Air Fryer Cooking: Exploring Tasty Possibilities

Air fryers are versatile kitchen appliances that can cook a wide range of foods. They can be used to cook frozen foods like fish, chicken wings, and steak fries, as well as from-scratch foods like cinnamon-sugar donuts, chocolate chip cookies, and crispy potatoes. Air fryers are also great for reheating food, eliminating the need for a microwave and its associated smells.

Chicken

You can cook a variety of chicken dishes in an air fryer, including chicken wings, thighs, and legs. You can also dry brine your chicken before cooking it in the air fryer.

In addition to wings, thighs, and legs, you can also cook chicken breasts in the air fryer. This is a great option if you're looking for a quick and easy way to prepare chicken, as it only takes about 20 minutes to cook. You can season the chicken breasts with your favourite herbs and spices before air frying them.

Another option for cooking chicken in the air fryer is to make chicken tenders or nuggets. These are a great choice for kids and can be made with either fresh or frozen chicken. You can bread the chicken with a variety of coatings, such as panko breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, and then air fry them until they're crispy and golden.

Fish

You can cook fish in an air fryer. It will come out with a crunchy coating, perfect for satisfying a pub-food craving. You can serve it with thick-cut steak fries, also prepared in the air fryer (from frozen). This meal will be ready in under 30 minutes.

You can also cook salmon in an air fryer.

Air fryers are great at heating frozen foods, but they're also fantastic for from-scratch foods, like chicken wings, potato chips, cinnamon-sugar donuts, and extra-crisp chocolate chip cookies. You can also cook hard-boiled eggs, crispy bacon, chicken thighs, legs, pork chops, steaks, and more.

Bacon

Cooking bacon in an air fryer is a convenient and effective way to get crispy bacon without the mess. You can cook it quickly or cook it until it's crispy. It's recommended to air fry at 350˚F to avoid any smokiness while cooking bacon. If you're cooking in batches, be sure to drain the drip pan of any oil and wipe it clean with a paper towel. You can also put a thin slice of bread flat in the bottom of the air fryer (beneath the basket) to absorb grease, simplify cleaning, and reduce smoking.

If you want to use foil, it's best to put it under the tray to help with cleaning. You can coat the bacon with some EVOO and dust it with coarse ground pepper.

Vegetables

Air fryers can be used to cook a wide range of vegetables. Brussel sprouts, green beans, potatoes and yams are all suitable for air frying.

One user recommends keeping servings small, which is good for one or two people. They use about three-quarters of a russet potato cut in half lengthwise and then sliced. This process can create crispy potatoes in less than 20 minutes.

Another user recommends cooking potatoes and sprouts together. They suggest keeping the air fryer on for longer than you think is necessary to ensure the vegetables are cooked through.

You can also cook frozen vegetables in an air fryer. One user recommends frozen steak fries, which can be cooked in under 30 minutes.

Frozen foods

Air fryers are great for cooking frozen foods. You can cook frozen steak fries in an air fryer in under 30 minutes. You can also cook a whole 4-pound turkey breast in an air fryer, which will brown and crisp the skin as if it had been deep-fried in hot oil.

You can also cook frozen pre-made puff pastry in an air fryer. Slice pre-cooked breakfast sausages into cocktail-sized pieces and cook them in the air fryer at 400 degrees for about 6-8 minutes. The pastry will puff up and get light and crispy.

Air fryers are also great for heating up other frozen foods, like chicken wings, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies.

Frequently asked questions