You can’t even open social media these days without coming across a post or video about air-fryer cooking. It seems everyone is in on the hype.
But, aside from your standard fried foods, what can you make with an air fryer – and why is everyone so obsessed with them?
Clare Andrews has gone from home cook to cookbook chef with the help of her air fryer.
“There weren’t many recipes around at the start of my journey, everything was quite beige, but that seems to have changed. Now, people are finding air fryers a low-cost and healthy way to cook,” she says.
Andrews was gifted her air fryer during lockdown by her mum.
“Air fryers became huge in lockdown and the cost-of-living crisis is making them more popular,” she notes.
We are all increasingly aware of the cost and nutritional value of our food (plus the cost of cooking it), and Andrews believes air fryers could help solve both problems.
“You don’t need to use oil at all. The air fryer still gets food crispy without it, because it cooks at such high heat. As far as money saving goes, you use less energy than a conventional oven.”
There is so much experimentation to be done.
“Mine had no instructions, I dived straight in and started experimenting – reheating and freezing things. Then I got more adventurous,” she says.
Her number one tip is simple: “Don’t overfill your basket. It won’t be crispy, there’s no point overfilling. Start small.”
Here are three of her most exciting air-fryer recipes to try yourself.
Ingredients:
270g pack of filo pastry sheets
4 tbsp Biscoff spread
Keep mess all in one place
200g strawberries, hulled and quartered
Icing sugar, for dusting
Method:
1. Carefully unroll your filo pastry, and tear each sheet into six to eight even squares. You don’t need to be too neat with these, as they will be layered up in your silicone moulds.
Get crispy aubergines in an air fryer
