I recently bought an air fryer.
Its so much better than my old oil fryer!
PowerXL 5 quart.

So far I've only used it to cook pre-prep frying foods like chicken wings & fingers, a few egg rolls, pizza rolls, Jalapeno poppers, french fries & onion rings.

I'd like to experiment with some tempura. Plus I really like some of my custom breading recipes I already bake in the oven. I've noticed my electric bill is lower not using the oven as much.

I bought some air fryer breading mixes but I'm hesitant about putting gooey stuff in the fryer and clogging up the holes. Plus, I have no dishwasher so cleaning is basic dish washing in the sink by hand.

Can anyone offer some air fryer tips and tricks?
Any easy-peasy recipes are welcome too.

What is your favorite thing to cook in your air fryer?

I have one for almost two years now, I really like it

Home made chips are just lovely. Leaving them for an hour or so in cold water to take out the starch (like my granny used to do it), drain the chips properly and season them with salt and a wee bit of black pepper. Works well with sweet potatoes as well

Have you tried to cook anything gooey yet?
I'm jonesin for some homemade city chicken on a stick.
Plus, I would love to try fried Cajun crawfish tails.
Oh yeah, I also tried breaded butterfly shrimp (out of a box) and those turned out perfect.

I'm also thinking of making some mini shish-ka-bobs. I love shish-ka-bobs.

I like how the fryer remembers the cook settings when you stir of shake mid-fry. So simple and easy.

One thing I did figure out...Always pre-heat the fryer. I give mine 2-3 minutes preheat and things seem to cook better.
I have to catch myself from loading the basket before I preheat.

Tom if I'm correct some are putting foil in the bottom of the basket in order to keep certain things like bread etc from going through the holes..

Foil does not hurt the air fryer..

I have had one for a couple years..

For breakfast I put a frozen biscuit, 2 slices of bacon & some crispy crown hash browns in it set it on 400 for 10 minutes.. I like my bacon crispy so you just have to play with the times to see how you like things cooked..

Then all I have to do is cook my eggs on the stove..

The times they give you to cook stuff I would check it at least 2-4 min prior to the time they give for many times I have found I don't like my food cooked as long as they say..

I cook chicken breast, wings , jalp poppers, frozen fries ect..and great to heat up fish or fried stuff for it makes it crispy again..


Ohh and after you take your food out put a few paper towels in the bottom to soak up any grease or juice makes clean up easier..

I hand wash as well so if the basket is dirty turn on the hot water and let it run over it from the side while it is still hot.. Makes the food come off easier before it drys.. Then I have a plastic scrub brush for when stuff gets stuck in the holes.

Wonderful tips, Thanx!

My son says bacon in it is fantastic but I'm concerned with the grease overflowing or catching on fire. It gets pretty hot. I like my bacon crispy too.

I've got my eye on a few different accessory kits for it.
I no longer own metal cooking utensils except for the grille.
I specially bought sturdy plastic tongs for the air fryer.
I wash dishes with a special wash cloth which has plastic bristles on one side.
I haven't used a brillo pad on my cooking gear for years.

I would think foil would block the air flow. Isn't the air flow what enables the frying action? If the air holes are blocked wouldn't that affect how the food cooks?

I love quickstarter sammiches. Gotta try that method. Not that they are hard to make on the stove. Now I gotta have one!

Lining up the bottom of the fryer with foil, just like your oven , saves cleaning the air fryer... as long as the cooking grill is not sitting on the bottom, should have an inch of space for the air to circulate...if need be you can raise up the grill plate by adding a oven safe plate .... right now I am using foil balls as a make shift stand , evenly spaced , till I find a grill plate with legs ha ha !!!
Also I have learnt to shave of 5 minutes from the given times and cook mainly at 350F.... just like my oven !!!
Tonite I am having AF chicken kebabs on skewers and sweet potato fries ......

It does not block the air flow for it still flows on the sides and the top don't block all the holes..

As far as catching fire no worries just soak up the bacon grease after each use..

Now when cooking chicken I do it at the 360 as they say just don't cook it for 20 min I do more 16 that way the chicken is cooked but still juicy..

Plus have a meat thermometer if I'm not sure..

Fries I will continue to cook them for a bit longer..depends how crispy I want them and I do those on 400..

Ohh, and I suggest not to put the air fryer under a cabinet of any sorts.. It needs to have a open space. I put mine on my kitchen island that way the hot air goes straight out and up.. If under the cabinet or near it will finally damage the cabinets..

Over the weekend I did chicken fries, seasoned tater wedges and a couple onion rings in the fryer.
I did two batches as a plate special, one for her and one for me.
Too easy and oh so good and crispy.
They came out perfect, no oily mess and no oil smell in the house.
The whole dinner start to finsh, about 1/2 hour or so.

I noticed the fish fillets for sammiches has some oil.
When I dumped the basket on the plate I made a lil mess.
Wasn't expecting oil.
The fish sammiches were perfect tho.

I tried using foil when I made wings on Memorial day.
I made three different recipes and wanted to keep the basket as clean as possible between the flavors.
The wings I did in the foil never got crispy.
I ended up refrying them and not using the foil for the rest.
I used a wad of paper towels to dust out the basket between flavors, it came clean easily.
I made BBQ, Ranch and super hot, in that order.

I also used the air fryer to toast up taco shells and it worked wonderfully.
I'm thinking of using it to toast up doritos and tostitos for a 'chips & dip tray' when my kids get here.

I also used it to warm some Hawaiian sweet rolls I coated with butter, garlic powder and onion flakes. They didn't really brown like in the toaster oven but they did have toasted onion flakes and great taste.

Sounds like you got it figured out..I use mine almost every day..

But if you leave the rolls in another min or two they will brown for the frozen biscuits I cook do brown..But might not be as soft.. just some times you have to play with the time you cook them to see.. At times just one minute makes a difference.

And if you bread stuff with Panko Bread Crumbs they say it will make it more crispy... and cook better..

I bought Air Fryer breading mixes for chicken & pork.
I added some of the chicken one to my wings and it worked out great.

I also used Tony Chachere's Chicken Sauce instead of the egg wash before breading. Fantastic!



This stuff is great on simmered chicken too!

They have a whole line of these sauces and I keep them stocked in my pantry.
They even have a game sauce
http://www.tonychachere.com/shop/
Pourable Marinades

Chicken
Pork
Steakhouse
Burger
Seafood
Wild Game

They also offer a range of injection marinades I want to try with my Instapot.

Creole Style Butter
Creole Butter & Jalepeno
Roasted Garlic & Herb
Honey Bacon & BBQ
Praline Honey Ham
They each come with their own injector.

I have one also..first thing I made was hamburgers and home fries.
I also dont have a dish washer. but I poured the grease into a jar cleaned the basket and tray in the sink pretty easy clean up.

the burgers were much better then the foreman grill.
retained more of the juices, because the patty was not pressed,
and I could add the cheese while I let the patty rest.
my air fryer also has a second basket that hangs in the main basket.

so the thick cut home fries were done at the same time. I like to add green peppers and onions in with the fries as well. I like them slightly browned at the edges.. and the fryer does that nicely.

As I am trying to restart my digestive process after surgery I'm wondering about how healthy it is for me to use my Air Fryer?

Everything I've read about diet after my type of surgery says no fried foods.
I'm thinking it is because of the oil used to fry the food.
The air fryer uses no oil.

Granted, some foods release grease and oil during the cooking process. I've seen it when I was baking most of my meats.
Many of the foods I like (and already have) produce little or no grease and oils in the air fryer.

Would it be safe for me to eat air fried foods?
My diet calls for fish and chicken right now.
Fish oil is okay (they actually put me on a supplement).
When I air fry most of the foods I like, there is very little, if any, oils in the fryer pan.

Then the diet plan says No Fried Foods...does that include air fried?

Tom I would just check with your Dr.

But to my understanding Air Fried foods are fine for they want you to eliminate the grease.

I know when I started using my Air Fryer in order to bring my cholesterol down, my Dr was all for it..

I still eat fried foods when I go out to eat once in a while..

But due to what all you had done I would check to see if the fried food due to the texture and digesting would be a problem for you to digest.

Just to be on the safe side..

Thanx, yeah I'm still on semi liquid diet right now but I am anticipating bulkier foods within a couple of weeks and don't want to give away my freezer stock.

I'm still awaiting a call back from my doc (been 6 days today).

Not sure if this link will work but made Jalp, cheese smoked sausage wrapped in 2 crescent rolls cooked @ 360 for 7 min.. turned out perfect..

Tin foil??? Aluminum foil...
I haven't even had that in my home for decades since I learnt how bad this is for the environment and animals, especially aquatic.

Please think before buying again! It is very toxic for environment!.

Aluminum foil is actually far worse for the environment than plastic wrap across the board – use of fossil fuels, water pollution, human health impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Large parts of both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are affected. In the aquatic environment, aluminium acts as a toxic agent on gill-breathing animals such as fish and invertebrates, by causing loss of plasma- and haemolymph ions leading to osmoregulatory failure.

Please stop buying and using it when your roll is finished! You don't need it. You really don't. I haven't had it for over 3 decades and never thought, 'damn, if only I had tin foil!"

That's what recycling is for...

Keep miners, and tin foil factory workers, loggers, cardboard factory and glue factory people employed! I use aluminum all the time. Keeps my pans in mint shape and locks in the flavor and moistness of my food!

Besides....How do you properly bake a potato?

And what are all the eggheads gonna do to stop the government from planting information into their brains using micro and radio waves?

Back to the topic...Airfriers are the best. I'm not sure there's a need to use foil in an airfrier. I did an experiment with baking potatos. I have a double barrel airfrier. I put 4 equal size potatos on both sides - i wrapped one side in foil, the other I left the other side loosey goosey. The wrapped ones took longer to cook, but the unwrapped ones were more wrinkly

Happy Air Frying!

i bought mine on a whim when the kids were with me getting something else.

At first i thought great i just impulsed on something gimmicky / silly.


Then i realised how awesome it is making use of baking paper and marinated chicken, pies, cold pizza, chips etc etc. i havent used the oven since i found ways to utilise this wonderful invention.

Cool thing is i just wipe it once a week inside and throw the baking paper after it has cooled down, too easy.

I avoid using aluminum when ever possible when cooking.(another reson I baught the air frier ,so I could dump the forman grill) it is almost as bad as cooking with lead . but despite all the health concerns that is known about it. people still flock to buy cook ware made from it.
it is just a personal choice. but I recommend that you google it, and learn what you are exposing yourself to.