I'm the last person in the universe to get an air fryer!

[Floofydawg]

Please save me from wasting £150 and having a huge appliance on my worktop for no reason by helping me to get the best out of it. What are your top tips and recipes?

Ordered one on a whim yesterday, DH is grumbling that we don't need it so I need to prove him wrong with amazing recipes.

Everyone has one, am sure it will be worth it. I have only just got a slow cooker so am due an air fryer in about 2034.

Not vegetarian but do most of our veggies in it. DH hates curried/soup stuff so I do a lot of kale chips, fried okra etc.
https://pipingpotcurry.com/vegetarian-air-fryer-recipes/

I use the air fryer to cook the veggies before finishing off with a sauce/garnishings. Or stuffed vegetables. I find it easier that stir-frying because I don't have to labour over the stove.

Really not! Obviously you have no idea what you're talking about.

Frozen croissants / garlic bread / warm bread rolls - so quick cos my massive oven takes forever to heat
sausages - whack em in and no need to hover over them while they cook

I don't have one, my exDH doesn't have one, and I believe only one of my friends has one. I have nowhere to put one, and my oven works just fine so why bother?

We love ours. Frozen pizza takes 4 mins, frozen sausages take 12 mins, I air-fry chopped potatoes, burgers, chips, BBQ chicken breasts, salmon steaks, chicken wings, you name it, we do it! Takes less time than the oven and healthier than frying - we only use a spray of oil. It is too big for the kitchen so lives on a shelf in the hall when we're not using it. And we give it a soak and then a quick scrub after each use and it's good as new - not at all sticky and we've had it since March and use it almost every day...

Thanks @BeckyBloomwood3 and @treeees

Am I the only one sensing a whiff of snobbery on this thread?

I would say it depends on whether you do most of your veggie cooking on the stove or in the oven currently. eg if you make lots of curries and sauces on the hob, then probably not so great. if you do lots of roasted veg etc, then perhaps more so. Also, top tip, butternut do NOT come out well in the air fryer. They seem to lose their sweetness vs being roasted the traditional way. I don't know why.

eg we like honey roasted carrots which we turn into salads, serve with a pilar, mix with chickpeas etc - brilliant. But I've tried vegetarian tarts in there and frankly, it was more effort than it's worth - I'll stick to the oven for that (unless pre made I guess - eg I did pre make and freeze spanakopita once and then used the air fryer to cook them as and when we needed them). But baked cheese works well and while I don't use it for halloumi, lots of people swear by it for that.

Probably because you said I'm the last person in the universe to get an air fryer!, which invites people to tell you that you really aren't.

I never use mine. It’s too small to cook things I’d normally do in the oven, and definitely not big enough to cook for a whole family. The kids use it often though, to cook stuff from the freezer.

I caved and got a Ninja Foodi after spending far too long comparing all the different air fryers and pressure cookers.

Although I do look up recipes or timings on my phone, I found this book fantastic as I do like a proper recipe book. The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook: 140 super-easy, everyday recipes and techniques amzn.eu/d/fRPJzL6

I got the dual basket Ninja 300. I think it's great.
If I were to buy an air fryer again I'd get the Ninja Foodi Flex Drawer.

@Floofydawg I got one (a very kind gift from parents) when me and DC moved into a house with only a microwave in September and I couldn't afford a cooker straight away (circumstance meant I wasn't bringing one with me). I think used my oven for about the third or fourth time on Christmas Day as needed all the space.

I love mine. It makes it quick and easy to 'oven' things - doesn't take as long to warm up and and it's a lot quicker! DC is a bit of a chicken nugget fiend and the cooking times in packet say 20 mins and I get them done in half the time.

But they are a bit of a space hog if you're limited but I use mine so often I don't mind

Gave mine away after 4 uses. Don't miss it.

Can you actually cook healthy food in one ?

Bring air fryer up to about 115°C, then simply place your room temp eggs in and cook for about 8 minutes for soft, runny yolks and set whites.

I've not got one. I'd need a double drawer one to cook an entire meal in there. It's great they cook Pizzas but I'd need 2 doing at once. For a larger air fryer, the expense isn't worth it imo.

I have space for either slow cooker or air fryer and I choose slow cooker as it gets more use as it makes more of the kind of things we eat

@ButteryBiscuitBaseBiscuitBase i can boil an egg in that time on the hob. Is it much less power?

We've just roast some new potatoes and garlic, coated with a little bit of garlic oil. Delicious. I also roasted some carrots and parsnips for a soup and the sprouts for Xmas dinner.

Everything cooks more quickly and at a lower temperature than in the oven.

They're so 2023.

I've not got one either. We don't have the space in the kitchen and I'm not convinced it would be worth it as we batch cook big time at weekends and then use microwave to reheat during the week anyway.

Eh…..?

I don’t sense any snobbery. What do you mean? People showing off that they have air fryers? Or saying that air fryers are useless and rubbish? 🤔

Use it everyday! No pre heating and cooks faster. I find it especially handy whenever just making something quick for dc.