Unlock Your Air-Fryer’s Potential!

You know what they say:

“you get out of it what you put in”

…and in the case of an air-fryer, that’s very true!

More seriously:

A lot of people buy an air fryer for its health benefits and convenience, make fries a couple of times, and then mostly let it gather dust. But for those who want to unlock its potential, there’s plenty more it can do!

Let’s go over the basics first…

Isn’t it just a tiny convection oven?

Mechanically, yes. But the reason that it can be used to “air-fry” food rather than merely bake or roast the food is because of its tiny size allowing for much more rapid cooking at high temperatures.

On which note… If you’re shopping for an air-fryer:

• First of all, congratulations! You’re going to love it.
• Secondly: bigger is not better. If you go over more than about 4 liters capacity, then you don’t have an air-fryer; you have a convection oven. Which is great and all, but probably not what you wanted.

Are there health benefits beyond using less oil?

It also creates much less acrylamide than deep-frying starchy foods does. The jury is out on the health risks of acrylamide, but we can say with confidence: it’s not exactly a health food.

I tried it, but the food doesn’t cook or just burns!

The usual reason for this is either over-packing the fryer compartment (air needs to be able to circulate!), or not coating the contents in oil. The oil only needs to be a super-thin layer, but it does need to be there, or else again, you’re just baking things.

Two ways to get a super thin layer of oil on your food:

• (works for anything you can air-fry) spray the food with oil. You can buy spray-on oils at the grocery store (Fry-light and similar brands are great), or put oil in little spray bottle (of the kind that you might buy for haircare) yourself.
• (works with anything that can be shaken vigorously without harming it, e.g. root vegetables) chop the food, and put it in a tub (or a pan with a lid) with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Don’t worry if that looks like it’s not nearly enough—it will be! Now’s a great time to add your seasonings* too, by the way. Put the lid on, and holding the lid firmly in place, shake the tub/pan/whatever vigorously. Open it, and you’ll find the oil has now distributed itself into a very thin layer all over the food.

*About those seasonings…

Obviously not everything will go with everything, but some very healthful seasonings to consider adding are:

• Garlic minced/granules/powder (great for the heart and immune health)
• Black pepper (boosts absorption of other nutrients, and provides more benefits of its own than we can list here)
• Turmeric (slows aging and has anti-cancer properties)
• Cinnamon (great for the heart and has anti-inflammatory properties)

Garlic and black pepper can go with almost anything (and in this writer’s house, they usually do!)

Turmeric has a sweet nutty taste, and will add its color anything it touches. So if you want beautiful golden fries, perfect! If you don’t want yellow eggplant, maybe skip it.

Cinnamon is, of course, great as part of breakfast and dessert dishes

On which note, things most people don’t think of air-frying:

• Breakfast frittata—the healthy way!
• Omelets—no more accidental scrambled egg and you don’t have to babysit it! Just take out the tray that things normally sit on, and build it directly onto the (spray-oiled) bottom of the air-fryer pan. If you’re worried it’ll burn: a) it won’t, because the heat is coming from above, not below b) you can always use greaseproof paper or even a small heatproof plate
• French toast—again with no cooking skills required
• Fish cakes—make the patties as normal, spray-oil and lightly bread them
• Cauliflower bites—spray oil or do the pan-jiggle we described; for seasonings, we recommend adding smoked paprika and, if you like heat, your preferred kind of hot pepper! These are delicious, and an amazing healthy snack that feels like junk food.
• Falafel—make the balls as usual, spray-oil (do not jiggle violently; they won’t have the structural integrity for that) and air-fry!
• Calamari (vegan option: onion rings!)—cut the squid (or onions) into rings, and lightly coat in batter and refrigerate for about an hour before air-frying at the highest heat your fryer does. This is critical, because air-fryers don’t like wet things, and if you don’t refrigerate it and then use a high heat, the batter will just drip, and you don’t want that. But with those two tips, it’ll work just great.

Want more ideas?

Check out EatingWell’s 65+ Healthy Air-Fryer Recipes ← the recipes are right there, no need to fight one’s way to them in any fashion!