How to convert any recipe to the air fryer. If you are looking to convert your regular oven recipes tothe air fryer then this air fryer cooking times guide is perfect for you.
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Convert ANY RecipeTo The Air Fryer
This is perfect for bookmarkingwhenever you are thinking about a recipe that you want to convert to the Air fryer.
If you’re anything like me thenyou will have an air fryer and you will want to cook everything and anything init.
You will dream of air fryer steak, air fryer rotisserie chicken, air fryer meatloaf and so many more classics. After all, air fryer cooking is so simple and why shouldn’t we?
But in a way when you start withthe air fryer, it is like learning to cook from scratch all over again.
You have an understanding that it works differently than what an oven does or a fat fryer, but once you get into it, you will realise that it is so much fun and well worth doing.
How To Convert ANY Recipe To An Air Fryer Recipe?
There is no straight forward ruleas all air fryer recipes are different. Cooking steak is going to be differentcompared to cooking French Fries and of course meatloaf is a totally different story.
I would say that you should startwith these principles:
#1 – AirFrying Is Just Like Baked + Grilled + Deep Fried (IN ONE)
If you imagine that you’recooking a roast dinner for Sunday lunch. You have planned to make roast chickenwith roast potatoes and vegetables.
You would normally steam the vegetables in a pan and then cook the chicken and the potatoes together in the oven. You would then finish roast chicken on the grill to crisp up the chicken and potatoes.
But now you have an air fryer andthen only downside is that it is smaller than the space you have in the ovenbut everything else is very similar.
You would cook the chicken andpotatoes together but because the air fryer acts as the baked, grilled and deepfried all in one means that there is less work and less oil involved.
You can place your chicken andpotatoes in the same way, then you would add the oil (but a lot less) and thenit would cook evenly and then you can serve it.
That chicken and potatoes thatwould usually take 90 minutes in the oven, will take just 45 minutesin the air fryer.
Add to this that instead ofhaving to splash the potatoes with a lot of oil to make them crispy you justneed a tablespoon of olive oil for each person that you are cooking for.
Expect air fryer cooking to besimple and not as difficult as the way you cook now, so it is a nice cookingexperience.
#2 – AirFrying Uses Less Oil/No Oil
You end up experimenting a lot toget things right. For example, some recipes you will find don’t require any oilat all, yet some if you take them to an oil free recipe, they can tastehorrible.
But as a rule, you should expect to reduce the oil by about 85%.
If you’re a fan ofKFC Chicken,Chicken Cordon BleuorChicken Schnitzelthenyou will love the oil free versions for the air fryer.
They taste like something thathas been crisped and deep fried when in fact it has been breaded and made in amuch healthier way.
Though I do recommend you read our air fryer oil usage guide as it goes into much greater detail.
Expect trial and error though andhave fun recipe testing. Ourair fryer FrenchFriesfor example took us 3 years to perfect them and now ourdinners wouldn’t be the same without them!
#3 – AirFrying Cooks Fast
Because the air fryer uses airinstead of lots of oil it cooks things really fast.
Expect to cook at 180c/360f forrecipes that you would normally cook at 200c/400f in the conventional oven.
#4 – AirFrying On 80% Full
Never fill your air fryer morethan 80% capacity. This is because when it gets too full everything stickstogether and comes out like glue.
Fries when they are overcookedwill come out stuck together and incredibly dry. You will then need a lot ofmayonnaise to make them taste good.
I find this applies especially to if you overload your air fryer when cookingsweet potato fries.
#5 – AirFrying Halfway Rule
Another rule of the thumb is tomake sure that you check and shake halfway through cooking when cooking airfryer fries.
This gives you chance to makesure that the fries is not stuck together and to make sure they don’t end updry.
I find that a lot of my air fryerFrench fries recipes end up needing to cook for 15 minutes at 180c/360f.
I will then give them a shake atthe 7.5 minutes mark. If you’re likely to forget, just put them on for half thetime and then cook again after shaking.
#6 – AirFrying From Frozen
There are a lot of delicious frozen foods that you can cook in the air fryer instead of the deep fat fryer. This includes classic air fryer frozen French fries, air fryer frozen chicken wings and of course air fryer frozen jalapeno poppers.
What I have learnt from thenumerous frozen food that I have cooked in the air fryer is that a mediumtemperature of 180c/360f and a high temperature of 200c/400f work best togetherto ensure the food is cooked and that it is crispy.
We also have a popular air fryer frozen foods cookbook that you can download here or click on the banner below:
It features all of our favourite frozenfoods converted to the air fryer and perfect for finding your feet.
#7 – AirFrying Needs Accessories
You need a few things in order tomake air frying work for you. I can’t live without myair fryer Grill,air fryer Baking Panandof coursemy baking mats.
They all slot into the air fryerto make cooking so much easier and have had a lot of use yet still look brandnew.
When you invest in them once (just like the air fryer) they will last you years andsave you a huge amount of calories.
Quick AirFryer Conversion Chart
I have also put together a quickAir Fryer conversion chart. That way if you want something quick for dinner andyou want to air fry it then you can quickly turn to this list.
It features a lot of my favouriteAir Fryer foods and it is great for referencing later.
It includes meat, fish,vegetables, desserts (I cook plenty of those), pastries, breakfast ideas and somuch more:
As you can see most recipes willcook on 180c/360f. It’s an easy temperature to remember and then if you wantthings more crispy then use 200c/400f.
I also find that a lower temperature also comes in handy if you want to thaw food in your air fryer.
You can also decrease the cookingtime by preheating it while you are preparing your food for the air fryer.
Dominic being the trained chef, will always do this and sometimes I have things going on that I naturally forget.
101 Air Fryer Recipes For Beginners PDF Cookbook
If you would like to get all therecipes mentioned above, along with all the extra air fryer beginners tutorials,then click on the image above orclick here.
Many of our readers call thistheir air fryer bible. As they turn to it whenever they want to cook somethingnew in the air fryer or use it to refer back to for their favourites.
Can’t Read it now? Then pin it for later!
