Five things you didn’t know you could cook in an air fryer (and three you should avoid)

Air fryers are divisive things. People either swear by them or just don’t see the point. Either way, they’ve become a staple of many Aussie kitchen benchtops.

Despite their name, they don’t actually fry food. Essentially, they are just small, high-temperature convection ovens. Usually, there’s a heating element in the top and a fan to circulate the hot air around a small space.

But other than chicken nuggets, what exactly are air fryers good for? Over my years of using them, I’ve found them more versatile than you’d expect.

The benefit is in their size, making them efficient to superheat quickly (cutting down time and energy used) and reliable for heat regulation. Fried textures result from superheated air moving around food quickly in the small space, minimising surface moisture for a crispy finish and facilitating the Maillard browning reaction.

The “basket insert” of most designs raises the food off a flat surface, allowing heat to circulate throughout for even browning. But there’s more that this appliance can do beyond crispy chips.

What to cook in your air fryer

Pork crackling

Nothing is more reliable for cooking crunchy, crisp pork crackling – especially on pork belly – than an air fryer. I’ve tried it a hundred different ways and that superhot air circulated in a small space gets perfect results. Just pat your pork extra dry with paper towels, before leaving it uncovered in the fridge to dry out more – overnight if possible.

Preheat your air fryer to a minimum of 200C, rub a little oil over the pork, and sprinkle with salt just before placing it in the air fryer – do not do it sooner, as the salt will draw moisture to the surface and stop the crackling.

Cook the pork at 200C for 15-20 minutes, then drop the temperature to 170C and cook the pork for an additional 30 minutes per kilogram. Let it rest for a minimum of 10 minutes or up to third of the total cooking time before carving.

You’ll get the crispest crackling of your life as the high heat and moving air do their work. It’s a game-changer.

Blistered vegetables

Blistering vegies in the air fryer is a great way to crank out extra flavour without heating the whole oven. This works particularly well for tomatoes, eggplants and squash – creating blistered and blackened pockets on the skin, while steaming the flesh inside in about half the time.

Preheating your air fryer to 200C, adding your vegies to the basket and cooking for around 15 minutes gets a great result, especially with eggplants for a baba ghanoush, like Karen Martini’s, above. Foil-wrapped garlic heads can be cooked at the same time, creating a jammy result to add to the mix.

Cakes

While cooking times for cakes still vary depending on the cake type and batter, generally, for simple cakes, reduce the suggested baking temperature by 15-20C (to avoid burning) and decrease the cooking time by about 20 per cent. But check if your air fryer has a cake setting, because this helps with suggested adjustments. You will also save time and energy on preheating, as air fryers typically reach temperature in less than five minutes.

You can bake a cake directly in your air fryer basket (with no cake tin), as long as you have a liner that fits well and your batter isn’t going to soak through it. This works particularly well for simple vanilla and chocolate cakes and saves on washing up. But it also means you get very even cooking, as the air circulates under the basket.

Alternatively, you can cook any cake in an air fryer, as long as the cake tin fits inside it, and it usually has fewer hot spots. This means that even and efficient air-flow in the small space results in very even browning without needing to turn the cake.

Prove bread dough

Is a dough-proving drawer a little out of your budget? Well, hello air fryer. Because it’s a small and contained space with its own heating element, you can warm it up just a little – say 150C for three minutes – turn it off and then use the residual heat in the contained space to rest and prove bread dough. Cover the dough so it doesn’t dry out while that small, warm space gets your rise going.

Individual desserts

It’s so easy to make individual desserts in the air fryer on a whim. One of the best for winter is a baked custard. A couple of eggs, honey, milk, vanilla and cinnamon, whisked and poured into ramekins to bake at 150C for 10 minutes is as easy as it gets.

For a last-minute berry crumble, add some frozen berries to a ramekin, top with a mix of nuts, oats, maple syrup and cinnamon, and air fry at 180C for 10 minutes.

What not to cook in your air fryer

Popcorn or pappadums

They’re so lightweight that the fan circulating the air blows them into the heating element, causing a fire hazard. This is extremely dangerous unless you have an attachment specifically for this.

Steak

This one causes huge debates. In theory, you can cook steak in the air fryer, but that doesn’t mean you should. The lack of contact heat means you won’t get a good crust – no matter how good the Maillard reaction is. It’s a great way to ruin a good steak.

Boiled eggs

Some people swear by this, but perfecting the timing is problematic, and the results are often rubbery due to the intense and drying heat. It’s more reliable to simply boil them.