I’ll admit it – when the craze first kicked off, I was a vocal cynic. Sure, they were great at cooking frozen oven chips, fish fingers and breaded chicken, but were they worth sacrificing precious real estate on the few work surfaces my put-upon kitchen has? I didn’t think so. That all changed when the uber-talented got their hands on one and started to put ‘proper’ food in there.
There were ; ; and, of course, – which really did have all the qualities of a deep-fried one. Turns out, air fryers have come a long way over the past few years – as has our ingenuity in using them. They started off being marketed as a to (which, of course, they are) but there’s also the energy-saving aspect, the speed at which they cook food and the way they can blast things with enough hot air to crisp them up yet keep them juicy inside.
A lot of the appliances these days have grill, roast and even dehydrate settings, giving even more reasons to get one. After my air fryer epiphany, I instantly cleared some space and plonked a in my own kitchen – and it’s been happily beeping, whirring away and cooking delightful things ever since. But I found there are some tips, tricks and techniques to get the best results.
Here’s what I and the food team have learned since we started putting the air fryer through its paces. Prep ahead A lot of ingredients will cook perfectly well if just spritzed with oil, thrown in the air fryer and heated. But for the best results, a little extra prep c.