To hate my air fryer

[Champagneforeveryone]

Ugly great bastarding thing that it is, taking up counter space and taunting me with its wasted potential 🧐

We bought a Ninja because everyone said they were the best. A man even accosted DH in John Lewis while we were carrying it out like our first born child to tell him how amazing it was.

Except it's not...

We don't eat a lot of freezer food so that's not been a benefit. I've tried things like chicken breasts but they just came out pale with a tough outer skin. I'm too scared to try bacon in case it's a similar travesty. Sausages were ok, but truthfully not any different to cooking them in the oven. I'm a little disillusioned, but perhaps I'm doing something wrong? Why is the feckless contraption supposed to be so much better than, you know... an actual oven?

I’d never plonk a raw chicken breast in mine in the same way I wouldn’t put one straight on a baking tray and shove it in the oven for me the lack of fat just makes them dry out thighs on the other hand slightly trimmed seasoned with a rub airfryed are brilliant

After diving down that particular rabbit hole of late, I've discovered most foil and greaseproof paper have PFAS-type chemicals as well. They are so flipping hard to avoid.

I still use both tbh for cold wrapping and so on, but I've been trying to avoid them with heating food. I've found a chemical free baking paper now, but have to order it through a flour mill.

Get some frown chips... that will rekindle your love.
I've been doing fish fingers and sausages in my AF basket. They come out a little bit bashed, but cooked just fine, and I think of all the electricity (money) I'm saving by not heating up the big oven.

@Champagneforeveryone I am trying the whole roast chicken later so I will report back!

I find the exact opposite with mine, meat is far better, juicier and tender.

I use mine all the time for all sorts of food, mostly and I love the fact I can get a decent meal onto a plate within at most 25 minutes.

Can't be any worse than a slow cooker? Everything that comes out of it tastes of ass. And not in a good way.

They have been around for years and are just mini ovens really. We just have a small one and do use it. It’s ok but I wouldn’t rave about it nor would I spend £££ on the ugly ninjas.

How did you season your chicken breasts?

I don't see the fuss and won't be getting one. I mainly cook on top of the cooker in pans, spag bol, chilli, curries, one pot type of cooking, I have never been one to follow hype either

Ours gets used every day, wouldn't be without one now so if it broke I'd replace it probably same day if I could!

Thanks @ShiteInNiningArmour - and yes, exactly! Oven chips are just floppy sticks of disappointment that taste nothing like the delicious, deep-fried chips that I crave.

Also, I just fucking hate cooking the bastard things. They never all cook at the same rate so you end up with half of them burnt, and the other half still raw. You have to turn them all over individually so they cook evenly on both sides. That's a ball ache - and it gets even worse if they decide to stick to the tray.

Stupid bloody things.

In an air fryer I just chuck them in the basket, give the basket a shake halfway through and boom! Done. Delicious, crunchy, crispy chips - and none of them are still raw.

So yes @SlipSlidinAway you may well find it a bit ridiculous but I hate cooking oven chips with every inch of my being. To the extent that we'd only have them maybe 2-3 times a year max. Not because I don't like chips. But because I hate cooking oven chips, and because oven chips are soggy and shit.

It's a bit of a standing joke in our house because I'm a keen and enthusiastic cook, and I can tackle pretty much anything. Just not oven chips apparently 😅🤷‍♀️

Even if I never use my air fryer for anything else (I will and I do) - I will forever be grateful for it allowing me to escape the misery of cooking oven chips.

(For the avoidance of doubt, this is all light-hearted but I do genuinely hate oven chips!)

Why do people hold this erroneous belief that only freezer food can be cooked in an air fryer? I have a ninja foodi and I Cook a LOT in it, it’s so much easier and quicker. It’s essentially a mini fan assisted oven, just use it like one. Mine also has slow cooker/pressure cooker functions

I have cooked small homemade lasange/ shepherds pies etc in mine. They are great inventions. You can also get bigger family sized ones. You’re using it wrong 🤣

Chicken fried rice
Chips and Mediterranean veg
Chicken fajitas
Fish goujons
Cajun salmon
Apple crumble
Toasted sandwiches
Baked potatoes

Just a few things I cooked in mine from scratch last week

It sounds to me like you're not using a high enough temperature to get a good crust.

I’m debating with myself about buying one liked the look of the Ninja 300 or the Foodi we are a veggie/vegan household of 6 including 4 teenagers who eat everything in sight. Oven is on every night I do what I said I would never do and end up making 3 different dinner for the fussy beggars.

Thank you for this...I think 🤔 😁....my ignorance was bliss ....

I cook my chicken breast down, so it is the most moist it can be.

I have found roasting a mix of different veg to be great too.

That book was raved about at a lunch I was at recently.

You're using it wrong clearly. If your chicken is coming out tough you're over cooking it.

Air fryers use less energy, cook faster and take up less space than a conventional oven.

Anything you can cook in an oven you can cook in an air fryer in around 1/2-3/4 of the time and for a fraction of the energy.

I have a ninja. We use it a lot. Whole chickens are lush and moister , bacon is brilliant and doesn't splash flat everywhere. Easier to clean than grills as well

Cooked this chicken last night. Really moist chicken and crispy skin. Result!!

As an aside, my mum is now in her 80s and no longer cooks much but ever since I can remember, my mum always roasted chicken upside down, in an enamelled roaster in the oven.
We never , ever had dry chicken .

Same...chicken and turkey are always roasted breast-side down. Far better results, in my view.

I love my air fryer and no longer use my oven. Prior to buying a small cheap one, to see what all the fuss is about, I scoffed at all the hype. Oh how things change!

I've just finished eating the most delicious bacon wrapped stuffed medjool dates, cooked in under 10 minutes in my air fryer. It does a fabulous sirloin steak with chips, and I cook an egg with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes on the side in it every morning.

Admittedly I was clueless when I first got it, but I did a couple of short online air fryer cookery courses which really helped. There are lots of YouTube videos that provide good (and not so good) inspiration.

Chips are simply way better than in the oven, and mine grills steak to perfection and no mess! The only thing I hate about them is they are so damn ugly! oh nearly forgot not cleaned the oven in a couple of years as never use it, maybe only for large pizzas.

I've had one scince the Tefal came out in the UK 13 years ago.
My cooker has hardly been in in all that time.
I now have two.. a large single basket l can do Victoria sponges in / Scones/ Yorkshire puddings etc.. made by Pro breeze.
And a duel 9lt (2X 4.5 lt) made by Haden .. the well known electric kettle manufacturers.. that l use for almost anything else that you can put into an oven... bacon/ gammon/ chicken( whole or portions).. chips ( frozen or home made)..chops/ sausages/ toasties...even when I've made a cottage pie ( mince in slow cooker) I've put it in airfryer to brown the top.
Trial and error.
Don't use spray fry light. It can ruin one.