What do you think about air fryers?

[babylonsister]

Is yours sitting in a closet or do you use it often? Do you have any special tips or easy recipes, or what do you cook a lot of?
We just bought one, still in the box. I'll be more excited when I figure out where to put it.

Thanks!

[SheltieLover]

1. I use mine almost every day!

My fav kitchen appliance, esp during hot months as it does not heat up kitchen.

I uave the Ninja 13 in 1 with auto temp sensor.

[FalloutShelter]

26. Me too... use it almost every day.

Totally game changer.

[SheltieLover]

33. Sure is!

I love making frozen salmon & steak fries. Both requure same temp & cooking time. Yummy!

[yellowdogintexas]

29. same here. The #1 thing we make is toast! Ours makes amazing toast, one or both of us uses it daily for that.

Plus it has a "toast" setting so I do not even need to think about it.. I also use it for pork chops, chicken breast, roasting potatoes. I know it will do even more but haven't really experimented with it.

The pork chops and chicken breast turn out really well.

I recently purchased parchment paper liners for the container and they help keep meat juices from gunking up the bottom so it is easier to clean.

[SheltieLover]

34. My fav is frozen salmon & steak fries

Both require same temp & cooking time. Sooo good!

How do you do your chops & chicken?

[rzemanfl]

2. Love mine. Pork chops, fish, and potatoes all turn out great.

[dhol82]

3. I use it to make fried chicken

I love chicken thighs and they are so easy to make in the air fryer.
I like them pretty plain so just use salt and pepper with a squirt of TJ’s avocado oil spray.
18 minutes at 380. My oven beeps when it’s time to turn them over.
You have to play with whatever your oven is as to time and temp. There are also tons of rub recipes on the net.

[babylonsister]

17. I love thighs, too. Sounds like baked chicken, but

18 minutes? Wow, that's impressive. Will give it a go, thanks!

[dhol82]

42. It comes out with crispy skin.

[msongs]

4. air fryers and toasters are cockroach hotels around here. don't have either nt

[snowybirdie]

11. ??????? Never had

that problem with either

[Tetrachloride]

5. my air guitar is better

[Irish_Dem]

6. Just bought one last month.

Last edited Mon Jun 23, 2025, 08:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Got an inexpensive one at Costco.

I make chicken wings, French fries, pork chops, fried chicken, etc.
Still experimenting.

I really like it. I keep it in the small pantry closet in my kitchen and just pull
it out as needed and use it on the counter top. It is quite light to move around
and easy to wash and clean.

Cheaper than buying wings out at a restaurant.
Or chickfila, etc.

[Sneederbunk]

7. I use it more than my instant pot.

Great for fish.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

8. I have an Instant Pot with an air fryer lid

I use that thing ALL the time, but only cooking for 1-2 at a time because that’s not a lot of space. Rarely, I’ve wondered if it would’ve been a good idea to also get a bigger square air fryer but it wouldn’t get used much these days.

I’ve jettisoned the old crock pots, rice steamer, and other infrequently used gadgets because this combo does it all—everything from sauté, slow cook, steam, steam under pressure, and air fry. Sadly, my air fryer lid is made by Mealthy, which went out of business a couple years back. There are quite a few others out there now.

I have the 6 qt and an 8” bamboo steamer basket fits perfectly inside the IP, so I can steam seitan and other goodies. I also have a two-level stainless basket that I use for things like beans in the bigger bottom half and rice in the upper, so I can have a dinner ready in maybe 15 minutes with minimal waste. You can also use it to bake cakes (recently did a pineapple upside-down cake that was awesome!) It also comes with a stand and a mesh thingie so you can do things like egg rolls, baked potatoes, etc. up closer to the heating element.

Regardless of what kind you have, I’d recommend you get a silicone mat to place the hot lid/pan on. (I think they’re good to like 600 degrees) so you don’t have to fumble around wondering where to sit the hot parts when you’re ready to serve the goodies.

[Jirel]

9. They belong in the garbage,

with the kale.

Never had one, never will. I’ve had perfectly lovely leftovers reheated by one at a friend’s house. Nope, wrecked them every time where a trip to the microwave would’ve made them perfect. Another friend has one that’s a combo appliance. The air fryer part never gets used. Another friend tried to impress me by how amazingly fries come out of one. No thanks, you can do better baking them in a regular oven.

[babylonsister]

13. Thanks for your sunny optimism about my

newest gadget which uses less power than an oven, and ideally it's better for your diet. I want to eat a chicken cutlet not drenched in oil.

[yellowdogintexas]

30. I don't think I would use mine for reheating, but I would if I have leftover fries from McD or some other such place

My daughter says it is amazing for that, and she does it a lot because her kid never finishes a whole order of fries. She will gladly eat those reheated fries. I know from only one failed attempt that the microwave sucks at reheating fries.

[snowybirdie]

10. Use mine often

When I need a recipe for it, I Google and add in air fryer to search. Made French fries tonight. Experiment!

[yellowdogintexas]

32. Pinterest is your friend!! I use it for Instant Pot and Air Fryer recipes.

It 's funny that the first thing we tried was toast, because it has a special button for it. Easy test.

One thing I could never get right: potato chips. There are so many recipes on Pinterest but I have not had success yet. However roasted potatoes are another thing entirely. I have not tried french fries yet.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

43. It's not exactly potato chips...

… but you might try Hasselback potatoes in the air fryer. Just scrub a potato, then put chopsticks on either side (so you don’t slice all the way through the potato) and slice every 1/4” or so, end to end. You can season and even cover in cheese near the end if that’s your thing. Takes about 20 minutes to do a large potato, and the end result is a really nice, toasty potato you can eat slice by slice—partly a baked tattie and the edges brown and crispy. Because you don’t slice all the way through, they stay compact and are easy to serve onto a plate. Kind of a “best of both worlds” thing.

[NewLarry]

12. I like mine OK

It's not the best thing in the kitchen, but it's pretty good. Storage is an issue, plus mine is round and deep,, making things like a cake or whole chicken an issue. We're using it more now that it's so hot, but we grill a lot too.

So overall, I give it about a 72 - got a good beat, easy to dance to.

[sorcrow]

14. I have a countertop oven with air fry function

I use it a lot, not always for air frying. It fits two loaves of bread or a pie or cake or small casserole.

Best regards,
Sorghum Crow

[appmanga]

15. I'm old enough to remember when air fryers...

...were called "convection ovens".

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. Love mine, which I've had for two or three years.

I probably use it once or twice a week. Right now it's soaking in dishwater and tomorrow I'll run it through the dishwasher.

I use it to make chicken, pork chops, and fries. Bought some ribs for July 4th, and found a recipe for air-fried, barbecued ribs. Looks easy.

My kitchen is tiny, but I have a baker's rack in the dining room, and it fits there nicely.

Good luck with it.

[progressoid]

18. Grilled cheese sandwiches!

We don't use it a lot but it's great for re-heating things that the microwave makes mushy and you don't want to heat up the entire oven.

[radical noodle]

23. You do grilled cheese sandwiches in the air fryer?

Never considered that as a possibility. Sounds yummy.

[progressoid]

38. The idea happened when I re-heated a left-over rueben.

nice and crispy!

[radical noodle]

39. I need to try this

I always have half a sandwich left to reheat later. Thanks for the idea!

[Emile]

19. We use ours everyday.

[Maninacan]

20. Meh

She makes potato slices in it. I have not really looked at it

[LogDog75]

21. I have countertop multi-use air fryer/over

I rarely use my stove's oven because the air fryer/oven is easier to use. I've cooked chicken and fish in it and they come out great. To be truthful, most of my "cooking" is done with a microwave oven. I have a new LG microwave and it does way more than the last one I had so my air fryer/oven is the second most used cooking appliance.

[Keepthesoulalive]

22. Use it everyday

Makes great pork chops, hot dogs, chicken tenders and reheating pizza.
I have a small kitchen but it has earned a spot on my counter.

[love_katz]

24. I have an Emerill's air fryer oven.

I love it!

The interior and all but one of the utensils are stainless steel and can be put into a dishwasher ( if you're lucky enough to have one, I don't).
The oven has multiple functions ( I won't be able to name them all). Besides air frying it can rotisserie cook a chicken or small roast, it can bake, it can proof bread dough, it can broil and it does a bang up job of reheating food. I hate microwaves, so this oven is perfect for me.
It came with a small cook book and I purchased a couple of more extensive ones as well.
Mine is too big for me to pull out and put away, so it sits on a tea cart in my dinette. I use an extension cord to hook it up to a grounded outlet.
I have cooked frozen chicken fingers and fish sticks, made French fries from both frozen and real potatoes, and used it to broil country style ribs as a finishing touch after baking them in the oven. It makes great toast and reheats food much better than a microwave IMHO.
I know my oven has a lot more capacity, but I am recovering from a pulmonary embolism. Today was my first day home from the hospital. My whole house is a disaster, especially my kitchen. Now I know why I have been experiencing a steady loss of energy. I almost joined my ancestors, one week ago today. Glad to be alive, even though our current time-line is horrible.
I hope you have great enjoyment of your new air fryer. .
I am intrigued to hear that people have enjoyed cooking pork chops in the air fryer. I like to bread mine and bake or braise them in a cast iron pan, like my mom did. I will have to check out recipes for air frying the chops.
Thanks for this thread.

[babylonsister]

31. Wow, sounds very

traumatic, love_katz. Glad you're still with us! And thanks for air fryer info. This one has a rotisserie function and a dehydrater supposedly. It will take me awhile to figure all this out. I'm sloth-like at the best of times, so...

[chia]

35. Glad to know you're not with your ancestors yet. Best wishes to you in your recovery!

[marble falls]

37. Yoiks. Glad you're still with us!

[Freddie]

25. Use mine all the time

Basic stuff like frozen potatoes and hot dogs. Makes a great baked potato (coat with oil & salt, 45 min) when you have steaks on the grill and don’t want to turn on the oven. Mine was cheap ($60)

[marble falls]

27. The one my dad got was back in the early days, was clear plastic and round, diameter about frozen pizza size ...

... my family owned a factory in Iowa while he lived in Houston. We had a company apartment for him to stay when he needed to get to the "plant".

One night he got a Tortino's and put it into the air fryer and turned it on. The pizza lifted off the tray and floated about half way up the cooking compartment. Fearing that as the pizza cooked it would lose water weight and rise up to the top and stick to the lid, he stopped the cycle, and put a coffee cup on the pizza to ballast it. And that is why his pizzas all came out on the table as looking like a large used coffee cup coaster.

[Emile]

28. Sounds like the old Nu Wave cooker.

[marble falls]

36. Mighta been. Interesting how air fryers have evolved. From infomercial to high end units and even my oven has ...

... an air fry setting AND convection, too.

I never got the knack of his first generation and I am leery of cooking in plastic cookery.

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. Just noticed upthread there stainless steel ones avaliable.

If we got one, that would be my choice.

[La Coliniere]

40. I use mine frequently.

It’s a countertop Ninja basket type. What I love is that many of the foods I make in it used to be made in my convection oven which meant a heated kitchen in the summertime. The air fryer doesn’t raise the kitchen temperature one degree.

[tishaLA]

41. I've barely used my oven since I got mine

I live alone so I got a very small model -- I'm shallow so it had to be small enough to earn counter space and white/off white -: and it's great. I still haven't perfected making medium rare salmon with crispy skin in it, but I'll keep trying because the results are generally good enough.

I probably use it 3-4 times/week and I'm most often pleased with the results (maybe because of its small size, I haven't had much success with fries, but I'm sure that's a me problem rather than a technology problem).

[peacefreak2.0]

45. Late to the party, but I love mine.

Made country spare ribs yesterday and hard cooked eggs for egg salad this morning. Other favorites are ground chicken burgers, roasted vegetables and potatoes. I’ve even made omelets in it.
I’ve had mine (Consori) for a couple of years. I’m already thinking about the next one I’ll get.
Experiment and have fun!

[ProfessorGAC]

46. Use It Sparingly

I dry herbs in the fall.
It is good for frozen churros! They come out really close to those at the Mexican joint down the street.
I think frozen onion rings work in there, too.
I don't think "fry" that often, so I probably don't use it as often as I could.