I am embracing learning my new air fryer. Figure that is the best way to ensure it doesn’t become something taking up space in the kitchen.
Today I did bacon. Turned out great. Did go ahead and order some parchment liners for ease of clean up. When I make bacon I always sprinkle with a tad of brown sugar on top before baking - did the same in the air fryer and it was delicious. 12 mins, 350 degrees.
Last night I made the Bare (?) chicken from Costco that my kids rave about.
We tried ours out this morning. Made home fries (with potatoes and shishito peppers we harvested from our garden, if I might make this a crossover episode with the gardening thread ). They came out great.
I followed the tip above to put some water in the basket right after emptying and let the tray soak in the cooling appliance while we ate. Cleaned up beautifully.
Returning to this thread to report that if I do nothing else with the air fryer but make baked potatoes, it would still be a worthwhile purchase.
They came out amazing, in half the time.
I poked fork holes in them then sprayed them with a spritz of avocado oil and salted the outside. Preheated at 400 for 5 minutes, then baked for 15, turned them over and baked for another 20. Great crispy outside and fluffy inside.
I did similar this weekend. Loved how the skins were nicely crisp. I hear that sweet potatoes are also great in the air fryer. I’ve only had the thing a week and I’m thinking of taking it on vacation with us!
Just had to replace our electric range and purchased an induction stove with convection oven. It came with a basket for air frying. Does anyone use their convection oven this way? Not sure it is as good as a free-standing one and am curious about it.
That sounds great!
But for anyone without an airfryer…MW for 8-10 min (depending on how many you’ve got) until soft. Rub with a bit of oil (and kosher salt if desired) and then pop in oven for 15-30 min. Crispy skin and much less time.
We just did one of our favorite easy dinners in the air fryer. Brats and peppers. Cut up 2-3 bell peppers, we like several colors and an onion. Lightly spray with oil and season as you prefer. Salt and pepper or a seasoning salt. Those go on the bottom and the brats go on top. Don’t pierce them. 10 min on your air fry setting ( ours is 390). The turn the brats over and do 10 more minutes. Can go on a roll or over rice or with whatever. So easy and good.
Some models at Costco caught our attention today. I think we’d need to be happy with the toaster oven function to consider them. We do have a cheap ($40) combo unit. Fine for toast… and OK for some things in air fry mode. Hate the controls, but that is probably true on most multi-function units.
We still use it for some things–it’s amazing for steaks! Cook on each side and then take it out and add a pad of garlic butter! Turns out perfect every time! Best way to cook steaks, IMHO.
I may have started this thread because I was apprehensive about choosing an air fryer over replacing our toaster oven. Bought the Dash air fryer last summer and haven’t missed a toaster oven yet. (We have a toaster for toast)
I love it for many things that a toaster oven used to do but a favorite is doing a quick serving of roasted vegetables which I love but H doesn’t. The veggies are done in about as much time as the oven would take to warm up.
In theory, we don’t care about warm-up time since retired. But… some evenings quick would be nice.
I am intrigued by this one from Kohl’s, eligible for coupon (or the more expensive 10-in-one ninja at Costco). Highly rated, and it folds up to wall to be more compact (and enable easy cleaning). Good for toasting bread or bagels.
USA Today review says not the best of air fryers, not the worst. So still thinking. Maybe a light small basket model would be better. Also an option to stick to the oven, which does do a decent job on roasted vegatables.
I was struggling with this decision and decided to start with the small Dash basket one. I love it for the 2 of us! We have a walk-in pantry closet so I keep it in there and it is easy to pull out when I use it. Basket is (mostly) big enough for the amount of food I am cooking. I did a pork tenderlonin (cut it into 1/3’s to fit in basket) and it came out perfect. Have used it for veggies (broccoli and asparagus), frozen breaded fish filets and salmon portions from the fish counter. Can’t think of what else but I’m glad to have it, especially when the weather warms up and I don’t want to heat up oven for salmon and such. Also love that it’s super easy to clean and still looks good. My S & DIL have the big Ninja fold-up air fryer, and I don’t think I would be as happy with that. Like any toaster, it gets filled with crumbs and so they rarely put it up on its side - especially since it gets used almost daily, so it’s just easier to have it down. Also like a well-used toaster oven, it’s much harder to keep all the parts looking clean - rack, wire basket, window, crumb tray etc. unless you’re vigilant in keeping it pristine. My Dash on the other hand still looks great!
We started with a Dash. Got a Prime Day deal. We soon found it too small even for the 2 of us so we got the Ninja that also has a grill. The finish is easy to keep clean. We use it all the time.
I am most interested in the air fryer for easy, crispy vegetables, change things up from our usual steaming method. What are your favorites?
I suspect we’d find other items that are better prepared in air fryer than in microwave (or oven or toast oven). But main idea is to use it to get us eating more veggies.
). They came out great.