Talk to me about cooking in your air fryer, please?

[lucysmam]

My dad bought me one when I was really unwell a couple of years ago, thinking it would maybe help on those days when I wanted to cook but was struggling.

In reality, it's lived in a stupid place in the kitchen since, faaaaar from where cooking actually takes place & is only occasionally used by dd1 for pizza bagels or similar.

I've just moved it to a (hopefully) more useable place in the kitchen & wondered if any of you would share what you cook in yours, how, any recipes, anything else useful to know? Otherwise it can go back to the small appliance graveyard with the ice cream maker, Tassimo with it's stupidly expensive pods!, and rarely used milk frother 🙈

Thanks!

We used ours mainly for frozen chips until recently. We cook sausages from frozen, burgers, roast potatoes, and are about to give eggs a go.

We bought the wrong one (Tefal Actifry) where we should have just bought one with twin drawers.

One of my friends hasn't turned his oven on since buying his. Admittedly, he is a single man, but he cooked everything t hat would have gone in the oven in his air fryer, so the wife and I are on the same journey as you, and looking to use it more.

I’ve only had my Ninja a few months so quite late to the party but mine comes into its own on a Sunday - Roast potatoes, parsnips etc. Even the stuffing goes in a small tin in there - much quicker.
I use it to cook fajita fillings, or anything you can roast or fry. Sausages are great in there.
DC use it to cook freezer stuff.
I’m interested to see what everyone else makes…

we use it for roasting veg…peppers, mushrooms etc. reheating roast potatoes. Cooking salmon from fresh or frozen. Cooking cod with a topping on top. Lamb chops. It’s perfect for 2 people, I wouldn’t like to cook for a family in it…

I’ve cooked a whole small chicken in mine. My biggest triumph though has been dehydrating my summer glut of tomatoes in mine and packing them in oil.

We do traybakes, fajitas, Pret A Manger frozen croissants for breakfast, bacon, sausages, toasties, roasted veg, cakes, fish/fish cakes and chips. All sorts. Once we started using it, we became more confident.

I don’t do loads in it (my dad does everything!)
it’s great for reheating pizza, part baked bread, bacon, sausages, anything beige out the freezer like hash browns, chips, chicken etc
i tend to use it for stuff on the side of a meal so if I’m making a chicken salad I will do some bacon or a part baked roll in it

I do skinless boneless chicken thighs with some flavouring on, they come out lovely and juicy (worth buying a meat thermometer so you don’t over cook things and dry them out.
I make my own chips - par boil for a few mins then toss with a tbs of oil and air fry
Baked potatoes - microwave til tender then rub with oil spray and salt, do on max crisp for 15 min.
Roasted veg - peppers, courgette, red onion etc
Sausages cook well in the air fryer - again the meat thermometer comes in handy as they cook quite quickly.

We're trying fresh gnocchi in ours tonight 😊

My current favourite thing is cutting uncooked crumpets up into little squares, tossing them in melted butter, sugar and sweet cinnamon powder, then air frying until crispy. Delicious with Bonne Maman chocolate orange spread 😋

@Jewelanemone I have crumpets! I’m making those tomorrow. They sound delicious.