Don’t open that delivery app: 3 air fryer healthy eating tips to try instead

It’s that time again: mid-January, when willpower is fading and the resolutions we oh-so-soberly embarked on a few short weeks ago have become challenging to maintain.

If eating healthily (and cheaply) was on your list, now is the time to harness the power of your air fryer to keep you motivated.

An air fryer might not seem like a natural choice when it comes to eating well. In fact, many people regard it as the enemy of good food and proper cooking. Partly that’s down to the word “fryer” in the appliance’s name, and partly its association with beige frozen food.

But don’t forget that air fryers don’t actually fry food at all. They cook in the same way a convection oven does – by circulating hot air around food – except that they do it faster and more efficiently, so they’ll save you time and money when cooking.

Try a low-effort dinner

When it’s dark early and cold all the time, it’s hard to muster up the motivation to cook a meal. That’s when delivery apps start to look extremely tempting.

But throwing the ingredients for a quick, healthy dinner into the air fryer and then hiding under a blanket for 20 mins while they cook is a much better option.

There are hundreds of healthy and quick air fryer recipes you can search online and you don’t need an armful of complicated ingredients to make them, or much prep time.   

Here are four easy air fryer recipes to try:

• Baked sweet potatoes
• Roasted chicken and mixed vegetables
• Salmon fillets
• Garlic mushrooms on wholemeal toast

If you regularly make a meal comprising a protein such as a chicken breast, fish fillet or steak, and a side of veggies, you’ll find that a dual-drawer air fryer is the fastest and most hassle-free way to cook it.

The sync function on most dual-drawer models will allow you to add food to both drawers, choose different cooking times and methods, and have everything ready at the same time.  

You can see our top recommendations in our round-up of the best dual-drawer air fryers we’ve tested.

Make your own snacks

Over the winter, you may well turn to snacks to give you a quick energy boost, or when you need something to mindlessly chew on to keep your focus. But processed snacks aren’t likely to get you closer to your healthy eating goals.  

Instead, you can use your air fryer to make your own healthy snacks.

Most air fryers have a dehydrate setting and you can use this to make jerky from meat, or dried fruit. You can even make your own raisins. If your air fryer doesn’t have a dedicated dehydrate setting, cut the meat or fruit into thin, even strips and arrange it on the crisper plate in a single layer, set your air fryer to around 60°C and the timer for up to 6 hours.

While you’re experimenting, set it for an hour at a time and regularly check on the jerky or fruit to make sure it doesn’t dry out too much.

Give leftovers a second life

It’s all very well to batch cook or try to use up your leftovers to make another meal, but if the food is unappetising when you come to eat it, your thoughts are once again going to turn to a delivery app.

You won’t need as much willpower to avoid less healthy choices if the food you’re making tastes good.

Microwaving leftovers or pre-cooked meals can often leave food watery or soggy and an air fryer is a better option, as it’ll crisp up food as it cooks.

You can put food in baking tins or stoneware pots in the air fryer but you might also find that silicone air fryer liners are useful to keep around. You can buy them very cheaply from Amazon.

If you’re looking to upgrade your air fryer, check out our top recommendations. We’ve also got round-ups for the best Ninja air fryer, the best dual-drawer air fryer and the best air fryer oven.