I don’t recall the brand but we have a silicone mat in our toaster oven as well.
I have a Cosiri and I love it, everything I’ve made has turned out great. Except when I made a steak. For some reason it ended up without any char and was not a very appetizing color, and wasn’t that tender to eat, even though it was perfectly pink inside. It was a nice quality NY Strip well seasoned and with some olive oil on it. I’m not sure where I went wrong. I used the recipe in the book that came with my air fryer (which was for a ribeye, so maybe that was it). I also make an absolutely delicious steak on my grill, so maybe air fried steak just can’t compare to that. What confuses me is how people rave about air fried steak. Any tips that you guys might have?
Woops I meant Cosori
One trick with boneless skinless chicken is to brine it. Always. Admittedly, if you’re watching your sodium intake, it can be a trade off, but it helps with rubbery and/or dry chicken, while allowing you to add additional flavor. As for frying (I haven’t found an air fryer yet that has made me happy, but have used a few) I often par-cook chicken I intend to fry, cook briefly, then bread and fry. I do find that with boneless chicken tenders that they’re underdone when the outside is perfect without par cooking.
For what it’s worth The Wire Cutter recommends a convection toaster oven over an air fryer. Their reasoning makes sense: The 3 Best Air Fryers of 2023 | Reviews by Wirecutter
I’ve considered getting an air fryer but I don’t have lots of additional room in my kitchen for all my gadgets (city life!) and they seem to be at the level of an Instant Pot: great at what they do but they don’t necessarily end up with better-tasting food than more traditional methods.
Yes, I’ve had both and the pod fryers just don’t hold as much and are harder to clean. At one point my basket would not separate from the handle and I stopped using it. I have a hybrid that is like a pod and convection oven in one and I like it much better because it has a door. I can see the food cooking and turn on a light to check on the food. Its satisfying to see food sizzle. And I like having full sized racks and a drip tray that I can just throw in the dish washer.
As god is my witness, I’ll never go back to basket air frying.
Has anyone tried the Chinese brands (Midea, Supor, Haier, etc.)?
I love my air fryer! Its not even the fancy kind, just a cheap Baumann, but its one of my most used kitchen appliances. Might even invest in a higher-end model in the future since I’ve found it so useful.
One not-often used function for them is that they make really good “low and slow” roasting, particularly as you can control the temperature to the degree. I’ve gone as long as 7 hours slow roasting a decent sized roast at 60 degrees and it comes out a perfect medium rare. Leave it in the air fryer, set the temperature, and forget it for hours. Then simply pan sear a bit to develop a crust.
You can do fried chicken with a decent crust. It has to be with breading though, not simply dredged in egg and flour, or else it will stick to the basket.
You can cook decent burgers and sausages straight from the freezer, simply add 2 minutes or so to the total time to defrost. I’ve tried doing straight steaks on it, but pan searing is still the best.
Also, roast garlic in minutes! Just like mashed potatoes, only garlic!
I’m going to assume you’re from a country which has adopted a superior and rational unit of heat measurement, so that would be 60 degrees C, which translates to 140 F for those of us bound and determined to use stupid units.
I’m glad you said “decent” here, because 90% of the frozen patties and sausages I can find in the states barely qualify as decent. I make an exception for the made-from-scratch ones I make rarely and freeze, but the quality of the commercial stuff here tends to be awful.
Not that I want to talk you out of your air fryer, but I have a similar option for the slow cooker - you can sear ahead or after (I prefer ahead), then put it in a slow cooker with a probe thermometer for generally 2 hours or so if pre-seared, and you get the same.
This is one of my favorite dishes, and yeah, you’re making the chicken as a side to eat the spreadable garlic.
Got a recipe for the Gobi Manchurian for air fryer?
Make the batter very thick. Roll the cauliflower in the thick batter, making one large mass. Have the sauce simmering on the stove when the air fryer is done. Delicious!!!
I’m bumping this thread because I just got an air fryer (Instant Vortex 5.7 quart) for my birthday (because I requested one). Honestly I wanted one not so much for the health reasons, because it seems less messy than the couple of times I’ve attempted deep frying, and there’s no used oil to dispose of.
One question: If I have a recipe that was written for a deep fryer or pan frying, like say fish and chips or southern fried chicken, does it require any modification for an air fryer? Or do you just air fry using the same temperature and same time as the recipe says?
I haven’t had much luck with frying with flour + egg wash.
Instead, I’ll just coat the item (like chicken wings) with potato starch which gives me a nice crispy skin (or exterior).
Really though, I have yet to see a recipe that wasn’t already done on YouTube. I suggest you go there. Just type in: " ______ in the air fryer." You’ll get multiple results.
One thing to remember when using an air fryer is to account for the vigorous movement of air - instructions that call for a loose outer layer are likely to end up all over the place. Not as much of an issue with some heavy batters, but lighter ones (like a tempura) may suffer. And nothing needs to be said of a dry rub that isn’t mixed with oil or other fluid to adhere.
We’ve had great luck with things out of the freezer case. Tempura shrimp from Trader Joe’s, for instance, turns out great. But when we try battering something and putting it in, we haven’t had good luck. I wonder if you could batter, freeze, and then air fry.
We’ve had good luck with Shake and Bake (actually its Aldi equivalent) as well as mixing some spices in with panko and breading that way.
My general experience with other things is that if you have some frozen thing that says, “Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes” your air fryer at that temp will probably have it ready in 20.
You might also consider something like these— Manunclaims 1Pcs Round Stainless Steel Rack - Steaming Stand Canner Canning Racks Steamer Insert Stock Pot Steaming Tray Stand Pressure Cooker Cooking Toast Bread Salad—so you can cook in “tiers.”
These machines are wonderful. Great for frozen food and reheating fast food. Makes tasty potatoes, though different and not quite the same as deep frying. A very quick way to cook bacon and sausage. In fact, cooking times can be half that of a conventional oven. I have burned things using equivalent times and now try to use half and see how things are going.
Unfortunately, we find ours very hard to clean. Ours is similar to this one, and when the bacon fat becomes liquid it splatters, even up past the fan. You’d almost have to take the machine apart to really clean it.
We also have an “egg” type and it has fewer nooks and crannies, but cleaning is still a problem.
I have one similar to yours and I avoid cooking messy things. It’s kind of a PITA to clean even with things that aren’t really that messy.
I’m really on the fence about it. I love that it takes less time, everything I’ve tried has come out really good and it doesn’t heat up the house in the summer. BUT my big issue is the smoke. It sets off our smoke alarms so it’s now relegated to the garage. I have to run back and forth from the house to the garage when I use it. So I haven’t used it all winter.
Interesting. My concern has been more that all that aerosolized fat will get rancid eventually (or stink to high heaven) but maybe by virtue of the fact that we use it so regularly, it never sits long enough to go bad.
I meant to mention that if you look at store-bought frozen breaded chicken/fish/shrimp etc. things, in the ingredients often list expeller pressed oil. We don’t add any extra oil, except maybe a spray on a pan to avoid sticking.
We’ve never set off the smoke alarm with them. Do you actually see smoke? I’ll suppose you’ve tried dialing down the temp, lowering the rack, all that?
Oh, and we’ve never had any luck with the rotisserie attachment. Getting the bird skewered on that and wrapping with twine is a challenge, and don’t get one that’s too big because then it won’t fit anyway.
Talking to you lurkers now: it’s a real challenge, finding pans that fit. I suspect that’s a trick played by the manufacturers to get you to buy theirs. We wanted an extra basket and it took some shopping to find one that would fit. Many of the ones on the market are either too deep or too wide to fit ours.
I shared it in a different thread but here’s a cleaning tip for baskets and racks. Get a garbage bag. Get a can of oven cleaner. Put baskets and racks in bag. Spray the oven cleaner into the bag, seal bag tightly, set aside. Leave for several hours. Wearing gloves (if you’re not sure the oven cleaner has neutralized), remove items, wipe and rinse. We had a basket that had plenty of black baked-on bits and this method made it shiny silvery new looking all over again.
Hmm, reading the wirecutter article, it sounds like I could get the same results by just turning on the “convection” setting in my oven. And my oven has a self-cleaning ability. Maybe I’ll try that next time people rave about what’s good in an air fryer.