Your kitchen should have the right tools. Welcome to A Guide to Gearing Up Your Kitchen, a series where I help you outfit the space with all the small appliances you need (and ditch the ones you donât).
The air fryer has blessed us all with quick convection heating at affordable prices, and the unparalleled reheating of leftover fried food. What more could a girl ask for? Compared to a microwave or stand mixer, itâs an appliance I havenât lived with for very long, but I canât imagine living without it now. Whether itâs your first time using an air fryer or your 500th, youâll love these fool-proof dishes. Here are some of my favorite air fryer recipes to date.
Scotch eggs are like breakfast baseballs. A hard-boiled egg is encased in a thick shell of sausage, breaded, and deep fried. This air fryer recipe breaks with tradition, but only just. Instead of using a deep fryer to cook the protein ball, a light spritz of oil and the whipping winds of the air fryer take care of the cooking. The outside crisps up while the sausage remains juicy and the egg doesnât overcook.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
One of my favorite snacks when Iâm eating a high-protein diet (and when I can afford it) is a bowl of steak bites. The air fryer makes quick work of these âpopcornâ steak nibbles but beware, the average recipe will have you overcooking them in minutes. Follow my recipe instead and use the freezer to keep your expensive snack juicy and flavorful.
Credit: from my point of view / Shutterstock.com
Cuisinart 6-quart Air Fryer
Roast, bake, broil, and air fry with ease.
$149.95 at Amazon
Shop Now
Shop Now
$149.95 at Amazon
When youâre after a crisp crust on your chicken fingers, starch is your best friend. It turns out, dried potato flakes are loaded with the stuff. Theyâre easy to work with, and can even make for a delicious gluten-free âbreading.â All you need are a few ingredients to make this recipe, and youâll have an irresistible batch of potato-crusted chicken fingers of your own.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
I always suggest this recipe to folks open to giving new combinations a chance. If youâre OK with salty peanut butter on a slice of banana, youâre probably just one flavor adventure away from enjoying these bacon-wrapped banana bites. The recipe couldnât be easier and the payoff is sensational.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
The air fryer makes perfectly blistered roasted veggies in a fraction of the time the conventional oven takes, and that means you can have these shishito pepper poppers ready in less than 10 minutes. Since you can eat the seeds and ribs in a shishito, thereâs not much more preparation you have to do than split them and swipe a bit of cheese mixture inside.
Credit: Claire Lower, Ian Moore
Frico is when low-moisture cheeses cook to a literal crisp, and itâs one of the most divine cheese experiences you can have. Eat frico as a snack, or cover your leftover gratin potatoes in Parmesan frico with this simple recipe. Itâs an easy way to transform leftovers, and give them a new texture and a second life (that might actually be better than the first one).
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Remember how I said cooked cheese becomes crispy? Well, leftover mac and cheese did all the frico-prep for you. All you have to do is slice it up and stick it in the air fryer. Make bite-sized squares or long mac and cheese sticks for an easy afternoon snack. A quick blast in the convection oven will frico the edges to crunchy cheese glory.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Part of what draws me to cooking in the air fryer is that it invites simplicity. You canât stick a spatula in there while itâs cooking and stir things around, thereâs no adding a splash of this or that halfway through, or covering it with a lid to simmer. Itâs an appliance where the heat talks, and whatever you put inside either flourishes in the hot winds, or fails. A banana absolutely thrives. You know bacon-wrapped bananas do well in the air fryer, but donât forget about dessert. This recipe tells you the best way to air fry a skin-on banana with just a few sweet toppings.
Credit: Claire Lower
Full story here:
The air fryer has blessed us all with quick convection heating at affordable prices, and the unparalleled reheating of leftover fried food. What more could a girl ask for? Compared to a microwave or stand mixer, itâs an appliance I havenât lived with for very long, but I canât imagine living without it now. Whether itâs your first time using an air fryer or your 500th, youâll love these fool-proof dishes. Here are some of my favorite air fryer recipes to date.
Scotch eggs
Scotch eggs are like breakfast baseballs. A hard-boiled egg is encased in a thick shell of sausage, breaded, and deep fried. This air fryer recipe breaks with tradition, but only just. Instead of using a deep fryer to cook the protein ball, a light spritz of oil and the whipping winds of the air fryer take care of the cooking. The outside crisps up while the sausage remains juicy and the egg doesnât overcook.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Juicy air fryer steak bites
One of my favorite snacks when Iâm eating a high-protein diet (and when I can afford it) is a bowl of steak bites. The air fryer makes quick work of these âpopcornâ steak nibbles but beware, the average recipe will have you overcooking them in minutes. Follow my recipe instead and use the freezer to keep your expensive snack juicy and flavorful.
Credit: from my point of view / Shutterstock.com
Youâre not late to the air fryer trend, youâre right on time:
Cuisinart 6-quart Air Fryer
Roast, bake, broil, and air fry with ease.
$149.95 at Amazon
Shop Now
Shop Now
$149.95 at Amazon
Potato-crusted chicken fingers
When youâre after a crisp crust on your chicken fingers, starch is your best friend. It turns out, dried potato flakes are loaded with the stuff. Theyâre easy to work with, and can even make for a delicious gluten-free âbreading.â All you need are a few ingredients to make this recipe, and youâll have an irresistible batch of potato-crusted chicken fingers of your own.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Bacon-wrapped banana bites
I always suggest this recipe to folks open to giving new combinations a chance. If youâre OK with salty peanut butter on a slice of banana, youâre probably just one flavor adventure away from enjoying these bacon-wrapped banana bites. The recipe couldnât be easier and the payoff is sensational.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Stuffed shishito pepper poppers
The air fryer makes perfectly blistered roasted veggies in a fraction of the time the conventional oven takes, and that means you can have these shishito pepper poppers ready in less than 10 minutes. Since you can eat the seeds and ribs in a shishito, thereâs not much more preparation you have to do than split them and swipe a bit of cheese mixture inside.
Credit: Claire Lower, Ian Moore
Frico gratin potato squares
Frico is when low-moisture cheeses cook to a literal crisp, and itâs one of the most divine cheese experiences you can have. Eat frico as a snack, or cover your leftover gratin potatoes in Parmesan frico with this simple recipe. Itâs an easy way to transform leftovers, and give them a new texture and a second life (that might actually be better than the first one).
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Mac and cheese bites
Remember how I said cooked cheese becomes crispy? Well, leftover mac and cheese did all the frico-prep for you. All you have to do is slice it up and stick it in the air fryer. Make bite-sized squares or long mac and cheese sticks for an easy afternoon snack. A quick blast in the convection oven will frico the edges to crunchy cheese glory.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
A simple banana dessert
Part of what draws me to cooking in the air fryer is that it invites simplicity. You canât stick a spatula in there while itâs cooking and stir things around, thereâs no adding a splash of this or that halfway through, or covering it with a lid to simmer. Itâs an appliance where the heat talks, and whatever you put inside either flourishes in the hot winds, or fails. A banana absolutely thrives. You know bacon-wrapped bananas do well in the air fryer, but donât forget about dessert. This recipe tells you the best way to air fry a skin-on banana with just a few sweet toppings.
Credit: Claire Lower
Full story here: