Air Fryer

[somewhereintheworld]

I'm a bit late to the party with this, but a friend has given me a brand new air fryer that she didn't want. I've made chips in it which were surprisingly nice, salmon which was fab and roast potatoes which were not as good as made in a conventional oven imo. I can't really see what all the fuss is about. I know someone who said her air fryer changed her life! Really? I'm a bit bored with it now tbh. Anyway, hit me with some good recipes so I can get good use out of it. It's a one drawer one, but quite big. Thanks.

I don’t think it’s earth shattering either. But I think it probably depends on the sort of cook you are. BIL loves his, but I think it suits cooking for 1-2 if you are just whacking things in the oven.

We cook chips and the kids’ beige freezer food in it, but that’s about it. We have a massive 2 drawer one and it wouldn’t even be big enough to cook the veg for us. He does whole roasts in it.

I definitely made chips in the oven recently after doing it in the air fryer for a long time and was like, oh wow, these are so much better!

But mostly I hate cleaning the damn thing and it takes up a lot of dishwasher space for not a lot of effort saved on cooking. It’s basically the kid’s emergency fish finger and chips machine in our house. 😂

Following with interest. I haven't really made great use of my air fryer yet, but I'd like to use it more!

They're just very small ovens

We have a combi oven style so cook things like confit duck, roast chicken thighs, toast, cheese on toast, cakes, roast veggies are much much better. My roasted peppers are like they woujld be on a char grill bbq, cant replicate that in the oven. Obviously you are limited by the size. Its also very hot so when I do duck I put it on 150 degrees.

I hardly use my oven since getting it, but I don’t really cook anything different.

They speed things up, which is the main benefit but personally the one thing they have revolutionised for me is chicken wings! I adore them but I gave up cooking them at home and just had them in restaurants years ago because I refuse to deep fry but now I can do them myself and get that lovely crispy, crackly skin and I've even got my 6 yr old excited about them!

Re roast potatoes- it's taken me a good year of experimenting with size, fats etc and whilst I still agree oven ones are best, if I'm just doing them for 1 or 2 people then the air fryer is good enough.

I'm following too. Bought one because everyone was singing their praises, said they had stopped using the oven etc. I used it once and followed a recipe from the book that came with it. I don't really want fancy recipes just how to use it for everyday food. Now gathering dust under my kitchen table.

Are you kidding? I can make perfect roast potatoes with virtually no fat! It’s amazing!

Also fabulous for:

Roast pork - best crackling I have ever had

Home made stuffing balls. They come out so light and crispy.

Toasted sandwiches. Just try it. Perfect.

Crisping up unexciting supermarket croissants in a few mins

Roasting peppers for purposes of stuffing them

I've just upgraded from a 9 year-old model to a larger one.
It's really just a fan oven, heats up instantly, & air circulation means food is cooked more quickly & therefore much cheaper to use than an oven.

Roasties are the usual par-boiled, roughed up, oil spray & s+p, but cook in c.30 mins instead of 50-60.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Would love to know where I went wrong with the roasties. Do you need to parboil them? I think I'll try a toasted sandwich next.

Sorry didn't see the last comment, so parboiling is the way to go.

If you google air fryer dump bags you’ll get some recipes for things you can freeze then chuck in the air fryer and have as a complete meal.

It’s a small oven that heats up quickly so you’re using it for convenience if you’re time poor.

You cook exactly what you would in an oven but instead of using the oven for one baked potato it’s easier to cook in an air fryer

I have a Ninja multicooker which air fries and I like it. I tend to overcook some things though, like bean burgers so I still need to figure it out. I can't do roasties or Jacket potato in mine either, just isn't the same. 😠 But I've made loads of other things in it (mostly veggie) and I like how cheap it is to run. Also, being a multicooker I don't have to use my hob and have made some awesome curries and stews. I don't like the pressure cooker but I do like the steam option. Carrots and green veg come out better.

My mum bakes frozen pain au chocolat in her air fryer. I've heard you can do coddled eggs in them too.

I cook chicken in mine. Toss a load of boneless chicken thighs in shawarma seasoning, chipotle flakes and some lemon juice. Leave to marinade overnight in fridge then cook for 20/22 minutes. Delicious, evenly cooked and very tender.

I would be lost without mine now. I have a great Airfryer cookbook by Jenny Tschiesche which covers everything from snacks/sides / mains etc and none of it is “fancy food” but actually stuff we eat everyday.

I don’t think they’re life changing but I have grown to find mine useful at times (was not me that purchased).

I predominantly use mine to cook a whole chicken in an hour (crispy skin and juicy meat), roast beef that’s pink on the inside in under 30 minutes, jacket potatoes, boil eggs (obviously not boiled), sausages, chips and occasionally a burger if I can’t be bothered doing it on the hob. I could easily live without it and wouldn’t replace when it breaks but still use it multiple times a week for now