Last 3 air fryer meals and best snack

[No3No2No1]

Trying to decide whether I need one in my life. Tell me your last 3 air fryer meals, best snack and a bonus question why it’s the best kitchen appliance you’ve got.

Ours has been an absolute game changer. I was putting the oven on a everyday for literally 6 chicken nuggets for DC. We now barely use the oven and it's showing on our gas bills we are using far less gas like 25percent less.

So we mainly use it for beige freezer food for DC but have done loads in it. So much quicker than the oven.

Yes same here and wondering too. Mine has a basket tote thing. What do you put the roasting chicken etc in?

Home made meatballs & garlic bread (with sauce and pasta)
Home made steak pie & roast potatoes (with steamed veg)
Banana bread - DH did this and it was a complete fail, burnt on top and still runny in the middle.

It does take a while to get used to the timings, but once you crack it it’s fab. We used to put our oven on for one shelf worth of stuff, being able to use the air fryer is really economical, I have the Ninja Dual A400 and they have crisper trays in, so all the fat drains through like it would on a grill pan. I like the match cook, so stuff is cooked the same time and temperature in both drawers, but I LOVE sync cook where when you have food with different time requirements the machine syncs them up to finish at the same time!

We only got ours on Sunday but snacks;

Cheese toastie - dd2 and I loved, dh and dd1 found a bit crispy
Cinnamon nachos - need longer so tried again

Sausages - good
Tofu and aubergine - not quite right yet
Chicken drumsticks and chips - fairly good but chicken skin not quite right yet

We got a tower dual drawer. Very much in the playing stage with it. My best appliance is my kitchen aid

Fajitas
the chicken part of a stirfry
salmon with roasted veg.

snack wise, it's great for heating up a Danish pastry or croissant in about 3 minutes.

i got it because we often put the oven on for small amounts of food which is wasteful. It turned out to do more than that.

lots of love for them and lots of ideas of what to cook
Looks like I need to get as big as possible. I need to find one that has the controls on the front as it’s going under a shelf

It does have a hot air vent at the back so does need a bit of room/ventilation

Sweet potato wedges (15 mins from raw!)

Roast chicken (45 mins with best ever crispy skin)

Roast pork joint (about 1 hour, amazing crackling)

Chicken thighs (can't remember how long they took but they were amazing!)

Snack - dehydrated apple slices

I pull mine forward when I'm using it. It's under a wall unit.

Watching with interest as considering getting one but no idea what to cook in it so very grateful for this thread.

It’s worth it just for the crispiest quickest roast chicken or pork belly.

My dd17 has just made herself lovely, crispy bacon for a sandwich before she leaves for college. Less greasy too.

I have one but I find cleaning the metal mesh basket takes ages. No dishwasher. Is it better to put food into a dish first before cooking?

Which AF do you use for the roast chicken?

I've had mine a week and I love it!! Only got a cheap one (£45 from Argos) but this week I've had breaded fish and chips and both were super crispy and crunchy. For the chips, I just added some garlic salt and a bit of fry light.

If you're trying to eat more healthily, they really are a game changer.

Did you cook the fish and chips at the same time?

Tandoori chicken with spiced roasted peppers, onions and mushrooms (all done in the air fryer)

Burgers, wedges and halloumi fries.

Roasted tomato and red pepper soup with croutons.

It's the best gadget I have. I love it.

Salmon and herby roast potatoes
Sausage patties and hashbrowns (mcdonalds at home)
Mini pastries, samosas etc party food

Best snack is mini Sausage rolls, they crisp up lovely

No pre heating needed, takes half the time to cook and makes everything crispy and lovely

I find mine tends to burn the top of things. Do other people cover with foil?

this is all really useful!
Are the easy to clean? I’m looking on the Argos website and there’s comments about not putting the tray/basket in the dishwasher.

I handwash the drawers for mine but I handwash all non stick things anyway. They clean very easily.

Life too short to handwash anything IMO. Everything in our house goes in dishwasher and if it shortens their lifespan I don't care.
Don't be put off as I was by the idea that these are for dieting or "healthier" cooking. They are simply an alternative to an oven. Smaller and therefore more economical to use. Should be called a mini oven really. Not hugely faster and different to a pressure cooker or slow cooker.
I was very sceptical and bought a small cheap lidl one. I love it so much I plan to give it to DS23 and buy myself a bigger one.

Are there things you can do to avoid using the hob too?

Im thinking of porridge, soup etc

if it shortens their lifespan I don't care.

that's fine if it's a frying pan, less so if it's a part of a more expensive item like an air fryer.

The thing that really suprised me was homemade meatballs. Lovely crispy outside but soft and tasty in middle - delicious . I didn't think they could be better than oven baking but they were