Air fryers…what’s the hype?

[mummy203]

am I being unreasonable thinking air fryers are hype? Or am I just not getting it yet

I’ve been bought a 4L tower one, not used yet because I’m not sure I’m going to keep it. At first I thought fab I will use instead of my oven, but all the tutorials seem to show everything cooked separately chips for 20mins, chicken for 20mins and so on. There’s not enough room to put everything in for a family meal to cook at the same time. I can’t see how this would work cooking a meal for even 2 people. If you have to put half the dinner in the oven anyway then why use the air fryer at all just put everything in the oven at the same time 🤷🏼‍♀️ What am I not getting?

Well am at this very moment experimenting with a roasting chicken.

As almost all of your 'hardly ever eat' things contain gluten, we don't ever cook them.

The sort of things we cook are

Chicken - portions and a whole one
Pork - fits fine, it'll take a standard size joint easily and make perfect crackling, belly pork is tender and crisp, a standard gammon joint fits fine
Lamb - a half leg or shoulder would fit easily in the Dual Ninja baskets
Fish (How big would a side of salmon be? You'd just cut it in half?)
Roast veg
Roast pak choi with chilli
Potato/Sweet potato wedges and chunks
Roasted chickpeas, etc.

It's not been cold enough to think about cottage pie yet, but we'd just do ding dinner sized ones, GF lasagne would work fine at the size of a lasagne sheet, if cakes or crumble were a thing we had, they'd cook just fine in there, traybakes would be smaller but easier to have more variety by doing half sizes, and the advantage of having one is that suddenly, you find ideas for stuff you haven't done before.

Even a stirfry can be improved by adding pieces of crispy, light spiced pork belly to the veg/rice/noodles - it would still be a stirfry with soft meat, but the addition is just, well, better.

Unless you identify as people who 'stick with what you know, that's what I always say', there are many things you would be able to do. Even those microwaved jackets will be nicer when they're crispy (have previously stuck them in the slowcooker on some parchment with good results, but the airfryer is so quick).

Chicken cooked in 70 mins at 180 instead of oven recommendation on packet of 100 mins at 200 so am happy with that!!!

This really depends on the model and how much you’re cooking at one time. As one poster saying ten mins for a toastie but I’ve just done one in three and a half. Another poster saying sausages would be raw after six minutes but in mine they’re certainly well cooked after 8 (unless I have masses in the drawer in which case they need a shake part way and take a bit longer)

Use mine every single day - it’s so much quicker than an oven! I have the Ninja Max Pro Health Grill though, which is more than big enough to air fry a family meal in its entirety. It really does depend on the air fryer as to the quality of the benefits.

So, for example, I needed a quick and easy dinner the other day and grabbed one of my yellow sticker reduced Morrisons Cook It chicken trays (2 chicken breasts with some veggies/sauce etc over it). 15 mins in the air fryer total vs 40 mins + preheat time in the oven. Bit of salad and some potatoes chucked in and Bob’s your mother’s brother.

Big jacketjj potatoes - 35 mins vs 1.5 hours.

Reheats any takeout offerings (including burgers etc) in 2-3 minutes, without them going overdry or mushy (like the oven or microwave).

Chicken or steaks grill in 3-5 mins.

Pastries/bread rolls for soups warm up beautifully and take 2-3 mins to warm all the way through.

Pies, likewise, fraction of the time but perfectly flaky/crumbly pastry with hot insides.

Roast veggies - 5-7 mins tops and keep all their crunch.

Genuinely - I find a reason to use it every day and it’s saving me a fortune on my electric! Would recommend massively.

Hmm, still not sold on it.. sounds great for those of you who aren't doing a big family meal for all at the same time?
Personally speaking, I think I'll stick with switching the oven on & throwing lots of goodies in all at the same time. Plus the kids like meat, I'm not so bothered, youngest ds has different meals at times as he's ASD - but I thank you all for your opinions, it's possibly saved me some money / making a mistake.

How about you, @mummy203

Also, totally agree with PP, sausages only take 7-8 mins in mine, and you can put the potatoes/chips in with it. Also, things in dishes (so I put mash in a heatproof dish and cook it in there as well).

Had not thought of doing a toastie in there.

Heaven!

Cooker in new home so will use oven for pizza and the odd meal I can’t microwave foil case for example on fish pie. Jackets spuds oven. If it’s 45 mins.then not worth it at the moment.

Mine arrived last week - the Cosori 3.5l one - and so far it’s been great for frozen chips/nuggets for the kids and today I did a baked potato in it. 10 minutes in the microwave then 6 minutes in the AF to crisp up. It’s definitely a time saver and handy for doing kids portions without having to heat up the big oven. Not a life-changer but definitely convenient.

Bob’s your mother’s brother
😁

When my kitchen is done (assuming I bloody live long enough I've been waiting 4 years now, DFG funded...) I'll be getting the Ninja Flip alongside the Instant Pot Duo Crisp, and we won't have an oven at all!

Some things need to catch up - food packaging doesn't have timings on it for air fryers, but you can chuck in chips and some nuggets on top and do them all as one, you don't have to cook everything separately.

They cook faster.
They are a more efficient use of electricity for cooking.
They are much better at re-heating left overs than either microwave or oven.

So from those three points they are a good option for the household budget.

Will they do everything, wonderfully, and nicer than fried food - no.

I've just had tea out of mine - posh cheese on toast (cheese n onions and paprika n stuff) - I've used fancy bread so instead of toasting in the toaster ive griddled it with a drizzle of olive oil on the hob. Then dump the cheesey mix on top and into the air fryer for 5 minutes.

With the oven, id have done the same prep then would have to pre-heat our grill for 5 minutes first, THEN cook it for 5 to 8 minutes for the same results, heating a much larger space.

I don't intend on trying to use air fryers for EVERYTHING but i do think they're a better idea than heating a whole oven for one small thing.

Of course, we're cooking for just two adults, we don't cook huge multi-dish meals, roasts etc and we're not into batch baking.

I was using very thick doorstop GF crusty, if that's anything to go by. I would expect a bog standard toastie slice to take less time.

www.costco.co.uk/Appliances/Small-Kitchen-Appliances/Cooking-Specialty/Gourmia-67L-Digital-Air-Fryer/p/6487

Does anyone have this one?

Not trying to convince you one way or another but I am usually cooking for six people all at once in mine. So on Sunday I did roast pork, meat in one drawer and potatoes in the other. Then cooked the Yorkshire puddings in the meat drawer while the meat rested-2 mins to heat the oil and 9 for the puddings. Veg done on the hob.
I’ll do for eg salmon in one drawer and roasted veg in the other, chicken in one and wedges in the other then take the chicken out and do corn on the cob.

I’m only saying this because I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to cook enough for the family in it and have been pleasantly surprised.

For big dish things like cottage pie or lasagne or toad in the hole (and pizza!) I still use the oven but I try to be organised enough to cook all of those at the same time then freeze them so that the oven only goes on once.

Ive had an air fryer of one type or another for years . I currently have a Costco dual drawer one which does some things automatically.
I really can't remember when I last used my big oven and yet I manage to cater for the whole family.
The thing I like is that it sits on the worktop so Im not carting large trays across the kitchen or trying to pull the hot trays out while peering into the depths.
It has a very simple timer that does not take a degree in rocket science to set and its very easy to clean - dunk the whole drawer in the sick and voila!
I can cook for 1 fussy child - 6 chips and 2 fish fingers or a hungry teenager - large pizza and fries . Done in minutes and without fuss - whats not to like?