I bought an air fryer a few weeks ago. I have been having lots of fun with it.
It works great with frozen foods. Potatoes come out wonderfully crisp and fluffy on the inside.
I have found lean meats tend to be a problem though. The come out with a rubbery texture. I was wondering if this has been other people’s experience as well? And if so, have you found a remedy for it?
I use my air fryer at least twice a week, which is very often when you consider we eat out three dinners a week.
I’ve cooked all sorts of potato dishes, various vegetables, even Gobi Manchurian. But never meat.
For me, meat is best handled sous vide. Many dinners are a combination of meat sous vide and the veggies air fried, with a sauce on the stove.
Go to YouTube, subscribe to, and watch every video here:
Fabulessly Frugal – (Yeah, you have to get over her cutesy spelling of fabulously.)
Unlike most amateur videos, Cathy’s are short (5-8 minutes), to the point, entertaining, informative. She is cute as a button and, amazingly, the mom of eight children.
I learned everything I needed to know here when I got my AF a few weeks ago. She posts a new video every Monday.
And yeah, there’s one on doing a perfect steak in the AF.
The only meat I’ve done has been chicken - nuggets and wings. The nuggets were not bad and my family declared the wings were great (I don’t much like wings.)
The only meats that I put in my toaster oven (which has an air fryer setting), are burgers or breaded pork chops.
Have you tried breading your lean meats before putting them in? I find they come out quite delicious.
Yeah, I’ve done wings and they came out great. I also did a char siu with pork butt that came out great.
But I did a pork loin that came out “rubbery”, and I did chicken tenders (breast meat) that came out rubbery as well. I’m assuming it’s the lack of fat that is causing this.
Did you do the pork loin rotisserie style? I did do that once, and it was a bit more work than I think I’m willing to do again, but it did come out pretty nicely.
Chicken breasts have always, IME come out rubbery if baked. It’s how I often cook chicken for my dog, and she doesn’t seem to mind, but I’m not a huge fan personally.
Yeah, now that I think about it. I normally cook CB in the frying pan with copious amounts of butter.
When I cooked the pork loin, I turned it a couple of times, but did not baste it with anything.
I like pulled pork sandwiches, so I’ve been making them once a week. My gf hasn’t complained yet. I watch the whole pork loin at the supermarket. When it goes on sale, I buy an entire loin. I trim the fat and cut the loin into ~7-9 roasts that I vacuum seal and freeze.
Three days before needed, I move a roast to the refrigerator. The next day I place it into a sous vide bath at 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 48 hours. I shred the pork (easily) then add sauce and serve.
Meanwhile, I make fries in the air fryer.
I love my air fryer. Hot dogs and sausages come out perfectly - then I put them in the roll and back in for a minute (in the roll), just perfect. Many vegetables, asparagus, onion rings, fishsticks, fried shrimp (frozen), fries of course. Little potatoes with olive oil. Chicken thighs (salt, pepper, seasonings) are the best, panko crumbed fish (catfish and haddock). I google 'how to cook___ ’ . Some things come out better than others. You have to do a little research on how to cook ___ and you have to keep an eye on cooking meat to the proper temperature/level of doneness .
Yeah,it’s gonna dry out that way.
When I did the rotisserie, I made up a mix of a bunch of stuff and spread it over before I put it in, then reapplied a couple of times.
You other options would be to sear it ahead of time in a pan, which is controversial in culinary circles, but I’ve always found that it helps prevent it from drying out.
You can also use a dutch oven or other tight cover to keep a high moisture content. Good place to cook up some veggies as well.
Another air fryer tip: keep a roll of parchment paper handy. Once zucchini are harvested, grate a zucchini, add some egg, seasonings, breadcrumbs. Put parchment paper in basket and spray with oil. Place zucchini fritters in the basket and spray the tops. Cook!
The Boss has been wanting an air fryer for a while. Since we are talking air fryers here, would you be so kind as to recommend a brand/type?
Power Air Fryer XL (5.3 QT Deluxe, Black)
Purchased 2 years ago. If it broke tomorrow, I’d reorder the same one.
I do similar, but I use a Silpat for doing that. Way back in the day I had some parchment paper, but I haven’t bought any in a decade or more. (IIRC, it was 2003 when I last bought it, actually.)
Do you find that parchment paper works better, or have you not tried a Silpat?
Thanks for the link! I’ll try to find that exact model elsewhere, since it doesn’t actually seem to be available to purchase. Weird.
I’ve just never tried silicone. The one negative to using parchment paper is that you cannot have it in the fryer during preheating, but I seldom preheat.
We currently have one of these little things. At first, I only used it for reheating fast food fries but I’ve discovered that it is great for bratwurst!
We’ll likely get something like this big thing when our toaster oven dies.
I have this one. Wouldn’t trade it for anything else and have converted at least 3 friends to Ninja fans. Fries come out nice and crisp with no oil at all. Since I am supposed to watch my salt intake, the lack of a ton of salt on them doesn’t bother me a whit. Roasts veggies like a champ as well. The fact that it flips up and saves counter space is a big plus in my book.
I really like my silicone baking mats. The only negative is that you have to clean them rather than throw them away. But, they last forever, I just realized that my first Silpat, that I still use, is older than some of my employees.
That’s pretty similar to what I have. Air fryers are nice, but I like having it operate as an oven as well. Especially since I got it in the first place because my oven had gone out.