How to: Make the Most of your Air Fryer

I’ve decided that this week is going to be “Air Fryer Week” here at PBF, and we’re kicking things off with a post all about How to Make the Most of your Air Fryer! I’m sure a bunch of you got new air fryers for Christmas (score!!), and I’m here to help you make the most of your new kitchen toy. I’ve owned and loved air fryers since 2018, and I only recently upgraded from my more basic air fryer to something a little fancier.

In honor of my first ever Air Fryer Week, I’ll be sharing air fryer recipes every day the rest of this week. You’ll see some of the recipe links below are listed as “coming soon” – those are the new recipes coming at ya this week, so you’ll have to be patient and check back for those 😉 Until then, you can also find all my current air fryer recipes here. Happy Air Fryer Week, friends!

Despite what the name suggests, air fryers don’t actually fry anything. They are basically mini-convection ovens that cook food by circulating hot air around it. Because air fryers can get that really intensely hot air on all sides of the food without a baking dish in the way, the results can sometimes imitate fried food but with wayyyy less oil and fat. You can also skip turning on the oven for quick, small meals (or reheated food), saving time, money, and a hot kitchen in the summer.

Air fryer vs toaster oven. While toaster ovens are great for things that need to lay flat like toast, bagels, pizza, or cookies, they are not quite as versatile as air fryers. Read more about the differences between them here.

Buying a quality air fryer means investing some cash and dedicating counter or cabinet space to yet another kitchen appliance. So are they really worth it? Like all things in life, it depends…but for me, they’re 100% worth it! Here are a few reasons to fall in love with an air fryer:

1. Low fat “frying” – Get crispy fries, chicken, and more with just a fraction of the oil you’d use in a real deep fryer!
2. Skip the oven – I especially love my air fryer in the summer so I can get roasted or crisped food without turning on the oven.
3. Minimal mess – All the cooking is contained to the food basket when using your air fryer, which means less dishes, no splashing oil, and easy cleanup, especially if your basket is dishwasher safe or you use a parchment liner.
4. Reheat like a champ – We all know that reheating pizza or fries in the microwave leads to sad, soggy food. The air fryer is a perfect fix to your microwave woes!
5. Frozen to fried in no time – If you have kids or do a lot of entertaining, the air fryer comes in clutch for making quick snacks straight from the freezer. Skip the oven and air fry a batch of frozen chicken nuggets or egg rolls to crispy perfection with almost zero effort.

How to: Cook Food Evenly

1. Don’t overcrowd the basket. The key to crispy air fried foods is getting good hot air circulation around the food, so if your air fryer is filled to the brim, you just can’t get that circulation and you’ll end up with steamed food. Instead, you may need to arrange food in a single layer and cook in batches to get the best results.
2. Rotate/flip meat. This is the same concept as flipping food on the grill, except here you’re ensuring that both sides are exposed to as much of the superheated air rather than the hot grill grate. One side of the food in your air fryer will be in contact with the basket as juices run down, making it hard to get crisped up unless you flip it during cooking. I usually start my chicken breasts with the solid side (the prettier one) facing down, and then flip them a little less than halfway through cooking it so the top can get browned while the bottom tends to get a little less golden.
3. Toss veggies and starches. Don’t be shy about tossing those veggies and fries. Give them an aggressive shake at least once halfway through cooking to make sure they get evenly browned.
4. Tuck in “tails.” Some proteins like pork tenderloin may be uneven thickness, with a small end that’s susceptible to burning before the rest of the protein is cooked. You can just tuck those under the meat so they don’t hang out and get burnt…or you can take those crispy little pieces as a chef’s treat like I do with chicken when I meal prep 😉

How to: Get that Golden Brown Deliciousness

1. Pat food dry. Any moisture remaining on the surface of food will turn to steam when heated, preventing browning. Be sure to pat the food dry with a paper towel before adding to the basket.
2. Add a little fat (or sugar). A little bit of fat like oil helps encourage browning and even cooking. Adding a touch of something sweet like honey or brown sugar to proteins will also help browning as the sugars caramelize (this is also a good way to achieve the Maillard reaction for any food science nerds out there).
3. Pre-heat! Just like you don’t want to stick food in the oven while it pre-heats, the same is true for an air fryer. The pre-heat time is minimal, but when you’re only cooking food for 10 minutes overall, those first few are essential to achieving golden brown, crispy results. Some air fryers automatically pre-heat and tell you to add food when it comes up to temp before chipping away at the cooking time you set, but with others you may have to just add a few minutes to the cooking time and add the food after a 2-3 minute pre-heat.

How to: Make Cleanup Even Easier

1. Use a foil sling for fish. You wouldn’t think twice about reaching into an air fryer with a set of tongs to remove a chicken breast, but when you try that with a fully cooked piece of salmon, you might end up with 15 little chunks instead of 1 beautifully air fried filet. A foil sling allows you to easily lift the fish right out of the basket without leaving anything behind.
2. Use a liner for especially saucy recipes. Parchment paper liners are cheap and easy to use and will save you from having to do any cleanup at all! I especially like them for saucy recipes like these meatballs, where the glaze might otherwise burn or run everywhere.
3. Use water to avoid smoking. If you’re cooking something fatty like bacon or a burger, or are even just making something saucy, you may notice your air fryer smoking as the fat or sauce drips down into the base of the air fryer drawer. To avoid smoking and burnt on messes, add a very thin layer of water to the drawer, ensuring the water doesn’t doesn’t touch the basket/cooking surface.

Most of my tips for meal prepping with an air fryer are exactly the same as above, but here are my two favorite ways to use it on prep day and beyond:

• Use it to save time. Efficient meal prepping is all about multi-tasking, and having an air fryer around can be a huge help with that. I love throwing some chicken breast or veggies in the air fryer while I prep other ingredients or cook something on the stove.
• Up your reheating game. Ditch the microwave and reheat with your air fryer to help keep your meal-prepped food exciting throughout the week. Items like roasted veggies, potatoes, and breaded proteins are perfect candidates for air fryer reheating since they’ll crisp back up rather than getting soggy or mushy.