Cooking with an Air Fryer

[Anna N]

More experimentation. Frozen burger and roasted fresh green beans. Cooked together for 14 minutes at 400°F.  Won’t earn even a single Michelin star but it made a perfectly fine dinner for me without much effort or much clean up. 

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

More experimentation. Frozen burger and roasted fresh green beans. Cooked together for 14 minutes at 400°F.  Won’t earn even a single Michelin star but it made a perfectly fine dinner for me without much effort or much clean up. 

did you spritz those beans with oil?

 

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

did you spritz those beans with oil?

 

I did not spritz them but I did toss them with a  little grapeseed oil. I was battling a head-butting, four-legged creature who was determined to help!  Made it a bit challenging. 

[palo]

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N" aka "AFQ"

 

p

[Anna N]

 

 

One russet potato scrubbed but not peeled and hand cut. (I am always surprised at how many fries one large russet will make!)
This was good. This, however, is not deep fried fries. If that is what you want then you will need to put up with the mess and danger

 of a pan of hot oil.  
I expect this could have been accomplished just as well in a convection oven such as the Breville Smart Oven.  
I rinsed the raw fries in a couple of bowls of cold water before soaking them for 30 minutes. I dried them off and then in a bowl tossed them with some grapeseed oil. I estimate about a half a teaspoon. I used my hands to do the tossing trying to make sure each and every piece was coated with oil. They then went into the air fryer and I set the temperature to 400°F and the time to 20 minutes. 

Somebody had suggested that instead of attempting to properly toss them in the air fryer basket one should tip them out into the clean bowl previously used to oil them. It seems to work very well.  I did this at the 10 minute mark. 
After 20 minutes I was still not happy with the colour and I could see some dry areas where I had not managed to get the oil. So I did  a very quick spritz of oil, Tipped them back into the bowl and then back into the air fryer for a further 3 minutes. So total time was 28 minutes. 
if I follow the same procedure next time, using just a little more oil in the beginning, they should take care of themselves needing only a toss at the half way mark. 
I think for this appliance you need to work your way through trial and error to get to your own sweet spot. 

 

[heidih]

My stepmother has the little TastiCrisp air fryer ($25 @ BB&) We don't usually share food but she offered me 2 wedges of zucchini that were excellent. She did an egg wash, salt, garlic powder, and panko. Crispy and delicious. She knows now not to crown the little basket.  400F approx 15 min but shake a bit & check after 10

[nickrey]

I have all methods of cooking at my disposal, including sous vide. Today I had the most moist chicken I have ever had courtesy of my newly purchased air fryer. Delicious. Next time I’m going to brine the chicken. 

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, nickrey said:

I have all methods of cooking at my disposal, including sous vide. Today I had the most moist chicken I have ever had courtesy of my newly purchased air fryer. Delicious. Next time I’m going to brine the chicken. 

I agree that it does an amazing job on chicken. 
 

 

Roasted green beans and frozen meatballs. 
A total of 12 minutes at 400°F. 
 

 

One russet potato hand-cut ~ 1/4”,  hand-tossed in grapeseed oil, salted and air fried for a total of 25 minutes at 400°F. Using a separate pan or bowl in which to transfer them back and forth from the basket seems to be good way of ensuring more even cooking. 

[rotuts]

@Anna N 

 

excellent work !

 

a question about the prep for the

 

GB & MB's  :    

 

the GB were fresh ?  the Fz MB were cooked or fz raw ?

 

did you spray oil or not on the mixture before you started ?

 

they really7 look good.

[Anna N]

33 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N 

 

excellent work !

 

a question about the prep for the

 

GB & MB's  :    

 

the GB were fresh ?  the Fz MB were cooked or fz raw ?

 

did you spray oil or not on the mixture before you started ?

 

they really7 look good.

Thank you. 
The green beans were from the farmers market. The meatballs were frozen and store-bought and were already fully cooked. Yes I spritzed everything with oil. 
They were quite acceptable. I might cook them for a little shorter time next time— maybe 10 minutes. 

[Anna N]

 

Not entirely successful but still edible. And the onions are pretty much cremated. I cooked the mushrooms which had been tossed in oil for 10 minutes before adding the frozen burger on top. The cherry tomatoes were tossed in towards the end just to blister them. I see some potential here. 

On the other hand I saw no potential here but thought I would try it anyway. I was stunned at how successful it was!

 

Jarred roasted artichoke and red pepper frittata. Four eggs, a little heavy cream, a handful of cheddar cheese and some chopped up artichokes and red peppers.

 

I lined the “pizza” pan with parchment and spritzed the whole pan including the sides with some oil. I mixed up the ingredients and poured them into the pan. 
I realized that I was not going to be able to put that pan into the basket without help. So I fashioned a foil sling.  This would’ve worked beautifully, however, I did not take into account the way the basket sits on a flat surface!  It is at quite an angle. But I managed not to spill any of the contents of the pan. 
No amount of research really gives you any kind of an idea of cooking time and temperature so I winged it. I set the temperature to 300°F and the time to 15 minutes intending to check on it at the 10 minute mark. But I got distracted and did not pay it any attention until it beeped that it was finished at 15 minutes. 
 

It turned out pretty darn good. 

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

Nice efforts. I wonder if the mushrooms would have been more enjoyable with no oil as we have discussed "dry-frying" them on the forum in the past  

 

[Anna N]

Frozen fries without any additional oil. 400°F for 16 mins. Very satisfactory. Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Still not the same taste or texture as deep-fried freshly made fries but a whole lot less trouble. 
Once again I googled to get different perspectives and most suggested spritzing  both the  basket and fries with oil. 

 

 

[rotuts]

@Anna N 

 

should you get ether chance

 

would you Photo  the basket 

 

say on the counter w a measurement ref ?

 

metric is OK .    

 

trying to get a visual idea of the basket size.

 

not buying just yet 

 

but the Fall is coming.

[rotuts]

I am interested in an A.F.

 

possibly this fall when its cooler.

 

I do like kitchen stuff , and am not sure

 

an AF  will help me that much .

 

I ask this question :

 

( it would be helpful to have both a CSO and an AF and have put them both through their paces )

 

I can make fine fries and esp Tot's  in my CSO

 

are AF FF & T's  that ,much better ?   is the AF  easier to use ?

 

the CSO is as easy to use  as anything I have.

 

thanks.

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N 

 

should you get ether chance

 

would you Photo  the basket 

 

say on the counter w a measurement ref ?

 

metric is OK .    

 

trying to get a visual idea of the basket size.

 

not buying just yet 

 

but the Fall is coming.

The basket is 9“ x 9“. 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

I am interested in an A.F.

 

possibly this fall when its cooler.

 

I do like kitchen stuff , and am not sure

 

an AF  will help me that much .

 

I ask this question :

 

( it would be helpful to have both a CSO and an AF and have put them both through their paces )

 

I can make fine fries and esp Tot's  in my CSO

 

are AF FF & T's  that ,much better ?   is the AF  easier to use ?

 

the CSO is as easy to use  as anything I have.

 

thanks.

I don’t think the air fryer can do any better than the CSO. For me it simply seems to be less trouble. Or maybe it is still just the novelty. 

[rotuts]

@vAnna N 

 

thanks 

 

as I thought.

 

cheers

[Anna N]

This could just as well have been posted in the “Unexpected Food Gifts” topic. I was given two lovely pork chops. One is quite a bit thicker than the other. I decided to cook the smaller one today. 
 

 

It is missing that lovely golden crust that one expects on a pork chop but it was still tender and juicy and so very little trouble. 350°F x 16 minutes. I did brush a little marmalade on it towards the end. 
The last time that I did a pork chop in an air fryer was back in 2016 and at that time I had dredged it in Shake ‘n’ Bake. I have added that to my shopping list. 
@Kerry Bealjust informed me that there is such a product as frozen hashbrowns which I will also add to my shopping list. 

 

[Anna N]

So good. So easy. Excuse the anticipatory feet. 

[ElsieD]

@Anna N  Are you sharing with Ben?

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

nice.

 

pep / time // temps ?

 

cheers

 

[palo]

I always said an air fryer had its place, and a good place it is - nice fixin's Anna

 

p

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

 

nice.

 

pep / time // temps ?

 

cheers

 

Seasoned with salt and smoked paprika, given a very light coating of oil, cooked skin side down at 400°F x 20 minutes. Flipped and given 2 more minutes. Temp was well above 168°F. I would probably adjust timing next time. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On 7/31/2021 at 12:08 PM, Anna N said:

Frozen fries without any additional oil. 400°F for 16 mins. Very satisfactory. Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Still not the same taste or texture as deep-fried freshly made fries but a whole lot less trouble. 
Once again I googled to get different perspectives and most suggested spritzing  both the  basket and fries with oil. 

 

 

 

I took one for the team.  My store-bought frozen fries tonight were "air fried" in the APO, 20 percent steam, 204C for 16 minutes.  Quite tasty, no leftovers.  The question remains:  why do this?  Deep fried frozen potatoes are better and quicker, and just as easy.