Everyone has heard of an air fryer. It’s an alternative to the standard deep fryer that utilizes hot air to cook food.
In this post, we’ll discuss the many uses for air fryers, the types of food that work well in them, and our top picks. You’ll also learn why they’re a fantastic alternate cooking option for those who want to eat better without sacrificing taste or texture. You’ll also find a list of things that shouldn’t be cooked in it at the end of the page.
HOW AIR FRYERS WORK?To cook food, an air fryer uses a fan to move the hot air around within the appliance. That’s why it can reach temperatures of 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit without requiring any kind of oil or fat to be added to the food being cooked. If you’re looking to make some changes to your diet and your cooking habits, this is an essential tool to have on hand.
COMMON MISTAKES YOU’RE PROBABLY MAKING WITH YOUR AIR FRYER
Cleaning it incorrectly or infrequently
Few people look forward to clearing the table after a meal. But crumbs shouldn’t be left behind if you want your air fryer to stay in good shape. Cleaning the air fryer thoroughly involves rinsing it off after each usage with hot, soapy water and giving it a quick scrape every so often.
Not checking on your air fryer while it’s cooking
Checking on your food at regular intervals when air frying is essential for perfect outcomes. In order to ensure that your food is cooked thoroughly and crispily without burning or drying out, most models enable you to open the unit, check on your food, and shake the basket about.
Overcrowding the basket
Many first-time air fryer owners make the mistake of trying to fit too much food into the appliance and hoping that it would all cook at once and perfectly. You shouldn’t load your basket more than halfway, so if you need to prepare a lot of food, do it in batches. Avoid the common mistake of trying to feed a large group at once.
Not pre-heating
It is common practice to preheat the oven before putting food in it. Now consider an air fryer. If you give the appliance a few more minutes to get to the ideal baking temperature and doneness, you won’t have to worry about underbaked chocolate chip cookies or raw centers in your potato gems.
WHAT CAN YOU COOK IN AN AIR FRYER?
A wonderful appliance for the preparation of speedy and wholesome meals is an air fryer. For instance, it just takes a few minutes to prepare pre-packaged frozen dishes like tater tots or French fries from frozen. A good number of parents value the fact that their children may come home from school and make snacks without putting themselves in danger of being burnt by a hot pan on top of stovetop-range surfaces where there are open flames. This is something that many parents enjoy.
Although this device may be used for a wide variety of tasks in addition to providing an alternate method for frying food, the one thing that I most like to do with the one that I have is? When I’m in the need for something fried but don’t want the additional calories that come with other alternatives at fast food restaurants, I make my own chicken nuggets.
You are able to prepare almost all of the foods that you would normally cook in an ordinary oven. That implies you shouldn’t bread the chicken breasts, burgers, or steak before you cook them. Because it cooks at the ideal temperature, an air fryer produces meat that is moist and tender without causing it to overcook, as may happen when using some other cooking techniques.
Here is a list of meals and fast snacks that can be prepared in an air fryer without the need of a pool of oil.
- Chicken Wings
- Empanadas
- Salmon
- French fries
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cauliflower Tots
- Tofu
- Schnitzel
- Steak
- Sausages
- Bloomin’ Onion
- Fish & Chips
- Bagels
- Turkey Breast
- Bacon
- Chickpeas
- Whole Eggs
- Donuts
- Cheeseburgers
- Falafel
- Roast Beef
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Rotisserie Chicken
- Apple Chips
- Pop Tarts
- Mozzarella Sticks
WHICH AIR FRYER SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
If you’re just getting started in the kitchen, selecting an air fryer might be a daunting task. It’s simple to get lost among the myriad of available options given the breadth of the market. You’ll find something of interest on our blog for people of all interests. Our Tiny air fryers for small spaces guide has the one you need whether you’re a single person living in a dorm or studio apartment. If, on the other hand, you have a big family, you may use one of the air fryers in our range of extra-large models.
The most adaptable kitchen gadget is the air fryer pressure cooker combination, which is perfect if you are an experienced cook who enjoys trying new recipes. You may easily prepare a broad variety of dishes, from sausages and sweets to French fries and burgers. Why don’t you drop us a line and tell us your favorite things to air fry?
WHAT TYPES OF FOOD CANNOT BE PREPARED IN AN AIR FRYER?
It should come as no surprise that an air fryer is unable to properly prepare all types of dishes. It is not recommended to use an air fryer for cooking food that has a wet batter since the batter won’t set correctly and it will be extremely difficult to clean the machine afterward. Instead, it is recommended to use a deep fryer for cooking food with a wet batter.
Raw greens, such as broccoli, and meals that need water, such as rice, are two examples of foods that do not perform very well in this context. If you like cheese very much, then air-frying meals that include cheese is not going to be the ideal choice for you; rather than a delectable snack, you will wind up with a whole lot of mess on your hands.
Find out which things you can’t fry in your air fryer before you give in to the temptation to join the crowd.
Battered foods
It is important to remember not to put wet batter into the air fryer. It will result in a mess, and wet batter will not set the same way that it does when it is bathed in oil, which means the meal won’t have that crispy crust. Coating your meal with flour, egg, and breadcrumbs before to cooking will ensure that it turns out flawlessly golden brown each and every time. This will also give it a little crunch.
In light of this, it is acceptable to put a battered meal that has already been cooked and frozen into an air fryer.
Fresh greens
Due to the rapid speed of the air that the machine utilizes, leafy greens like spinach will not cook uniformly. Foods that don’t stay put are highly susceptible to being burned. Choose veggies that have some weight to them, like broccoli and zucchini, to cook in an air fryer. These vegetables will maintain their shape better. If you cover the kale in enough oil to weigh the leaves down, you could also find that making kale chips is successful. When it comes to air fryers, experts agree that the best way to proceed is with frozen vegetables since the ice helps the vegetables retain more moisture than fresh vegetables do. This is simply one of those interesting facts about food that you probably haven’t given much consideration to in the past.
Roasts served whole
The most important thing to consider before attempting to use an air fryer to cook a complete roast is whether or not the roast will fit into the basket of the air fryer in the correct manner. However, it is still advisable to use the standard oven even if the meat can fit in the smaller one. The roast will not cook uniformly, and the area that is closest to the heat source will probably become inedible before the section that is farther away from the heat is done cooking and safe to consume.
It all boils down to how crowded the space is. Because there must be space for the hot air to flow in an acceptable manner, it is recommended that you cook the roast in smaller pieces. Because air fryers heat from the top, while frying a chicken, make sure that the breast is positioned face down, with the skin facing up. This will ensure that the chicken cooks evenly. Find out whether you may use aluminum foil in the air fryer before you start the next dish you prepare to cook.
Cheese
Who among us wouldn’t drool at the prospect of whipping up a batch of fried cheese in a flash? If you put cheese into your air fryer without first coating it in some way, the cheese will merely melt into a puddle and produce a mess that you will not want to clean up. This is due to the fact that your air fryer does not really cook the food. There won’t be any fried cheese coming out of your air fryer until you go through the freezer section for some frozen mozzarella sticks.
This also applies to cheese that has been grilled, since the tremendous pressure from the hot air will certainly cause the cheese to catch fire. This traditional kind of comfort food is best prepared on the stove top.
Raw grains
It’s possible to get a wonderful crunch out of grains like rice and pasta in an air fryer, but you have to first cook them on the stove top. It is impossible to use an air fryer to prepare food that has to be submerged in water at any point throughout the cooking process since that is not how the appliance is designed to function. Even if the air fryer has an insert that enables you to pour water inside of it, the fan will never reach hot enough to boil the water and effectively cook your grains. Even if the air fryer has an insert that allows you to place water inside of it.
Hamburgers
It is not recommended to use an air fryer to grill red meat, particularly if you prefer your burgers cooked to a medium-rare doneness. When using an air fryer, the inside of the beef may be cooked to a medium-rare state in a very short period of time; but, the outside of the burger will not brown as rapidly. If you want your meat pink and juicy, you won’t get the charred texture you need with an air fryer since it doesn’t get hot enough. However, if you want your burgers well done, you should be able to cook them successfully in an air fryer.
Toast
In theory, an air fryer would do a decent job of toasting a slice of bread thanks to all of the uniformly distributed hot air that it contains. You may have even seen kitchen hacks that laud the air fryer’s ability to toast bread, but the high air pressure will actually cause the bread to move about and blow crumbs all over the basket. These kitchen hacks celebrate the air fryer’s ability to toast bread. It is essential to keep in mind that an air fryer is not the same thing as a toaster oven. If you want a slice of toast that is nice and crunchy, you might consider using a toaster or a toaster oven.
Popcorn
People used to have to add kernels and oil to a pot in order to make their own handmade popcorn before the invention of the microwave popcorn and packaged, readymade popcorn bags. Even though the chamber of an air fryer may seem very much like an enclosed pot, an air fryer normally does not become hot enough to successfully pop popcorn. It needs a temperature of between 400 and 460 degrees Fahrenheit to for popcorn to pop, but the temperature in an air fryer is typically between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
FAQ’s
What is the dish that people use their air fryers most often to prepare?
One might argue that cooking French fries in an air fryer is the most common use for the appliance. Making French fries in an air fryer results in a noticeably crunchy surface and fluffy inside without the greasiness of deep-frying them. Air fryers utilize a fraction of the oil that is required for deep-frying.
Is it possible to cook raw meat in an air fryer?
Even while you probably feel confident cooking pre-cooked meats that just need to be warmed up in an air fryer, it is always a good idea to double-check the safety rules for cooking raw meat, especially if you are planning on serving raw meat. The good news is that it is perfectly safe to cook raw meat in an air fryer.
What should I cook in my air fryer for the first time?
French fries are always the very first dish we try out in a new air fryer, and we do so every single time. Using this machine will make making homemade French fries seem like less of a bother, and if you get the hang of it, making them may really become something you do on a more frequent basis.
Conclusion
Overall, the air fryer is an excellent kitchen tool to have. If you own an air fryer, you may choose from the many preexisting recipes or come up with your own. There are a few items, however, that are not suitable for air-frying. Still, the air fryer is an essential tool that you won’t be sorry to have in your kitchen.
