Air Fryer?

What do you do with it? Just got a small one as a gift and have never used one before. I have read some recipes and it looks doable. I then looked up video on how to clean it. That part looks difficult.

What is your best air fryer dish? Need to figure out if it is worth having another gizmo on the counter. Thanks everyone!

I had one, easy to use but hated to clean it so it eventually got ditched in the trash. I now have an air fryer function in my oven, which I haven’t even used yet and we’ve had the oven 5 months.

sorry, no idea but if you like it please let us know. but your goal wouldn't be not using oil for frying so not sure why you'd use it?

JackieOnLine said:

sorry, no idea but if you like it please let us know. but your goal wouldn't be not using oil for frying so not sure why you'd use it?

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Supposedly it makes crispy air fried food without oil or uses much less.

I’m learning to use mine (a Ninja) - I had it a year and a half before I tried it.

I buy a number of frozen foods that are fried, and cooking them in the air fryer works great! Cod with everything breading comes out great! So did the fried shrimp. These foods come out nearly freshly cooked in texture, maybe better. Fried stuff loses some oil while crisping. And it reheats leftover restaurant food really nicely (we’re so old, takeout meals last at least 2-3 meals). Think crispy leftover egg rolls, in about 4 min.

The Ninja air fryer has a coated lining and rack that are easy to clean in the dishwasher. I wash it after every other use.

Salmon is great in them. I buy the frozen skinless ones at Costco. They are in single serve pouches. Thaw it and then bake it, you can top however you normally would (we do teriyaki glaze most often). It doesn’t stink up the house as a bonus!

I also like the Tyson panko chicken strips from Costco. They are breaded raw chicken, so they take about 20 minutes to cook. I don’t spray them with any oil and they get perfectly crispy.

This YT channel is great for learning to use an air fryer and recipes.


I mostly use the air fryer to reheat leftover sandwiches and fries, to be honest. It’s a good tool in the toolbox but I don’t try to use it for everything.

As for cleaning, it’s dependent on which one you have. I hand wash or throw it in the dishwasher. It’s a basket and a small tray, easy peasy.

I have one and love it. I have convinced everyone I know to get one. Seriously. It's hot right now and cranking up the oven means the AC has to compete.

I use it for most anything that would go into the oven. I made some Korean potatoes recently that turned out really nice.

I bought some frozen scallops and that will be my first air fryer adventure!

Munchkin said:

I bought some frozen scallops and that will be my first air fryer adventure!

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Did you try them?

Also, if this is a new AF follow the user guide, they generally want them run for a period of time. It smells like plastic usually and the pre run helps dissipate it.

talitali said:

Did you try them?

Also, if this is a new AF follow the user guide, they generally want them run for a period of time. It smells like plastic usually and the pre run helps dissipate it.

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Not yet! It is sitting on the counter in the box still. But soon! Will remember to precook the basket. Thanks!

After you’d mentioned scallops I found this recipe, I may have to get some scallops!


Thre are some yummy recipes on that site, including salmon. Yum.

An air fryer is basically a countertop convection oven, so if you have a fancy oven, you might already have this feature. That said, I love mine and pretty much use it most of the time, especially since it's usually just hubby and me eating.

It's great for reheating leftovers that are supposed to be crispy, like leftover pizza (I'm a ways out and eat a slice every now and then), fries (for my husband, although I will steal one or four). Mine is also big enough that I can put a small, whole chicken in there, chicken wings, drumsticks, < insert whatever chicken part here >, other meats, whatever. If it's something you can cook in the oven, you can cook it in the air fryer (with modifications like if you're baking).

If I'm not using my air fryer, I'll use my Instant Pot because I suck at putting meat in the fridge to defrost. Sometimes I will use both - Instant Pot to cook ribs and Air Frayer to crisp them up.

Navygrrl - off topic from air fryers, but how do you do your ribs in the Instant Pot? The recipes I've seen have you finish them in the oven, which seems to defeat the purpose of using the Instant Pot. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Larra said:

Navygrrl - off topic from air fryers, but how do you do your ribs in the Instant Pot? The recipes I've seen have you finish them in the oven, which seems to defeat the purpose of using the Instant Pot. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

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I usually put a cup of stock or broth (or beer if it's around) and put the ribs in a steamer basket. This gets the meat really tender, but there's no bark, so it's visually and texturally not appealing to me. I pat them dry and them finish them in the air fryer so I get that crispy bark like you would get if you were bbq-ing them outside on a grill. All those crispy bits and fond are flavorful and not what you get in an instant pot because that's a wet cooking method while the air fryer is dry. There's no maillard reaction in an instant pot (unless you're just using the saute setting to brown meat, but if you then pressure cook it in a wet environment, it looses that crispiness). It all really depends on what you want the end product to be.

I don't know if any of that makes sense.