You’ve finally purchased your first air fryer. Let me start by saying, I’m so happy for you. This small countertop convection oven is about to be your new favorite appliance. It won’t replace your other ones—the oven, toaster, and stovetop are fit for certain purposes—but it delivers on speed and crispiness like no other. It can cook with microwave-like speed (some meals 50% to 75% faster) without compromising on the quality of the finished dish, and it can recrisp some leftovers to a state arguably better than when it was fresh. So what should you cook first? Here are the best things to pop in the air fryer as soon as possible.
Potatoes. All of them.
Potatoes do particularly well in the air fryer. In fact, if you bought an air fryer solely for the purpose of reheating restaurant leftovers or to make freezer fries, no one would blame you. That’s very smart. But don’t stop there, make crunchy roast potatoes in the air fryer, add canned sliced potatoes, mini Hasselbacks, or just any potato that you wish was crunchier.
Leftover fried food
We keep fried leftovers with the hope that they’ll taste pretty good the next day. No high expectations—even “just okay” would work—because more often than not, the warmed-up fried food tends to be dry, rubbery, and greasy. This is no longer your fate, new air fryer owner. All leftover fried foods (I have not been disappointed once) reheat to crispy perfection after a quick stint in the high velocity winds of the air fryer. Fries, onion rings, crab rangoon, egg rolls, arancini, chicken nuggets, you name it—it’s crispy again. In fact, look in your fridge right now and air fry any cold, formerly fried thing that you kept.
Gnocchi and meatballs
Your future meals don’t have to consist of potatoes and old fried food (but there’s no shame in that); air fryers can even make you an entire meal in one basket. You can make packaged gnocchi and frozen meatballs in a single air fry sesh because they happen to cook at the same rate. Just throw them into a 385℉ air fryer for about 10 minutes, and toss the tasty morsels in some warm tomato sauce for a lovely meal.
Pork tenderloin
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A weeknight roast usually has “long cook time” written all over it, but the air fryer can make short work out of a bulky cut of meat in no time. Pork tenderloin is one of my favorite roasts to make because it’s an affordable cut, and it takes no time to whip up in that countertop convection oven. Simply marinate it a few hours prior to cooking, drop it into a 350℉ air fryer and roast it for about 20 minutes. A juicy and impressive pork roast is ready in the time it takes you to change from “work clothes” to “chill clothes.”
Fried bread
You shouldn’t make toast in the air fryer (unless you like desiccated, dry, dust bricks), but you can make a mean fried bread in there. It’s like making quick Texas toast—crisp and oily in the best way possible. To make delicious fried bread, generously spread fat on both sides of a slice of bread. You can use butter, mayo, bacon fat, schmaltz, whatever you have, and air fry it at 400℉ for a few minutes, flipping it halfway through.
Peppers
I adore roasted red peppers. They’re great in dips, tossed in salads, or blended into soups. Sadly, roasting them in the oven for 40 minutes, or blistering them over the flame of my gas stove was all a complete chore. Luckily, the air fryer cooks up tender roasted peppers in a fraction of the time. Throw an entire pepper or two into your air fryer basket, no need to add oil or anything, and air fry it for five to seven minutes. You’ll have perfectly blistered peppers ready to use.
Egg rolled leftovers
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
One of my favorite ways to make leftovers fun again is to roll them up in egg roll wrappers. Almost any type of leftover dish is a delicious egg roll filling and you can get a deep-fried crunch with the air fryer. Just fill and roll the egg rolls and swipe a thin layer of oil onto the outside of the shell. Air fry them at 375℉ for 12 to 15 minutes.
Hot dogs
I can’t say that hot dogs are difficult to make. They’re already cooked so you could boil them or even microwave them, but air fried dogs are truly the best option. My partner and I have air fried both fridge-cold dogs and near-frozen hot dogs, and they both take about the same amount of time to warm up—roughly three minutes. Three. I suggest making diagonal slices all around the sides of your dogs so they brown on the edges.
Most of the freezer aisle
The freezer aisle of your grocery store is packed with snacks, large and small, designed to cook well in your conventional oven. Well now you basically have a tiny oven on steroids. All the delicious stoner foods you like to make late at night are better and cook faster in your air fryer—especially if it has a breading or batter coating. Air fry fish sticks, small pizzas, tater tots, jalepeño poppers, mozzarella sticks (honestly, any frozen TGIFridays item), garlic bread, or tiny White Castle burgers.
Canned mushrooms
My favorite air fryer snack lately is the mushroom chip. They’re full of umami and as crispy as a pork rind. You can make a bowl of this crunchy, salty snack with a simple can of mushrooms. Just drain them and toss with a light coating of oil. Air fry them for a few minutes at 390℉ until crisp and brown.
Seafood
Credit: Claire Lower
Seafood cooks well in the air fryer too, and I don’t just mean breaded shrimp (but of course, breaded shrimp). You can air fry frozen shrimp to tender, seasoned perfection in just a handful of minutes. Air fry a lobster tail in under 10 minutes for a weeknight treat. The vortex heat cooks these sea creatures so quickly they don’t have time to dry out. But that does mean you should set the timer and check on them early, because they’ll be finished before you know it.
Soggy fried chicken
Technically, yes, soggy fried chicken can fit in the “leftover food” category, but it can also be a special case. If you’ve ever gotten takeaway or delivery from Popeye’s then you know some soggy fried chicken isn’t leftover or cold. It’s humid. Luckily the air fryer allows you to revive this nearly defeated chicken. Unwrap any disappointingly soft fried chicken (this includes sandwiches, just take the chicken out of the bun first) and drop it into the air fryer for five to ten minutes at 400℉. Your fried chicken will be better than ever.
Meatloaf
Another low-cost, satisfying, comfort food main course is a meatloaf, and (surprise!) the air fryer can have this on your plate in record time. Just make sure to shape your meatloaf into a size that fits within the confines of your basket or oven-style air fryer. Set the air fryer to 375℉ and roast for about 10 minutes (flipping halfway), or until the internal temperature matches the doneness for the meat mixture you used.
