Air fryers - what do you cook in it ?

I find with my Lakeland the big drawer does not take anything but a minute dish, I do have the basket type containers to put things in but still for me one big drawer woukd be so much more use.

I use mine most days. I rarely use the oven these days, unless I'm cooking for more people. When it's the two of us, the AF does the job.

I have a Ninja, but only really use the AF function, as I have purpose-made gadgets (eg a slow cooker and a pressure cooker) for the others. I use it to roast, bake, heat and fry, which are all the same thing really - frying is heating with the addition of oil.

I sometimes cook a chicken in it, and AF chicken is lovely and saves a lot of time. I don't often cook meat, as my husband is vegetarian, so more usually cook vegetarian. Air roast veg are delicious, too.

CanadianGran

I use mine more and more. I store it down in the basement, so every day I'm up and down with it! There isn't much storage space on my countertop, so not much choice. But I do like it enough to make the trip almost daily!

Like others have said, just about everything you do in the oven can be done in the airfryer. I often do chicken thighs in one drawer, and partmentier (diced) potatoes in the other.
I start the chicken skin side down, and flip about half way through to get the skin browned when finished.

Have you thought about storing it in your oven?

Something that can be difficult is cleaning the lid of the air fryer where the element is - not true of all air fryers. I've seen some air fryers I wouldn't want to eat food out of - around the element is caked in grease which can drip down onto the food being cooked. Yuk. No thank you.

Every time I about cleaning people talk about the food basket/trays but it's the frier lid that is difficult to clean on my Ninja.

Mine has paid for itself in energy savings. It has to heat up for 5 minutes whereas my oven was 20-25 minutes and then the cost of cooking the food. I rarely cook sausages but when I do, the fat is contained in the machine and there are no food smells afterwards. I love mine and have not used my electric oven for nearly 5 years.

If I buy food which says oven cook for 30 minutes, I half the time but keep an eye on it before that.

I live on my own so at Christmas it will be duck legs in sauce, dauphinoise potatoes but the veg will be cooked on the hob because I like all of my food cooked and served together.

I also have the Lakeland with two drawers and I really wish I'd have bought the one where you can change the size of the drawers. I can't even get a small round pyrex dish in and the drawers are not big enough to cook anything substantial.

Most things stick to the "non stick" racks and so far nothing has come out particularly crispy.

I ditched my old but well loved and well used halogen oven because I fell for all the hype - big mistake. It was way more flexible and I could cook far more in it. However I had one with a fixed lid which holds the halogen element and while the bowl was easy to clean, the lid wasn't. Still prefer it though.

I was given an air fryer for my birthday in September, but only got around to using it last week because my d.i.l. kindly gave me a lesson on how to use it. It's great!. I've done chips, roast potatoes, chicken, stuffing, so far and am now confident enough to experiment a bit with cakes etc...
It's a single drawer one. Hopefully it cooks fish ok as I eat a lot of fish.

I have two Ninja air fryers. The reason being that I could do anything in the Ninja that I would normally do in an oven but I needed the room to bake cakes other than in loaf tins and things like bread pudding in a casserole type dish . I therefore was told about the larger one that has a middle section that slides out so you can set it for use as two or as one whole cooking space. This gives me a chance to do so much more.

JenniferEccles

How easy are these things to clean?
What is the main advantage of them apart from the fact that they are quicker?

I have vaguely considered buying one but I don’t want to go to the expense of buying smaller dishes, baking trays etc when the ones I already have are perfectly fine.

Mine has a basket which goes in the dishwasher but it's as easy to hand wash as any baking tray. I use a liner with anything messy.
I think the main advantage is not having to turn on the oven if I just fancy one sausage roll or to crisp up a roll etc.

Thanks Kate and others- I hadn’t realised there was info under the food category.

How easy are these things to clean?
What is the main advantage of them apart from the fact that they are quicker?

I have vaguely considered buying one but I don’t want to go to the expense of buying smaller dishes, baking trays etc when the ones I already have are perfectly fine.

I use mine more and more. I store it down in the basement, so every day I'm up and down with it! There isn't much storage space on my countertop, so not much choice. But I do like it enough to make the trip almost daily!

Like others have said, just about everything you do in the oven can be done in the airfryer. I often do chicken thighs in one drawer, and partmentier (diced) potatoes in the other.
I start the chicken skin side down, and flip about half way through to get the skin browned when finished.

Granmarderby10

Amazing crunchy pork crackling.

We hadn’t had proper pork crackling for years until we got our air fryer, now it is perfect every time.

I recently bought a new 2 drawer air fryer from Lakeland. It has a large and a small drawer. It has several different settings which is useful.
I've air fried scones in my Ninja foodi. I haven't tried baked goods in my new one yet.

My Lakeland two drawer has one wider drawer and one narrower drawer, so no problems for cooking dishes in it, to be honest. It cooks fish, chicken breast and pork steaks beautifully. A bit of trial and error initially regarding timings, but now I’ve got the hang of it, it’s great. I’ve also cooked oven chips, reheated pizza slices, warmed through French sticks with no problem at all. I’ve not baked cakes, buns or biscuits in it, but I imagine it’s quite possible (just that you won’t be able to bake as many in one go as you would in a traditional oven, and cakes such as a Christmas cake would be done in a conventional oven). Obviously, if you have a lot of food to cook, then your traditional oven is your best friend; but for smaller amounts the air fryer is brilliant.
It’s a misnomer really, as it’s not a fryer, but a mini oven.

Oh yes, 'boiled' eggs. I boil eggs (no water required) in the Ninja. Excellent.

What you can cook depends partly on what size machine you have, what shape it is and how many you are cooking for. I have a round one (Ninja) that won't fit a pizza, for instance, unless it's really small.

I can bake cakes, scones, bread, etc but most of my baking tins don't fit in either. I can roast a whole chicken, and bake hams. Our favourite lasagne comes in a foil tray that won't fit in. It's okay for loose things like sausages, bacon, chips, chicken pieces. I've even 'boiled' eggs in it 😁

If you do buy one, get one with a drawer big enough to put a dish in and room to get it out. I bought a Lakeland two drawer one and neither draw is big enough to cook much in . I wish I had bought a one drawer one. I use it for roasted potatoes, sausages and roasted veg but have not done much else. I did not like the chips I tried, nothing like ones cooked in deep fat.

I have a Ninja two drawer airfrier. It's over two and a half years old now and since I had it I've used my main oven only once. I cook similar foods to those already mentioned. Also cook fresh salmon in foil parcels. 180 for 15/16 mins on bake. Very moist and delicious. Four parcels fit in the two drawers. A salad or vegetable and new potatoes, meal for four. Chops cook nicely too. I often do roasted vegetables and parmentier potatoes. Bread and butter pudding is gorgeous cooked in the Ninja. Frozen fish with Albert Bartlett oven chips + veg. done in the microwave is a quick meal (20 minutes).
I'm so used to the Ninja that it's second nature, just as the main oven used to be.

Ferry you probably had it on too high a heat mine is fine and comes out like if you did it under the grill, just toasted bread really 🤣🤣🤣

Anything that would usually go in the oven.
Great for crisping up yesterday's fresh bread....a couple of minutes on 180.
Brilliant oven chips.
I have a small casserole dish that fits for sloppy meals.

Amazing crunchy pork crackling.

Chips,roast potatoes,roast carrots,parsnips, roasted Mediterranean veggies,BNS, chicken,home made sausage rolls,pizza,breaded fish,croissants. I try anything in it. After a dubious start (from me) I love it and use it most days. Like has been said it’s trial and error.

I've used mine for chips and roast ptoatoes, chicken, pizza, chicken fillets turn out nice and soft, also baked scones and sponges ,I was a bit wary of baking a sponge, but it turned out lovely...

Pinterest is great when looking how to cook just about anything in the air fryer.