Ask Lemmy

Brussels sprouts in the airfryer are amazing - but pretty much any vegetables go well, are quick, easy and healthy. If healthy is not your thing, anything in the frozen aisle (chips, hash browns, onion rings, chicken nuggets and fish fingers, etc) are also incredibly easy and always work.

Reheating fried food in the air fryer changed how I view leftovers. Also, love roasted veggies or air fryer whole chicken. I use my air fryer a lot more than I thought I would.

Tip to keep your air fryer/oven in top condition: do NOT use oil sprays with propellants, like PAM. They will accumulate on your air fryer and get burnt and nasty and generally be a lot harder to clean off than a pure oil. I use a sprayer with pure avocado oil and no propellants. Also, give it a good wipe down after every use. You’ll thank yourself later when it’s not a disgusting mess.

It does a way better job at most frozen food and leftovers than a microwave does, but takes longer.

Almost anything you'd deep fry can be lightly spritzed with oil and done in an air fryer instead.

If it's big enough for a pizza, you can make one from scratch instead of frozen. It's cheaper than anything but the cheapest frozen crap and a lot better.

Baked potatoes are easier in an air fryer. Bacon works surprisingly well. It's essentially a small oven, so anything that fits in it is probably worth trying in it.

Chicken nuggets and fish fingers are my favourites, mainly because they're so tasty for how quickly they cook.

Preheat the air fryer for 2 - 3 minutes, spray a small amount of oil, then put the food in for about 12 minutes. Crispy and delicious every time :)

You can do DIY potato fries if you couple the air fryer with sous vide. You need to get the starch out of the potatoes. People will suggest you soak them in water, but that only gets you so far.

Put the raw fries in a ziplock with enough water for them to float around. Put this bag into your water and set it to 170F and let them soak for 20-30 mins. Then dry them out (start in salad spinner and spread out on a towel), coat in oil/salt, and air fry at 400 until done.

The 170F water breaks down the pectin that holds the sugars in the potatoes, so if you don't sous vide, you end up with caramelization/burned fries. This is actually what McDonald's does to their fries.

A sous vide wand can be had for around $50, and you just need a big enough pot to hold whatever you're cooking. They also do wonders for dark meat. Sous vide chicken wings are ridiculously good.

Brussels sprouts.

Chop up a potato into chunks, boil for 5 mins. Drain, add butter salt, any seasonings you like, mix it together until the chunks softened.

Spread it out on a tray and air fry at like 350 for 25 mins or until it’s crispy. Tastes great.

Pork roast in air fryer is easy mode for great crackling.

20 min at 200°C, then 25 min per 500g at 180°C.

I like making vegetarian stir-fried chicken:

I use yakisoba from the grocery store, toss it in a bowl with 2 bags of Daring chicken, shredded carrots and lots of onion and bell pepper. Air roast for about 25 minutes while the rice cooker does it's thang.

Delicious, with a little salad on the side too.

This is for lazy days where I get home and am just too tired to cook.

Leftover pizza in the fryer is next level. Often better than when it was delivered. But I like them a bit crispy.

Air fryer taquitos has been a big one for my house! A million times better than the premade freezer ones and not much more work if you have a protein cooked already or as a leftover.

I base my approach off this But I have used all sorts of proteins instead and it’s always a great meal.

Be sure to preheat it before use! You can prep while it's preheating and it really cuts down on cook time.

One of my favorites is sweet potatoes and kielbasa. Cut up the sweet potato into 1/2 inch chunks, toss with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper (I also like thyme and a little rosemary, but that's up to you). Toss em in for 14 minutes at 400 or so, until they're fork tender and the sugar has started to caramelize on the outside.

While that's going on, slice the kielbasa into ~3 inch sections and slice each section in half length-wise. Fry in a bit of olive/vegetable oil until warmed through and crispy on the cut side. Combine and serve.

Might find it's not to your taste, but I find the sweet and salty combo to be a real winner.

Not really a recipe but they're excellent for cheap bacon that's been packed full of water and ends up boiling if you try to fry it.

My best tip for air fryers is to use them for the second fry of foods that are double fried. Egg Rolls, Karage, Orange chicken, etc, honestly, The double fry method isn't just for Asian food, it takes anything where crispiness is desirable to the next level.

Do the first low fry as normal, then use the air fryer for the second high-temp fry. You don't have to worry about overcrowding as much, plus everything will be less greasy. The whole point of the second fry is to remove moisture and the air does this just as well as the grease.

Steak.

Heating up anything like Jamaican patties.

Hot dogs / smokies.