What Can You Cook in an Air Fryer? Air Fryer Recipes

If you’re luckily enough to have an air fryer in your house, then you are in the right place to learn about what you can cook in an air fryer!

Air fryers are revolutionizing how cooking is done in the kitchen. They cook fast, are safe to use, are healthier than traditionally deep fried foods, and provide a simple and convenient way to make just about any meal taste great.

So whether you just went out and bought one, or are interested in buying one of the best air fryers on the market, you’ve come to the right place to learn about the different types of foods you can cook with an air fryer, along with all kinds of links to tasty recipes!

Here’s a list of some of the types of foods that can be made in airfryers!

• raw meat
• vegetables
• french fries
• frozen foods
• baked goods
• sandwiches
• mexican foods
• rice
• seeds
• nuts

Cooking in an air fryer can be messy! Be sure to check out these perforated parchment papers with holes on Amazon!

cooking raw meat

Meat is a primary food staple when it comes to meals in most US households.

An air fryer is excellent for cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, bratwurst, steaks, fish, chicken breast, chicken wings, lamb chops, and even bacon!

The fast-moving, hot air quickly seals in the juices so that the meat doesn’t dry out, thus leaving the final product with a crispy outside and moist inside.

To help give you an idea of some great air fryer recipes for meat, take a look at these!

• Air fryer steak with garlic herb butter
• Air fried hamburgers
• Bratwurst cooked in an air fryer
• Air fryer chicken tenders
• Air fried salmon

There are many air fryer accessories to help separate and space the meats in the air fryer, along with drip pans for those fattier meats that like to drip grease. Some large air fryers even come with a rotisserie.

DON’T RISK IT!!!

When cooking meat, you want to make sure it is properly cook to prevent illness from eating undercooked meat!

The Lavatools Javelin digital meat thermometer will quickly help you determine if the meat is cooked to the proper temperature, and it won’t break the bank to purchase!

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roasting vegetables

Ever have a hard getting kids, or adults, to eat their vegetables? Well, it’s going to be a whole lot easier now once you start cooking them in your air fryer!

First you need to chop up your favorite vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, red, green and yellow peppers, onions, mushrooms and brussel sprouts, to name a few.

Next you will want to lightly coat the vegetables with a small amount of oil, using an oil bottle, sprayer or dispenser, to help prevent them from drying out. Sprinkle on a dash of salt and pepper, or your favorite seasoning, and then the vegetables are ready to go in the air fryer.

Don’t forget to shake-up the vegetables and spray with oil halfway through cooking to ensure all of the vegetable sides get exposed to the hot air.

The end result will be a crunchy, flavorful side-dish that will be gobbled up by everyone at the table!

Needs some specific air fryer vegetable recipes? Here are some of our favorites!

• Air fryer green beans
• Air fried asparagus
• Air fryer buffalo cauliflower
• Roasted corn on the cob
• Crispy roasted broccoli

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air fryer french fries

While I suppose potatoes are a vegetable, french fries are sort of in their own category.

French fries come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Steak fries, chips, potato wedges, cottage fries, crinkle cut fries, curly fries and waffle fries are just a few of the ways to make french fries, and they can all be frozen or fresh when prepared using an air fryer.

Most fries will cook up quickly when air fried, in about 12 minutes, which is much faster than pre-heating an oven or deep fryer.

As with most meals when using an air fryer, you will want to shake up the contents halfway through the cooking time to make sure everything gets nice and crispy on the outside!

Check out these air fryer recipes for french fries!

• Fresh-cut air fried french fries
• Air fried steak fries
• Air fried potato chips
• Curly Fries
• Air fried potato wedges

cooking frozen foods

The freeze section of the grocery store has just about every kind of food in it, and the great thing about that is that you can cooking almost all of them with your air fryer!

Here’s just a short list of possible frozen foods you can prepare with an air fryer.

• Chicken breasts
• Chicken wings
• Chicken nuggets
• French fries
• Vegetables
• Cheese sticks
• Jalapeno poppers
• Taquitos
• Pizza
• Pizza bites
• Burritos
• Mini tacos
• Hamburgers
• Vegeburgers
• Fish sticks

I hope you get the idea!  You can cook just about any frozen food with an air fryer, and it will cook quickly and come out crispy and crunchy!

When cooking frozen foods in an air fryer, you will definitely want to have the proper accessories so that the food doesn’t stick too much! Check out this great accessories kit for the XL Power Airfryer!

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cooking baked goods

While the air fryer probably isn’t the first appliance I would choose for baked goods, mostly due to the small capacity, it can be utilized for small batches. And if that’s all you need, or if the air fryer is all you have access to, then it will get the job done!

Below are some of the baked goods that cook well in air fryers.

• Cookies
• Cakes
• Cupcakes
• Pies
• Cinnamon rolls
• Donuts
• Muffins
• Bread
• Croutons

Extremely delicate baked goods, such as custards, flans and souffles, are less likely to cook properly given the speed of the hot air within the air fryer.

There are all kinds of air fryer recipes for baked goods on the internet and Pinterest, but here are some of our favorites!

• Super soft airfryer chocolate chip cookies
• Air fryer chocolate muffins
• Apple hand pies
• Super easy air fried donuts
• Air fried croutons

Silicone cooking molds help with battered recipes like cakes, cupcakes and bread, and since they can withstand the 400 degrees temperature, they are the perfect baking accessory to have if you have an air fryer!

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air fried sandwiches

Some people like sandwiches cold, and some people like them hot! If you’re a big fan of grilled cheese, grilled peanut butter and jelly, or even deli sandwiches, then you will love cooking them with an air fryer.

While you wouldn’t normally deep fry any of those sandwiches, I don’t think at least, you would typically toast them in a frying pan with butter or oil. You can still add a little butter or oil when air frying them, but you won’t need nearly as much!

Take a look at some of the sandwiches we love to cook in our air fryer!

• Grilled cheese
• Grilled peanut butter and jelly
• Hot italian sub
• Reuban
• Rachel (turkey Reuban)
• Monte Cristo
• Grilled BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato)
• Sausage, egg and cheese on english muffin

mexican foods made with an air fryer

Serious, who doesn’t like mexican food? Nobody that I know!

I’m not sure how you’d use the air fryer for tacos, other than maybe crisping the shells, but you can definitely use an air fryer to cook a whole bunch of other mexican foods.

Check out our favorite ones that we like to air fryer!

• Burritos
• Quesadillas
• Taquitos
• Tamales
• Chimichangas
• Nachos

The air fryer simply allows you to do things you can’t normally do when preparing foods, and it’s not just for replacing what a deep fryer can do!

Toss a load of nachos into the air fryer and you will never look at them the same again!

air fried rice

Rice? Air fried rice? Really! Yup!

Looks like the rice cooker might be one less appliance you need once you get your air fryer, because air fried rice takes cooked rice to a whole new level.

I have to admit, I was hesitant at first about the results, but after trying several recipes, we were pleasantly surprised at the results from frying rice in a hot air fryer.

Check out some common types of rice to cook.

• Fried rice
• White rice
• Brown rice
• Cauliflower rice (think Keto diet here)
• Rice cheese balls
• Hibachi rice

Air fried seeds

The annual tradition in our house used to be collecting the pumpkin seeds, after carving the pumpkins Halloween, and then roasting them in the oven. However, once we got an air fryer, that is how we roast our pumpkin seeds now.

The key to air frying pumpkin seeds is to properly coat them with oil and seasoning, cook them for 15 minutes, and then making sure you toss and spray them with oil every 5 minutes. You will love the end result of crunchy, salty pumpkin seeds!

However, those aren’t the only seeds that can be air fried roasted!

• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Squash seeds
• Chia seeds
• Hemp seeds
• Flax seeds

roasting nuts

Air fried, roasted nuts is about as good and easy as it gets.

The key is to not over-cook them so they don’t end up too hard and burnt. It might take a little bit of experimentation before finding the proper temperature and cook times, but it’s safest to start with other recommendations that people post from the internet for cooking nuts in an air fryer.

See our favorite air fried nuts below.

• Almonds
• Peanuts
• Walnuts
• Cashews
• Pecans
• Hazelnuts

conclusion – air fried foods and meals

Well, it looks like you can cook all sorts of things with an air fryer!

You are only limited by the capacity of the air fryer and the types of dishes and accessories you have for it.

And the best part is that we haven’t even covered everything, because there are all kinds of other air fried goodies like stuffed peppers, egg rolls, onion rings, ravioli.. the list goes on and on!

Now that you know you can cook just about any meal with an air fryer, be sure to learn about the advantage, and disadvantages of air fryers and check out our buyers guide on air fryers to help you pick the best one for your family.

Happy air frying!!!