Air fryer cooking: 5 new things to try

Air fryers made their way onto our worktops with the promise of low-fat fries, healthier cooked meats and even a whole chicken, so it’s understandable that’s what many of us tend to cook in them.

However, air fryers can offer much more, from easy snacks and breakfasts, to cakes and other forms of baking. Read on to find out why you should be reaching for your air fryer at every time of the day, not just for quick dinners.

If you’re looking for an air fryer, you can browse our recommendations for the best air fryers, the best Ninja air fryers and, for more cooking capacity, the best dual-drawer air fryers and best air fryer ovens.

And to perfect your cooking, have a look at our article on five air fryer mistakes you’re making.

1. Start dehydrating

If your air fryer can reach the low temperatures required for drying out (rather than cooking), there’s a multitude of foods you can turn into healthy snacks. This includes turning thinly sliced meat into jerky (around 65-80°C/150-175°F). Beef is popular but you can also try less common meats, such as venison or buffalo.

Or you can dry out slices of fruit (around 55-60°C/130-140°F), such as apple, pineapple, banana and orange. Six to eight hours should give them a chewy texture or you can dry them out longer for a crunchier result.

You can even use your air fryer to make meringue: cook it at 120°C/250°F for 20 minutes, followed by a drying-out temperature of 95°C/200°F for 70 minutes. Leave it to cool for an hour in the basket and the result should be crisp meringues for dessert.

2. Whip up a batch of yoghurt

Some air fryers have a dedicated yoghurt setting – but even if they don’t, as long as one of the presets dips as low as 42°C/108°F and runs for at least six hours, you can get fermenting. A ‘proof’ preset can often double up for making yoghurt.

It’s advisable to use a microwave or hob beforehand, as well as a thermometer, to heat the milk up to 82°C/180°F (this kills any bacteria and tends to result in a thicker yoghurt), before rapidly cooling it in a water or ice bath to around 47-52°C/117-126°F.

Then you can mix in a generous spoonful of live yoghurt, pop it in lidded containers that fit inside your air fryer basket – glass jars are ideal – and set for anything up to 12 hours to ferment. Once the programme has finished, leave the container or jars to cool to room temperature then place them in the fridge.

3. Be a better baker

Making cakes, bread rolls, doughnuts and even bagels has traditionally meant turning on the oven but if you have an air fryer you may not have to.

Not only do many have a ‘proof’ preset (around 32-38°C/90-100°F) – perfect for helping dough to gently rise without having to stash it in an airing cupboard or running your oven on low – you’ll also find a bake setting (usually preset to 180°C/355°F) on most models, allowing you to bake almost everything you can in your oven but on a smaller scale.

As a rough guide, set your air fryer at 20°C/70°F lower than the temperature specified for baking in the oven, and reduce the time by 20-25%.

4. Achieve perfect eggs

No pan? No problem. You can use your air fryer to ‘boil’ eggs: just make sure you cook them for longer than on the hob and not at air frying temperatures.

Eggs can crack, or in extreme cases explode, in an air fryer if they’re cooked in their shells using intense heat. This is because a high temperature causes steam to build up too quickly inside the egg, increasing the pressure and bursting the shell.

Using temperatures of 170°C/340°F and above will cause them to crack. Instead, set your air fryer at 150°C/300°F, and cook for 8 minutes for soft boiled and 12 minutes for hard boiled, based on a medium-sized egg. For larger eggs, increase the time slightly.

Air fryers can also be used for other types of eggs, such as poached (7 minutes at 180°C/355°F) in ramekins containing a little hot water.

5. Puff up your pastry

The high temperatures and fast cooking times in an air fryer mean you can make anything from a batch of canapés or apple turnovers to shortcrust mince pies.

The key to getting it right is in the preheating: while you can cheat and pop some foods in an air fryer from cold, pastry needs to go in when the air fryer is already at 200°C/390°F. This helps it to rise properly and be light and crispy. It’s also a good idea not to crowd the basket as this prevents heat from circulating as it should. Cook in batches rather than trying to do lots simultaneously.

Pastry can burn quickly so check on it halfway through, especially if it’s thin, and keep a skewer to hand to check if crusts are done.

Given the wide variety of uses, even if kitchen worktop space is scarce, your air fryer is sure to earn its place.