Air Fryer Cooking: Fresh Food, Healthy Option?

Air fryers can be used to cook a wide variety of fresh foods, including meat, fish, vegetables, and even desserts. They can also be used to reheat leftovers, making them a versatile and convenient cooking appliance. Some examples of foods that can be cooked in an air fryer include chicken, salmon, potatoes, and asparagus. Air fryers can also be used to bake goods such as brownies, lemon pie, and carrot pie.

Vegetables

Yes, you can cook fresh food in an air fryer. Vegetables are a great option for air frying. You can air fry almost any vegetable, including potatoes, asparagus, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and roasted veggies.

To air fry potatoes, toss mini potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Fry for 12 minutes, shake the basket, and then fry for another 8 minutes. The skins will get nice and crispy. You can also make fries from fresh potatoes.

For roasted veggies, try tossing vegetables like broccoli or carrots with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then air frying until tender. You can also air fry frozen vegetables. Try the Normandy blend, following the same instructions as for mini potatoes.

You can also air fry halloumi. Slice up a loaf of halloumi, spray it with cooking spray, and air fry for five or six minutes until the edges are golden. Toss the hot cheese with a salad for a fast vegetarian meal.

Meat

Yes, you can cook fresh food in an air fryer.

Fish

Yes, you can cook fresh food in an air fryer.

Air fryers are great for cooking fish. Salmon is a popular choice, but you can also cook other types of fish. Before putting the fish in the air fryer, be sure to season it. You can also spray it with cooking spray to get a crispy outside and gooey centre. For salmon, you should air fry it for five or six minutes until it has some colour on the edges. You can then toss the hot fish on a salad made with anything in your fridge for a fast, healthy meal.

Desserts

Yes, you can cook fresh food in an air fryer. In fact, air fryers are great for cooking desserts, including berry crisp, vegan zucchini chocolate cake, apple pie "baked" apples, and gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. You can even use an air fryer to reheat desserts, such as leftover pie or brownies, making them taste as if they're fresh out of the oven.

If you're looking for a dessert that's a little more indulgent, you can cook fresh doughnuts in an air fryer. You can also use an air fryer to bake brownies, lemon pie, and carrot pie.

For a healthier option, try air-frying fresh fruit. For example, you could make "baked" apples by coring an apple and filling it with cinnamon and sugar before air-frying.

Air fryers are also great for cooking a variety of savoury dishes, including halloumi, salmon, roasted vegetables, chicken, and pork tenderloin.

Reheating leftovers

Yes, fresh food can be cooked in an air fryer. You can cook up bacon for breakfast alongside fresh doughnuts, whip up craveable snacks, and cook a whole pork tenderloin. You can also cook fresh halloumi, salmon, roasted veggies, asparagus, chicken breast, fajita chicken, frozen chicken tenders, jalapeno poppers, French fries, and leftovers.

The air fryer is great for reheating things, especially desserts. If you have some leftover pie and don’t want to turn on your oven to warm it up, or want to serve a warm brownie with your ice cream, pop them in your air fryer briefly and they’ll taste as good as fresh out of the oven. You can also reheat leftover pizza in an air fryer, which some people think tastes even better than it did fresh.

Frequently asked questions