Recipes for using an air fryer please

Yes, it was so sudden and the flames were high. If I had curtains in the kitchen the house would have been on fire and I would have been ringing the fire brigade.

My air fryer is "ordinary" and I have recently bought an innard so I can cook/heat items with gravy and it will soon have paid for itself- it was well worth it and it has a handle and is so easy to clean.

My first was frozen cauliflower cheese. The oven would have taken 15 minutes to heat up and the cooking time was 45 minutes and there was sufficient for 3 meals so that would have been a lot of electricity. My method took 5 minutes to heat up and 15 minutes to cook. No contest.

Thank goodness you were able to quickly get it under control Charleygirl5. I have a basic model and I love it.

Can I ask please what you’ve bought to use for “wet” food?

I successfuly 'baked' some veggie sausage rolls in mine yesterday, 12 minutes. Far better than pre-heating the fan oven and then baking for 15-18 minutes.

I tried Amazon for air fryer accessories but they either did not fit my machine or there were too many accessories being sold that I did not need.

Eventually I found one on ebay and if you type in the make of yours and add "accessories" you may be lucky. Mine apparently fits a few makes.

Mine was around £15 and when it arrived I thought it was too small but I am not catering for the masses- it is fine.

Thanks Charleygirl5 I’ll check it out. I don’t feel I’m particularly in need of one so far but it sounds like it would make it more versatile if I get a bit more adventurous.

I live alone and can cook my full dinner in it with the occasional 5 mins help from the microwave to cook the baked potato first before dropping into the airfryer to crisp beside the roasting veg, chicken portion or whatever.

Niobe

I’ve just bought a book called ‘Air Fryer Cookbook’ by Jenny Tschiesche from The Works for £6. It has loads of recipes but I found it really useful for estimating cooking times. I bought it because the photos actually showed the Air fryer that I have so I presumed that it was written with that one in mind.

I've tracked a copy of this down, and agree that it's got some good ideas in it (better than my strange American one, certainly ). It took me three attempts in different branches of The Works to find it, so I think it might be at the end of their stock run.

Thanks for the tip - I'm looking forward to trying it out.

This is a good website for Airfryer recipes plus other electrical cooking equipment. The couple who run it live in UK.

recipethis.com/

Just to say, as we had a really busy day with DGC today, we had a quick pasta meal tonight - and I popped garlic bread in the air fryer - it was one small frozen baguette, which I snapped in half. Didn’t put lining paper in - just cooked it for about 10 mins. Very tasty!

Grannynannywanny

I feel a bit apprehensive about using baking paper after reading that there is a risk due to the strong air flow that a piece of paper could break away and blow upwards onto the heating element and cause a fire ?

I sometimes use greaseproof paper but always put something on top of it like the grill or crisper plate to weight it down. I guess if you put food directly on it that would also hold it down.

Amazon have some silicon circles that I think will do the same as baking paper, unless I’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I plan to order some when I get home tomorrow.

Cook chopped leeks unti soft in a bit of oil or butter and mix into mashed potatoes with a little bit of milk. Add lots of grated cheddar and a bit of English mustard and mix well. Put one portion of this in a small dish or tin and top with grated cheese. Pop into pre heated air fryer on roast until heated through and browned. I make quite a lot and freeze in individual portions.
I also find it's excellent for cooking cubed Tofu to put in a stir fry as it makes it crispy.

I don't have an air fryer, but I know people use foil dishes in theirs for a few pence each, from Ebay.

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I'm not sure what you mean by an open fryer. To Air Fry you need to have the lid closed, but maybe I've misunderstood what you are saying.

I have a question for Ninja owners, please. I want to make a cheese/pasta/chilli recipe (which looks nicer than it sounds!) and you pressure cook the chilli, then stir in cheese sprinkle some on the top and use the Air Fry function to crisp it.

My question is whether you can cook it in a serving dish (or pour it into one and crisp it using the dish you are going to serve it in? I don't want to put the cooking pot on the table, but if I cook and crisp it in there the crisped topping will get disturbed when I move it to another dish.

I have an assortment of possible dishes (although I haven't tried them all for size), including cast iron, pottery and Pyrex. If I put the chilli into one, then Air Fry it, will I risk breaking the dish because of the heat?

Sorry - a million typos in that post, but I hope you can get the gist.

Doodledog I've never done it but I would assume Pyrex would be okay because you can use it in the oven in temperatures over 200C and a pasta wouldn't need that sort of temp.

(But don't blame me if it goes wrong please ? )

Thanks, AWTY. I'll have a go if I can find a Pyrex one that will both hold all the food and fit inside the pot .

I could crisp it in the oven or under the grill, but I am trying not to use the cooker whilst I try out the Ninja, or I will default to 'whatever's easiest' and not get to know what it's capable of doing.

I had a Pyrex bowl in my air fryer for about 10 mins yesterday at 180 degrees and no harm done. I found a round Pyrex bowl that fits nicely in TK Max for £2.99.

Doodledog

Thanks, AWTY. I'll have a go if I can find a Pyrex one that will both hold all the food and fit inside the pot .

I could crisp it in the oven or under the grill, but I am trying not to use the cooker whilst I try out the Ninja, or I will default to 'whatever's easiest' and not get to know what it's capable of doing.

I’ve been told that grated cheese can fly around and burn on the heating element due to the very powerful fan! The advice is to leave the cheese dish in the pre heated air fryer to start to melt before turning it on.

I think that it might be quicker and more economical to use the grill if all you are doing is browning some cheese.

Thanks, GNW. I'll have to find one in my cupboards for today, but I'll have a look in TK Maxx next time I'm in there. Their kitchenware section is a treasure trove!

Just seen your post, Teacheranne.

Hmm. The recipe I'm planning is pictured in the pot, and it does say to add the cheese and Air Fry. I can't link to it, as I downloaded it and saved it with another title, so I'd never find it. It was a free e-book from one of the million US Foodi blogs out there. It's a basic chilli recipe with pasta and cheese (or will be when I've subbed all the American ingredients ). As I remember, you sauté the mince and onions, add tomatoes, passata, beans, chillies and stock, then add pasta and pressure cook. When that's done, you stir in cheese, and add more to the top and finish using the Air Fryer.

I thought it would be a good weeknight standby to make using Quorn, so my husband will eat it, but maybe i'll do something different until I get the hang of things. I'm working my way through the functions. We had this yesterday, with Air Crisped baked potatoes and I made a Countess pudding (ancient Be-ro recipe) but instead of baking it in a single dish I put the mix into into a muffin tray and used the bake function to make little round portions. It worked quite well, although it tasted exactly the same . It was another function ticked off the list though.

In case anyone is on the edge of her seat, I can't find a suitable dish that will fit in the pot. I have pudding basins, but they won't be suitable for the table either, and the casserole dishes I have have side handles, so won't work.

I think I will make it as directed and then try to decant it carefully. It doesn't matter if I make a mess of it, as it's just for us. If that fails badly but we enjoy the food, next time I will finish it in the oven or under the grill. I'm very much at the 'trial and error' stage .