If you have purchased your new air fryer then you might be thinking about how to cook in an air fryer? An air fryer is a small cooker that is suitable for cooking in small batches. Therefore, if you are intending to cook for more than 2 persons then you should either prepare the food in multiple batches or choose an alternative cooker such as a convection oven. In this article, I am going to explain to you how you can use your air fryer to cook delicious foods. Let’s get started.
Basic Idea About an Air Fryer
A passionate cook should not only concentrate on cooking, but she also knows the basic idea about the working principle of the appliances she uses. So, how does an air fryer work? You may have used a convection oven to bake foods. An air fryer is kind of a smaller version of it. The major difference is that a convection oven directly blows hot air on the food which might be harsh and uneven. An air fryer blows the air from the bottom of the food instead. Therefore, it has even but quicker hot airflow to give a better texture to the food.
Deep frying and air frying
After you have got some idea about the working mechanism of an air fryer, are you still thinking about how an air fryer cooks food like a deep fryer? In the deep frying process, the heat is passed through the food by the convection of hot fat. Air frying is also a convection process of heat transfer. But instead of using oil or fat, it uses hot airflow that passes through the food and makes the food crispy. Therefore, air frying is more like of a baking process than frying.
Cooking procedure with an air fryer
Before cooking– if you are using your air fryer for the first time, you will find two removable small parts- the food basket and the perforated tray. Never forget to put the tray at the bottom of the food chamber. This little tray will guide the hot air in the right direction when you start the machine. You should also run the empty air fryer for about ten minutes if you are using it for the first time. This dry run will remove the unhealthy gas if there is any.
Preheat for few minutes– You need to preheat the air fryer for few minutes just before you cook the food in it. Preheating is important to get the inside of the heating chamber ready for cooking. Otherwise, you might not get an even distribution of hot air.
Prepare for small-batch– do not overburden the food basket. Try to keep some space in the food pot. As you know that the hot air will cook your food, if the food sticks together, air will not evenly pass through. Therefore, you will not get evenly cooked food.
Set the temperature carefully- An air fryer gives a quicker flow of hot air than similar cookers. Therefore, the required temperature is less than its counterparts. When you are cooking a new recipe for the first time, try with a lower temperature. A higher temperature might make the food so crispy and fragile that you may not like it.
Add some oil- You should spray some vegetable oil in the food to make sure the food does not stick to the basket.
Shake and flip the food- To ensure the hot air passes all through the food, you should shake the basket every 5-10 minutes. If you are cooking proteins such as fish or meat, you need to flip these to get the best results.
Give a quick peek during cooking– During cooking, just remove the basket and see whether everything is OK. You need not turn off the cooker every time. It’ll be automatically turned off when you remove the basket.
Why should you use an air fryer?
Advantage of using an air fryer
- It is small and compact. Therefore, it needs little space on your countertop.
- It is inexpensive. You can get varieties of ranges of air fryers based on the price.
- Air fryer produces healthy food. It needs little oil to make the food brown and crunchy.
- This appliance is good at reheating of already fried food and regaining the crispiness.
- Air fryer is quicker than other comparable cooker.
What you might not like
- Air fryers are a little noisy.
- You can not prepare food for more than 2 persons in a batch.
Final words
You can not learn how to ride a bicycle by reading a book. Therefore, you can get better and better with your air fryer when you learn from trial and error. But still, I think the quick tips that I have given you about how to cook with an air fryer will give a basic idea about the operational process. If you find it helpful, you can share it with others. Also, you can share your cooking experience through the comment. Have a good day!