What Can You Make In An Air Fryer

Don't Miss

Air Fryer Biscuit Egg Sandwiches

What Can You Make In An Air Fryer?

PSA: You can and should be cooking refrigerated biscuit dough in your air fryer. Its ready in 10 minutes and the result is much lighter and flakier than the oven-baked version. While youre at it, put beaten eggs and ham into silicone baking cups and air fry them at the same time. Layer with the biscuits, top with hot sauce, and just like that, youll have rich, savory restaurant-worthy egg sandwiches.

How To Make Frozen Steak In Air Fryer

  • Gather your ingredients and preheat the air fryer at 380°F/190°C for 5 minutes.
  • Place the frozen steaks on a plate and brush both sides with olive oil. If you don’t have a basting brush, rub the oil on the meat with your hands.
  • Season with salt and pepper. Be sure to get both sides of the steaks!
  • Place the seasoned frozen steaks in the air fryer basket, and cook at the same temperature you preheated the air fryer to for 13-16 minutes, or until the steak is done to your liking.
  • Allow the steak to rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into it. This is important. If you cut into the steak too soon all of the juices will run right out.
  • Garnish with fresh parsley if you like, and enjoy.
  • These numbered steps match the numbered photos above and are for illustration purposes. For the complete list of ingredients and instructions, please see the recipe below.

    Works Well: Frozen French Fries

    If youre a French fry fanatic, this is the machine for you. Frozen French fries were practically made for air fryers they turn out crunchy, crispy, and baked to perfection. With 75 percent less oil than a deep-fryer, you can eat them guilt-free too. This is what an air fryer actually does to your food.

    You May Like: How To Use An Air Fryer Toaster Oven

    Make Your Chicken Breasts In The Air Fryer For Juicy Results

    “Due to the compact design of an air fryer, there’s not as much room for the juices to evaporate like they sometimes do in other methods,” Dang said.

    Glazed chicken also cooks nicely in an air fryer, according to Pixley.

    “With the high heat and constant airflow of the air fryer, the glaze caramelizes on the chicken, which just takes roast chicken to another level entirely,” Pixley told Insider.

    Just be careful not to put too much glaze on your chicken, as the excess may drip and spread around your air-fryer chamber.

    What Are The Benefits Of An Air Fryer

    8 Surprising Things You Can Make in an Air Fryerand 6 You Can

    Like the near-universally adored Instant Pot, the air fryer promises faster cooking and a high degree of versatility .

    The thing that makes any air fryer so good at both crisping foods and cooking them quickly is its hot air circulation — basically, it’s a form of countertop convection oven. While it obviously handles traditionally deep-fried foods with aplomb , its design makes it great for lots of other things too, from certain baked goods to roasted garlic.

    Don’t Miss: Cuisinart Air Fryer Model Afr 25

    Entire Roasts Or Whole Chickens

    If you’re wondering if air fryers are just a gimmick, rest assured, this kitchen tool cooks much more than french fries and finger foods. Its abilities are limited, however, when it comes to full roasts and entire chickens. The basket or cooking racks, depending on the model, are smaller in their capacity than an oven so a roast might not fit. Stephanie Pixley, deputy food editor of America’s Test Kitchen, explains the side of the roast closest to the heat source will dry out or burn well before the other side cooks thoroughly. Chicken will end up dried out with a rock-solid exterior in an air fryer.

    The issue is you’re likely overcrowding the air fryer basket if you add an entire chicken or roast. Hot air needs to circulate in order for an air fryer to work. To correctly cook chicken in an air fryer, you’ll need to cook a few pieces at a time instead of placing the entire bird inside at once. You’ll want to keep the breasts facing down, then end with the skin facing up since air fryers heat from above. This trick will help make sure your skin is crisp and the meat stays juicy. You can also poke holes in the thighs and drumsticks to help the fat to render.

    When Is Salmon Done Cooking

    Whether you grill, bake or use an air fryer to cook salmon, a common question is knowing when the salmon is done cooking. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, salmon is cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 145°F. However, you could remove salmon when it reaches 130° for a medium-cooked salmon it will continue to cook after it has been removed from the air fryer.

    Before cooking, let the salmon sit out at room temperature for 15-20 minutes. This will help it cook more evenly. If you dont have a meat thermometer, salmon is done cooking when it is a bit flaky when using a fork. Be careful to not overcook salmon that will make it dry. The outside should be an opaque pink when cooked.

    You May Like: Innsky Air Fryer Xl 5.8 Qt

    How Air Fryers Work

    Your air fryer is like an amazing convection oven. It’s small, yet mighty, and you can roast, broil, or bake in it. You cannot deep fry in it.

    Need a refresher on convection cooking? No problem.

    Heat rises, so in a regular oven the top rack is always the hottest spot, which leads to uneven doneness.

    In a convection oven, however, fans blow hot air around so the temperature is equalized throughout the oven.

    Air fryers arent exactly like convection ovens their airflow is designed to more closely replicate the heat distribution of deep-frying in hot fat. But for our purposes, the convection oven analogy is good enough.

    Easy Things To Make In Air Fryer

    The Most Foolproof Ways To Cook With An Air Fryer Tasty

    It has given me the ability to cook a lot healthier, and homemade meals on a more regular basis. Now I might make a meal in a few batches like:

    And my kids favorite new snacks are air fryer cauliflower wings and this eggplant air fryer recipe! WE have made homemade mozzarella sticks air fryer style too which were yummy with marinara.

    Recommended Reading: Ninja Air Fryer Wire Rack

    Dont Worry About Buttons Or Functions

    Similar to capacity, our experts agreed that the buttons on an air fryer are just marketing jargon. Those buttons do the same thing, Weinstein said, which is turn the heating element on and turn the fan on. Dont be fooled by an air fryer with a thousand different functions if youre using an air fryer to air fry, then all you need is the air fry button.

    What Youll Need To Make Air Fryer Turkey Burgers

    Cooking a juicy, delicious burger is easy-peasy when you have an air fryer. Add in some turkey for leaner burgers with plenty of protein, and youre all set for a perfect meal. These simple steps will show you what ingredients youll need and how to make your own air fryer turkey burgers. Lets get started!

    • Air Fryer: This recipe will work with any air fryer, basket, or even model. You can use the Ninja Foodi, Instant Pot Vortex, or any other model!
    • Frozen Turkey Patties: Grab your favorite frozen turkey patties!

    Don’t Miss: Powerxl Vortex Air Fryer 10 Qt

    How To Use An Air Fryer

    There are a few details you’ll want to make sure you understand before you start air frying. For a more comprehensive list about air fryer dos and don’ts read this.

    Dont Overcrowd the Basket Make sure theres plenty of room around your food items in the air fryer basket, so the heat can evenly distribute around the food and promote even cooking. Its also a good idea to give your food a toss halfway through as well.

    Air Fryers are Great for Reheating Food Instead of running to your microwave to reheat leftovers, try the air fryer instead. It can re-crisp, re-melt and revive cold food without turning it into rubber.

    Still Use Oil Adding a spritz of nonstick cooking spray or a drizzle of olive oil to your food before air frying will give you nicer browning and crisping than no oil at all. Not to mention, it will help adhere seasoning and keep anything from sticking to each other or the air fryer basket.

    Works Well: Chicken Strips

    Things You Should Never Cook In An Air Fryer

    Air fryers work wonders when it comes to frozen foods. One of our favorite recipes includes these crispy chicken fingersjust be sure to freeze the batter onto the meat before throwing it inside the machine. Or take a shortcut and use a frozen chicken tender. We have a list right here of every way to cook chicken in an air fryer.

    Don’t Miss: Tristar Power Air Fryer Xl

    Whats The Big Deal With Air Fryers

    At first, the cooking worlds latest craze of air frying might seem too good to be true. Dont know what it is? We have a longer explanation here, but its essentially a device that gives the texture of deep frying with only a fraction of the oil. With such a device comes the promise that fried foods dont necessarily have to be reserved for state fairs and fast food, especially with this healthier alternative. To find out if this device was all its cracked up to be, we asked our Test Kitchen pros, What can you cook in an air fryer? They let us know what works and what definitely does not.

    Check out our Test Kitchens entire guide to air fryers.

    Do I Need To Thaw Steak Before Air Frying

    You do not need to thaw steaks before air frying them! That is the beauty of this recipe, and one of the benefits of cooking with an air fryer. If you’re following this method, put the steaks in the air fryer right from the freezer.

    If you have already thawed your steaks, go visit my Air Fryer Steak recipe for instructions for air frying a fresh steak instead.

    You May Like: Top 5 Best Air Fryers

    What Can’t You Air Fry

    While we’d love to say that you can make anything in an air fryer, that’s just simply not true. Many of your favorite deep fried foods can be converted to an air fryer method, as well as many proteins, baked goods and more. However, there are some foods that are better left out of the air fryer. Here’s what you should never attempt to air fry.

    Battered Foods A very wet batter, like the cornmeal batter on a corndog, will not cook successfully in an air fryer. Any coating that is particularly heavy and wet will drip through the perforated basket before it has time to crisp. The hot oil bath in a traditional deep fryer is key to setting up a battered food. If youre craving something battered, try dipping the food in flour, egg and breadcrumbs for a similar deep fried crunchy exterior, such as these Air Fryer Fried Pickles.

    Cake Doughnuts A cake doughnuts does not air fry well, mainly because of the dense batter made of sugar, sour cream and flour. A traditional deep fry keeps these sweet treats perfectly moist and fluffy, while an air fryer will just dry them out. Try air frying a buttery baked-good, such as these Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.

    Raw Rice and Other Grains Raw rice and other grains will not cook evenly in an air fryer, even when using a special pan-insert. Try using cooked rice instead to make Air Fryer Fried Rice with Sesame-Sriracha Sauce, so you can achieve the crispy, browned rice without having to heat up a large sauté pan or wok.

    Foods You Didnt Know You Could Make In An Air Fryer

    Top 12 Air Fryer MISTAKES How to Use an Air Fryer

    You know all about the meats, fried foods, gameday snacks, and other obvious things you can make in an air fryer, but that versatile appliance can also make some foods that might surprise you. Some of these are straightforward, others take some creativity, but here are 20 foods you didnt know you could make in an air fryer.

    Don’t Miss: Cooking Frozen French Fries In An Air Fryer

    Air Fryer Spinach Pepper And Havarti Frittata

    You may not have thought to make a frittata in your air fryer, but you can! You’ll get a gorgeous brown crust with a creamy interiorand clever use of a cake pan makes it a cinch to unmold. We used Havarti for its mild flavor and superior melting qualities, but substitute another good melting cheese such as Cheddar, jack or fontina if you like. Serve the frittata warm or at room temperature.

    Get the Recipe: Air Fryer Spinach, Pepper and Havarti Frittata

    Crispy Parmesan Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts

    If you love brussels sprouts like I do, youll adore this easy recipe! Super-crunchy and dripping with flavor, these sprouts are coated with garlic, olive oil, and Parmesanplus Panko! Yum!

    And, thats a wrap! I hope you enjoy the ease of cooking in an air-fryer, and the tasty recipes you can make using it! Its truly one of my favorite ways to make crispy, crunchy food, fast.

    Also Check: What Is The Smallest Air Fryer

    And 3 Good Reasons Why You Should

    Preheat the oven to 500°F for 1 hour.

    While this step in your favorite pizza recipe may bring you joy in December , during the smothering heat of August its a deal-breaker. Yet you still want homemade pizza, even on blistering summer days. Thankfully, theres a solution:

    Air fryer pizza.

    Just like cake and cookies, you can absolutely make pizza with the help of your air fryer and Im eager to show you how. But first, lets check out the advantages of air fryer pizza.

    1) Your kitchen stays cool. Your air fryer gives off almost no heat, so you can happily use it as much as you like without adding more heat to your already stifling kitchen or having to jack up the AC.

    2) Your air fryer inherently uses very little energy. Think how small its capacity is compared to your regular oven you also dont have to preheat the fryer for an hour, as many standard pizza recipes direct. And aside from saving on your electric bill, conserving resources for the good of the planet is simply the right thing to do.

    3) No special equipment is necessary. You dont have a pizza stone and peel, or a pizza oven, or a special pizza pan? No problem. All you need for air fryer pizza is a piece of parchment for thin or standard pizza, or a cake pan for thicker Sicilian-style.

    How to make air fryer pizza

    Thick or thin crust?

    What size pizza can you make?

    And here’s the math:

    Shaping and rising

    Baking

    Browning the bottom crust

    Reheating leftovers

    What Shouldnt I Use An Air Fryer To Do

    Think Air Fryers Are Only for Fries? Think Again! Here

    Although the air fryer is a great tool to speed up time spent in the kitchen, the food you make in it isnt going to taste the same as something youve deep-fried, experts told us. Free yourself of those confines and you wont be disappointed.

    Linda Larsen, author of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook, also noted that not every food can be cooked in the air fryer, pointing specifically to frozen stuffed chicken breasts. Foods like this, after being put in the air fryer, will look fully cooked and golden brown on the outside even if theyre still raw and potentially dangerous to eat. Both Larsen and Weinstein explicitly warned against cooking anything with a runny batter in the air fryer, too, since it can make a mess and require more painstaking clean-up.

    You May Like: Nuwave Air Fryer Home Depot

    Whats So Good About Air Frying

    An air fryer uses air to fry your food which means that the air bubbles around the food are what cooks it. Because air is used instead of oil, air-fried foods are much healthier for you. Furthermore, air frying requires less fat than traditional frying resulting in even healthier food!

    Some air fryers can also bake and grill, which makes them all-in-one cooking machines. For example, an air fryer can be used in place of a microwave oven too! The best thing about air frying is that because theres no oil or grease involved in this process, the taste of the food becomes even better whilst retaining most, if not all, its nutritive value! Lets take a look at some recipes for an air fryer before looking at air fryers themselves.

    Doesnt Work So Well: Foods With Loose Seasonings

    As you can imagine, any herbs or spices that arent stuck to your food might not stay put in an air fryer. Hold off on salting, peppering and seasoning your foods until they come out of the deviceotherwise, the little bits could get caught in the air fryers nooks and crannies, making it harder to clean.

    However, if you do make this mistake, its not the end of the world: most air fryer pieces are dishwasher safe. Here are more tips for using one.

    Also Check: How To Cook Chicken Nuggets In Air Fryer

    Is Air Fryer Useful For Vegetarians

    I think everyone needs one really. We eat meat but do cook vegetables in it quite often because they come out tender on the inside but crispy on the outside like air fryer fried potatoes.

    Snacks like air fryer chickpeas come out amazing and you can just add veggies to our air fryer quiche recipe for a meal. We love air fryer cheese curds with marinara too.

    • Try something new some time with air fryer latkes! You might call them potato pancakes but these are a bit different and crispier.

    We use veggies like air fryer artichoke as a side dish usually. If I just want something light I have been known to eat just a plate of spicy air fryer zucchini chips.

    You can serve those with air fryer turkey legs or just about anything really. Our air fryer spinach chips or buttered versions are great choices.

    Popular Articles

    More Recipes Like This