Today I've used my air fryer to ...

[Katypp]

Following on from the thread about an air fryer changing your life, I was disproportionally annoyed about the number of rather snobbish posters who are clinging on to the idea that we all just use our air fryers for chips and nuggets.
I have no idea why this annoyed me so much - and I have no idea why I feel the need to defend my use of my AF, as a keen cook.
So, it got me thinking about how I use mine, and I thought it would be interesting to show all those who think they are a little bit too common for them what they can be used for.
This week, I have used mine for:

Tuesday: Jacket potatoes for lunch, sausages and black pudding for all-day breakfast
Wednesday: Cooking tuna pasta bake made on the hob
Thursday: Roast pumpkin for Thai pumpkin soup, cook salmon and meatballs for dinner
Today: Apple and blackcurrent baked oats for breakfast.

Anyone want to join in?

I make a batch of dough for pita bread about once a week and tear a bit off each day, roll it out and chuck it the air fryer. More often than not these days my lunch is homemade hummus and pita or similar.

I look after my very elderly mother. Her meals tend to be a bit of meat or fish cooked simply with fried potatoes (I boil them a bag at a time so I just cut them up and coat the with a tiny bit of oil before putting them in one drawer of the air fryer) accompanied by boiled green veg. I’m vegetarian so often cook for myself in the other air fryer drawer. Recently I’ve been experimenting with bean and veg gratins (recent successes include beetroot and black bean, kale and Carlin peas, leek and butter bean and various versions involving haricot beans) all using beans from a jar for convenience.

@xsquared I nearly bought a small Salter one similar to your size one from Lidl for but stopped myself a couple of months ago. For some reason I've paid more than I planned to on the discounted Ninja one

@YorkshireFelix which one did you go for ? It's hard deciding which one. I've been looking at them on and off for ages. I paid more for mine than I'd planned to but I suddenly thought why not because I've convinced myself I really do want and need one now after umming and ahing for ages.

@suki1964 thanks for the tips. Very useful.

I've been collecting air fryer recipes and videos but will start off with fish, chicken and veg.
But I definitely want to try @artant pitta bread idea or I might make bread dough and freeze into balls to make rolls. I'll do the same with cookie dough so I can just make 2 at a time from frozen

@EmpressaurusKitty I have a very small thin square cheap 20cm squared baking tray that I think will be a perfect fit actually. I've never used it because I have better bigger ones. But yes I'll measure and buy a couple more.

I bought a second hand but never been used bread maker not so long ago and it's been brilliant and I'd been umming and ahing over buying one for ages (I love making bread but I takes too long by hand and is an effort). All our bread is from the £20 machine.

In the last week
cheese on toast
roasted veg
roasted stuffed peppers
quorn ‘chicken’ burgers & toasting the buns for these
homemade wedges
Part baked rolls
fairy cakes
sausage casserole type thing
parmesan croutons (first trial, they were excellent)
reheating some pizza slices

probably more

We have a ninja dual and it is FAB.

Oh and I have had Yorkshire success - various trials but works best in a foil container (I got some that fit snuggly into a drawer of my ninja dual) - preheat air fryer 1min, then add foil container with oil, heat up, then pour in batter, cook on air fry checking after about 12mins, usually takes about another 5 mins.
can’t make a vast quantity at a time, enough for about equivalent of 4 yorkshires so I would use the oven to cook greater quantities

I use the air fryer nearly every day and have never cooked nuggets or chips. It’s ideal atm for warming up mince pies.

I made Cheesy pasta bake
Cottage Pie
Chicken and Ham pie (no pastry more like cottage pie)
Cheese on toast
My 83 year old mother uses hers to cook things I put together and loves a good fish pie each week. All done in her air fryer that is so old (bought from Debenhams many years ago) the dials have lost their markings and so this Christmas she's getting a new one.

@LilacLilyBird I went for a Ninja one. The dual 9.5L version as it had money off for Black Friday, plus 10% code and I had a £15 bonus cash back through Quidco so a decent deal in the end. I'm now deep in air fryer recipe land and getting overwhelmed by too much choice 🤣

@YorkshireFelix yes mine was discounted and I also then got another 10% off that too. So it was rude not to

I've also gone down the air fryer recipe rabbit hole

There are recipes on the Ninja website

I now get the convenience of just chucking it in and pressing some buttons

I think I'll just make chips first to get used to it

This maybe

Will defo try this salmon because I burnt my last salmon fillet for some reason

And this beauty

OMG I never thought about that. They are volcanic after a few seconds in the microwave. I have had my ration for today so will try one tomorrow, may have to but brandy butter early this year.

I just had my first mince pie of the season, but hadn’t seen this first. Sounds like a good excuse to buy lots more and also some Baileys cream - purely for testing purposes.

No mince pies here yet this year but I think we’ve stem them in greater quantities since having an air fryer to heat them in!

I've christened the air fryer with frozen croissants and they've come out perfectly

180 for 10 mins

I can't believe I have missed this thread until now. OP, like you, I find the sneering so ANNOYING. The airfryer is just a smaller, hotter, quicker oven and it's especially helpfulf or thos irritating little things that take forever in the oven which is why it has that reputation for beige I think - it's the chicken nuggets for the 6 year old who is a bit fussy and won't eat curry or whatever.

To the yorkshire pudding crew using those glass ramekins - they absolutel do work but please be careful. I was using them but a couple landed up breaking - I think it's actually a bit too hot. I don't 'really care - they're just from Gu puddings! but I mention it so you're aware. I managed to get some metal individual ones from a cookery shop a whle back and I use those - really great to do a yorkshire or two for DD who is fussy.

I did itsu prawn gyoza yesterday (to be honest - stove would have been fine too, but i wanted to see if it worked for DS who isn't very trustworthy on the stove!).
Oven fries for DD with her dinner as well.
Cooked par-baked baguettes for egg and bacon rolls on Sunday.
Also made quick air-fryer banana muffins early on Sunday before taking DS to his match.

This is so exciting because I bought an air fryer last night

Croissant
Baked potato
cheese, ham and tomato toastie

I'm a complete convert already

These air fryers are amazing

I honestly didn't understand the big fuss but of course if you don't have one why would you

I'm back because I thought if anyone is interested, the banana muffin recipe might be handy - I often knock these up in the morning if we have old bananas and it's so coinveninent in the air fryer - I whip up the batter while kettle/coffee machine working then stick in the airfryer while I shower.

Mash one v ripe banana.
Dry ingredients - you need 100g and you can adapt per your preference but I am currently using about 70g self-raising, wholemeal flour, 20g almond meal and 10g oats. II then add a half teaspoon more of baking powder but wouldn't bother if I was just using all self raising four. Also a pinch of salt.
1 egg
Then roughly 3 tablespoons of wet ingredients plus a drizzle of vanilla essence (if you can be bothered. I tend to forget) - the mixture needs to be quite wet I've discovered so adjust because obviously your banana size/ripeness will impact things. My preference is one v generous Tbsp greek yoghurt, one stingy tblsp oil and one tblsp honey. If it's not wet enough, I add more yoghurt usually.

Mix all together then add to oiled ramekins/individual baking cases. Top each one with a nut (it seems to rise better with that little bit of weight - I use walnuts or pecans usually) and cook in air fryer (on the base, not on the inside shelf thing) at 180 for 12 minutes.

My airfryer is a ninja and seems to run very hot so a) I don't bother to pre-heat and b) it probalby is quicker. For other air fryers I'd recommend pre-heating while you're whipping up the batter and then cooking for 12-13 minutes.

Nice to see you here, @SpaceOP !

The muffins sound great.

@LilacLilyBird How do you do toasties in there, please?

More tofu here tonight.

Roast chicken
Roast potatoes
Roast honey glazed carrots.
Yorkshire pudding

Vegetables and gravy on my one ring induction hob. Okay - peas in the microwave.

I haven't had an oven for over a year. So much space, I haven't missed it once.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

I just put on some mayo and mustard then some cheddar (probably better to grate it first I just sliced it from a block) some ham, slices of tomato between the bread

I brushed some oil on the outside of each slice before I put it in the air fryer for 3 minutes

I didn't turn it halfway through because I didn't want everything to fall out but that meant the outer bottom layer wasn't as crispy as the top

But delicious nevertheless

Next time I'll turn it halfway and try without oil or butter on the outside

The bread I used is what I made in my bread maker so my slices were quite thick

If you're using normal pre-sliced bread it can fly off so they advise you stick a cocktail stick in to keep it all together

Which probably also helps when turning it

So i think I did it at 180 for 3 mins probably need 5 if using more cheese and to get it really melted

As I was so cold, I had a ready to bake frozen Lidl cheese and onion pasty for lunch - bloody lovely. 18 mins at 180C. Probably could have done less time at a higher temp but it was a first test pasty.