Air fryers - what do you cook in it ?

There is a very short thread about air fryers which I commented on. We have a Ninja air fryer which is also a pressure cooker. We have made soups, stews, boiled eggs (you need the pressure cooker for those three items). In the air fryer we have made bread, scones, shepherd's pie, cooked bacon, sausages, toasties etc. Anything you can cook in an oven you can cook in an air fryer.

The short thread is under Food.

I use mine for everything in fact I ve never used my oven since the day I bought it two years ago
I m not much of a cook but I ve made simples scones and cheese straws in it I m a vegi so lots of vegis go in I do my breakfast toast in it ( no need for a toaster ) jacket potatoes, pizzas, chips, sweet potato chips pies ( I don’t make them not interested enough in cooking ) if I was a meat eater I d probably use a slow cook for that
Mine is a basic cheap air fryer but does me and is used every day

BlueBelle - how do you make toast in it? I tried that and the bread just went hard, it didn't brown on the top. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

An air fryer is just an oven which is small.
You have to adapt time and temperature just as you learned to use a conventional oven when you first start cooking.
Some have multiple functions, mine is basic and I use it for almost everything I would use my big oven for.

I've got a small one but don't use it much except for potatoes and veg sometimes. I like my omelette maker and my toaster better. Yes an air fryer is reasonably fast but somehow I just don't get excited about it. Reading the comments though it's making me feel I ought to give it a go again. As we now have 4 people in our household for a while I think I've not got as much space in it at the moment - but I will give it a whirl again.

I don’t have an air fryer. I have yet to be converted! When I was looking for a book in WH Smith yesterday I saw some air fryer recipe books. They could be helpful and there might be some in the library. I’m sure there will also be some good websites.

Pinterest is great when looking how to cook just about anything in the air fryer.

I've used mine for chips and roast ptoatoes, chicken, pizza, chicken fillets turn out nice and soft, also baked scones and sponges ,I was a bit wary of baking a sponge, but it turned out lovely...

Chips,roast potatoes,roast carrots,parsnips, roasted Mediterranean veggies,BNS, chicken,home made sausage rolls,pizza,breaded fish,croissants. I try anything in it. After a dubious start (from me) I love it and use it most days. Like has been said it’s trial and error.

Amazing crunchy pork crackling.

Anything that would usually go in the oven.
Great for crisping up yesterday's fresh bread....a couple of minutes on 180.
Brilliant oven chips.
I have a small casserole dish that fits for sloppy meals.

Ferry you probably had it on too high a heat mine is fine and comes out like if you did it under the grill, just toasted bread really 🤣🤣🤣

I have a Ninja two drawer airfrier. It's over two and a half years old now and since I had it I've used my main oven only once. I cook similar foods to those already mentioned. Also cook fresh salmon in foil parcels. 180 for 15/16 mins on bake. Very moist and delicious. Four parcels fit in the two drawers. A salad or vegetable and new potatoes, meal for four. Chops cook nicely too. I often do roasted vegetables and parmentier potatoes. Bread and butter pudding is gorgeous cooked in the Ninja. Frozen fish with Albert Bartlett oven chips + veg. done in the microwave is a quick meal (20 minutes).
I'm so used to the Ninja that it's second nature, just as the main oven used to be.

If you do buy one, get one with a drawer big enough to put a dish in and room to get it out. I bought a Lakeland two drawer one and neither draw is big enough to cook much in . I wish I had bought a one drawer one. I use it for roasted potatoes, sausages and roasted veg but have not done much else. I did not like the chips I tried, nothing like ones cooked in deep fat.

What you can cook depends partly on what size machine you have, what shape it is and how many you are cooking for. I have a round one (Ninja) that won't fit a pizza, for instance, unless it's really small.

I can bake cakes, scones, bread, etc but most of my baking tins don't fit in either. I can roast a whole chicken, and bake hams. Our favourite lasagne comes in a foil tray that won't fit in. It's okay for loose things like sausages, bacon, chips, chicken pieces. I've even 'boiled' eggs in it 😁

Oh yes, 'boiled' eggs. I boil eggs (no water required) in the Ninja. Excellent.

My Lakeland two drawer has one wider drawer and one narrower drawer, so no problems for cooking dishes in it, to be honest. It cooks fish, chicken breast and pork steaks beautifully. A bit of trial and error initially regarding timings, but now I’ve got the hang of it, it’s great. I’ve also cooked oven chips, reheated pizza slices, warmed through French sticks with no problem at all. I’ve not baked cakes, buns or biscuits in it, but I imagine it’s quite possible (just that you won’t be able to bake as many in one go as you would in a traditional oven, and cakes such as a Christmas cake would be done in a conventional oven). Obviously, if you have a lot of food to cook, then your traditional oven is your best friend; but for smaller amounts the air fryer is brilliant.
It’s a misnomer really, as it’s not a fryer, but a mini oven.

I recently bought a new 2 drawer air fryer from Lakeland. It has a large and a small drawer. It has several different settings which is useful.
I've air fried scones in my Ninja foodi. I haven't tried baked goods in my new one yet.

Granmarderby10

Amazing crunchy pork crackling.

We hadn’t had proper pork crackling for years until we got our air fryer, now it is perfect every time.

I use mine more and more. I store it down in the basement, so every day I'm up and down with it! There isn't much storage space on my countertop, so not much choice. But I do like it enough to make the trip almost daily!

Like others have said, just about everything you do in the oven can be done in the airfryer. I often do chicken thighs in one drawer, and partmentier (diced) potatoes in the other.
I start the chicken skin side down, and flip about half way through to get the skin browned when finished.

How easy are these things to clean?
What is the main advantage of them apart from the fact that they are quicker?

I have vaguely considered buying one but I don’t want to go to the expense of buying smaller dishes, baking trays etc when the ones I already have are perfectly fine.

Thanks Kate and others- I hadn’t realised there was info under the food category.

JenniferEccles

How easy are these things to clean?
What is the main advantage of them apart from the fact that they are quicker?

I have vaguely considered buying one but I don’t want to go to the expense of buying smaller dishes, baking trays etc when the ones I already have are perfectly fine.

Mine has a basket which goes in the dishwasher but it's as easy to hand wash as any baking tray. I use a liner with anything messy.
I think the main advantage is not having to turn on the oven if I just fancy one sausage roll or to crisp up a roll etc.