Air fryer to replace oven

[whatswrongwivme]

I am thinking of removing my oven and replacing it with an air fryer. I also have a hob and microwave.

I have not used an air fryer yet.

Is there anything that MUST be cooked in an oven?

Dh bought a 2 drawer one last year and it’s been used twice and passed on. As a family of 5 there was no way of even doing enough chips in there for the 5 of us let alone anything else, the chips would be stone cold by the time your next bit was cooked. They don’t seem very practical, narrow drawers where it would be hard to turn things and get even cooking, it also seemed necessary to have to shake the drawers every now and then - what a faff for something that’s supposed to be… I don’t know actually, what are they actually for? Saving money on having the oven on? Just wasn’t for us at all but we cook a lot and wouldn’t be without an oven. We also host a lot and for a lot of people. Christmas dinner for 22 without an oven - nope!
I thought at the time if you were a one person household it’s probably viable to not have an oven at all but if you like cooking and have more than 2 people I’d think you were mad for doing away with an oven entirely.

I use it when there's just Dh and me but more than two then I use the oven.

All of these things CAN be cooked in the airfryer. The problem is that usually they require a larger space than an air fryer delivers. I do indivual sized lasagnas which I freeze in tinfoil containers, it absolutely can be reheated in the air fryer. As an example. But if I'm making lasagna for the family, then no, I absolutely cannot do it in an airfyer.

@whatswrongwivme , If you have bought the AF400 - you can get a family size chicken in it, not just a small one

There is nothing you cant cook in an air fryer that you usually cook in the oven , under the grill, or even a frying pan - although I personally draw the line at eggs, I know others do cook them in one

So this week, from Saturday , Ive cooked parked baked rolls, bacon, cheese and ham toasties, chips, and pies ( had a lazy weekend )

Today, I do have my beef in the slow cooker because its silverside and needs a slow cook, but in the dual drawer I will be cooking the roast spuds, the roast parsnips and the Yorkshire pudding . The green veg will be steamed

Ive used my oven once so far this year - when I was doing pizzas and wanted four cooked at once

I use one in work as well, reheat scotch eggs, cook bacon, sausages, , chicken nuggets etc , I just stack them and turn

Sorry but I use mine to cook all of the above , apart from casseroles as they are either cooked in the slow cooker or my instant pot ( which is also and air fryer )

A BIG one with two drawers I hope if you want to roast a whole chicken!

Enjoy. If you didn't use your oven much, you might find that with the air fryer you do a bit more. for example, I love roasted vegetables but I don't do it for dinner much as it's a bit of a faff and DS doesn' tlike it. But I couldn't be assed to do it just for me for lunch. In the airfryer however.... I toss half a punnet of baby tomatoes of some sort, a small onion cut into chunks and some garlic cloves, turn it on for 20 minutes and bang, roasted veg to sesrve on couscous or one of those lentil pouches with a bit if feta.

Similarly, I've always loved those pre-made, unbaked, frozen pastries like croissants but unless I was doing them as a bit of an event on the weekend it was too much hassle. Now I regularly toss one or two into the airfyer, 13 minutes, done. No pre-heating, no waiting around for 25 minutes etc. Ditto things like those par-baked ciabattas or nice rolls - we always have a few knocking about these days as they take 5-6 minutes in my air fryer.

I have a Ninja which is the large one which adapts from two to one drawers. This allows me to fit in cake tins and casserole dishes.

How many people are you cooking for and are the drawers 12 x 9" to bake lemon drizzle traybake or a lasgane for 6 people? Can you cook a roast dinner - meat, spuds, roasted vegetables, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding simultaneously in one?

TBH I don't have room in my small kitchen to store an air fryer and we like to entertain so I will continue to use my oven.

3 adults so I cook for 4 and have a lunch meal for the freezer

You dont buy an oven in a house though do you, you have your own oven

Unless I suppose you mean an integrated oven

Some more - including cake

I have the ninja foodie and haven't used my oven except on Christmas day for two years. There are two of us. We have an electric wok we use, a deep fat fryer toaster and ninja

almost all of those things can be cooked in an air fryer, and I wouldn't cook some of them in the oven anyway?!?!

And a few more

She's not limiting it though, the wiring will still be there for the oven and all the new owner would need to do is decide if they want freestanding or inbuilt and remove the cupboard that that's there,

We have this, I dont use the main oven. I do a lot of baking

https://www.qvcuk.com/ninja-multifunction-14-in-1-oven-%26-air-fryer-brownie-tin.product.831325.html?cid=GGL-SP-Shopping_Home&e8=Cj0KCQjwhYS_BhD2ARIsAJTMMQace4VOpwiB1Rz4qjal5oD_DYBv2iMqRDDk1Irfz0UInJz5u7KVS-YaAoefEALw_wcB&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhYS_BhD2ARIsAJTMMQace4VOpwiB1Rz4qjal5oD_DYBv2iMqRDDk1Irfz0UInJz5u7KVS-YaAoefEALw_wcB&

I have a Ninja Foodi, the small one.

I use it almost daily but there are times when I need a cooker, such as for supermarket pizzas, lasagnas and and gratins. I use it a lot less nowadays though. There's only me half the week, two at most when DD is here, so it seems a waste to turn on the cooker for one chicken kiev or a small pie.

You can’t grill things in an air fryer. Eg cheese on toast.
and I think you’d need a very big one if you were to do away with your oven.

Crickey- that 'cake' is tiny! Look how large the walnuts are on it. Its barely larger than a cupcake!

Yes, cakes can be cooked in an air fryer, but the size of said cake varies vastly on the size of the air fryer!

Sorry for the derailment, but The seems like a good thread to ask the question... well 2 actually...

1 who is using disposable air fryer liners/dishes. Would you mind telling me what you use and what you think of them?

2 what are you using to get things cooked in dishes out of the air fryer?

I've lost the use of my right (dominant) hand to a large degree and even before that I struggled to get hot containers out of the air fryer, now it's an incredibly dodgy process.

Also washing up has become a major difficulty (I live alone and I don't have a dishwasher) so I'm looking at (at least for the very short term) some disposable liners or dishes for the air fryer.

I've had my air fryer a good couple of years now (I was a very late adapter) and I can't even recall using my oven since I got the air fryer,

At some stage, I need to get on with replacing my kitchen (it's well beyond doing up, I think the cabinets are original 1960s and the lower ones are like Weet-Bix where it's obviously been flooded more than once!)

I'll put all the wiring and everything in for an oven, but I'm certainly contemplating getting an additional 600 cabinet rather than an oven housing. Easily swapped if I sell & the new owner wants an oven

& to whomever asked yes, an additional cupboard would make a huge difference in my kitchen. It's irritatingly tiny.

Yes I regularly cook for 6 - not a bother

No I don't roast sprouts cos we preferred steamed, but tonight I did slow cooked silverside ( it doesn't need the oven , prefers slow cooking ) I did the sprouts and peas in the microwave and cooked the roast spuds, potatoes and yorkie in the air fryer .. Cooked for 5 - with left overs for tomorrow

As I say I use a dual in work cooking breakfasts for up to 40 over 2 hours and I don't struggle

An air fryer is a small compact oven, not magic

I love my air fryer but there are a couple of things it doesn’t cook well. Pizza being one of them. I wouldn’t get rid of my oven. Although it’s barely used now.

And for a family of 4 how big do you need a cake? I got 6 portions

How long do you need a cake lying about the house getting dry?

Home made, doesn't have the stabilisers and what nots that shop bough have, they need to be cooked and eaten within 48 hours ( unless you have something like gingerbread where the treacle preserves , then you wrap in foil and leave for at least 24 hrs before breaking into it )

Most airfryers are ovens I think, ours certainly is. I can bake, roast, airfry and grill in it - I look at it as a small extra oven.
If I was on my own it would probably suffice

Yes you can, and I do so on a regular basis