theirs but have nothing to compare it to, and I don’t know anyone else with one. Some good Black Friday deals though, and they look nice!

Oh, and another weird thing. You have to turn stuff over that wouldn't need turning over on a baking sheet in the oven. If you don't, the top gets brown and the underside stays pale and flabby looking.
I cooked some thick fishcakes yesterday and forgot to turn them. The top was crispy and appetising, the underneath damp and feeling barely hot.

And of course it's hard to turn things over because of the aforementioned depth and shortage of space.

I was similarly sceptical, got by one a week ago and have used my oven once in the last week! (For home made pizza ) so many things that were so-so in the oven came out great - home made croquettes, breaded chicken, potatoes, meatballs it’s great

Mine has it's uses as I live alone, so don't need to put the oven on for one small thing. But even my two drawer one would barely cook enough for two. I have no idea how families of four could be fed from one.

Also it's a complete pain to get stuff out of the drawer, which is deep. I have to wrestle with tongs. Standard size foil trays don't fit in it either so I kind of have to scrunch then a bit. And then wrestle them with tongs at the end to try to get them out without accidentally tipping everything out.

I like not having to wait for the oven to get hot and I like that it's quick. But the other benefits are only a bonus if you live alone, imo.

Oh, and they're a pain to clean properly. You think you've cleaned the drawer, but after a few uses you realise that there's hard baked on fat that you've missed. Basically the drawer is an oven, and the fan makes sure that the whole thing's covered in tiny drops of fat which bakes on in the same way that makes your oven hard to clean.