Ref; Air Fryer times

[TomKnollRFV]

Alright, since I'm new to this, and I want to see what I can all use in the air fryer vs deep frying I got questions. I figured a thread with times listed out for people would be good.

For starters; I bought frozen breaded button mushrooms. I have no idea what's a good time for them. Any suggestions? Do I need to spritz them with oil?

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Tom.....

What do you have against frying foods in fat??? I guess I’m too old school but deep fried foods are ok by me. No need to change them.

Scott

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Tom.....

What do you have against frying foods in fat??? I guess I’m too old school but deep fried foods are ok by me. No need to change them.

Scott

I don't. But the family hates it, and my deep fryer needs to be shot. It got stored away and still had oil in it. I didn't even know where it was because our basement is like a black hole. Things end up in there and I never find them rofl.

Also because it's the new kitchen toy ;) I got a wok I use for deep frying. Alot less expensive to use it for frying oil wise.

 

[SonnyE]

Here, Tom, maybe this can help you get a start:

https://www.meredithlaurence.com/air-frying-101/air-fryer-cooking-charts/

The top section of Vegetables, left column, bottom shows mushrooms. But it appears they talk about sliced. 400 degrees for 5 minutes.
So a bit of trial and error, error, error, may be in order.

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

I will learn with you. I was just gifted an air fryer for Christmas and I have no idea how to cook things in it. My research wasn't too promising. Seems like most fried foods aren't going to work out very good in there and that things made to be baked in the oven work best. Sooo... it's just a tiny convection oven?!? I'm not going to get ahead of myself though. I haven't even used it yet. There are recipes and even cookbooks out there so we'll see how it goes. But... new toy! At least it will be fun.

 

[Steve H]

Nice chart. I have a air fryer coming tomorrow.

 

[SmokinAl]

It takes a few times to get the temp & time down right. The one I have came with a book that gives you times & temps, but it doesn't have mushrooms in it. Personally I like the food out of the Air Fryer better than actual deep fried. It is much more crispy & I doubt anyone who eats fries out of an air fryer would know they were not fried, unless they saw you cook them. We use ours almost daily for something!
Al

 

[smokinq13]

I'm with Al on this one. Deep fried foods make me feel gross and bloated. Does air frying have the same results as deep frying? No, but i can live with the results that i do get. I learned just by trail and error to get the temperatures and times down. Fries usually are max temperature itll go to (375 or 400 usually) and i never time them, just til i think they're where i want them. Stuff that's breaded like mushrooms or cheesesticks, i turn the temperature down just a little( 325 350 ish) cuase the breading will burn faster than the inside getting down... for times, again i don't cook by times just til i think its good to go

 

[dward51]

Let me toss my 2 cents in also.....

I had been an air fryer holdout for a long time. Limited counter space combined with the size of most of the units and the "we don't need another gadget" syndrome had prevented me from taking the plunge. Last winter, there was a smaller basic model (2.5l) that I picked up on sale and after a rebate that cost me like $23 at JC Penney. About a month into owning the thing I suddenly found I was using it at least every other day. Especially for sausage (cooking fresh sausage links or even breakfast sausage). Now that I'm retired and home making breakfast every day, I just toss a couple of raw links or patties in and crank the heat to 400*. By the time my coffee and the eggs are done, so are the formerly raw (and frozen hard as a brick) sausage. The grease clean up is easy as it collects in the bottom of the outer shell. After it cools, just take it to the trash can and wipe 98% of it out with a paper towel and after a quick and easy wash by hand, it's ready to go for dinner or tomorrow (the non-stick interior really works in mine).

Ok, other than breakfast I have used it to heat or cook:

Pizza Calzones
Frozen Meatballs (the pre-made type)
All kinds of sausage (this is my number 1 use of the air fryer - a couple of links, cut and in a bowl of pasta sauce with cheese makes a good quick and easy supper main dish)
Chicken wings
Chicken (thighs, breasts, etc.... sprinkle with rub and cooked from raw)
Stuffed mushrooms
Ham steaks
Basically anything that will not melt and ooze down through the openings in the inner basket.
Same for reheating - it's great​

And I just unboxed the Power Air Fryer Elite Oven yesterday. So I liked my little one so much I went with the upgrade. The smaller one will move to the travel trailer (unless I end up buying another oven model for that as well).

On the plus side, an air fryer will use way less electricity than your main oven. We have a convection oven, but 99% of the time it's just the 2 of us so why heat up the big oven when an air fryer will do the same job quicker and with less electricity. Another plus, no used oil to drain, strain, and store or discard. Food is less greasy but still nice and crisp, juicy and flavorful. You can spritz breaded food with spray oil (Pam, etc...) to give a more fried like crispness, but I rarely do as it just does not need it. There is a very small learning curve, but it's mostly common sense and just peek in to see how it's going the first time or two. After that, you just crank it on and let it run.

So yes, I was a skeptic and hold out. But I swear by an air fryer now, the only complaint I have is it is another item taking space on our counter. I can live with that.....

(he said as he was about to amble into the kitchen to toss a couple of frozen breakfast sausage "pucks" into the new air fryer oven to cook and start a late breakfast)​

 

[BandCollector]

We use ours all the time for many items. Ours came with an instruction/cook book. . . . Helped tremendously.

The chart SonnyE suggested is very helpful.

 

[tx smoker]

I have to chime in here with dward51 on this. I too was a hold out until I got mine. He's spot on with sausage. If it's not frozen though, be careful. It will cook WAY faster in the air fryer than it will on a grill or smoker set at the same temp. I love to do thick hand-cut fries tossed with a bit of olive oil and SPOG. They cannot be beaten and IMHO far better than deep fried. Another staple that I love doing is chicken fried steak fingers. CFS is standard fare in TX and I love the stuff so had to give it a shot. Problem is that one CFS will take up the entire fryer if you don't have the rack for doing layers of food so I decided to try fingers. Worked out fantastic and even the wife loves them....which is critical to the continuance of my culinary endeavors

Late to the party but I got here,
Robert

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Mine as well came with a booklet, but I don't think they expected people to try and use it for say, cheese curds etc. I love it so far though. I'll often put some fries in and do burgers whilst they cook.

Also makes a good way to heat up just a few little snack items, I just guess I'll have to forge ahead and figure out the times for every thing. <I haven't done cheese curds yet...I know I will..and that'll probably ruin my weight loss attempts when I figure that out.. LOL>

 

[SonnyE]

We eat a lot of chicken, Legs and Thighs, we like the dark meat.
As you explore the menu of pre-programmed cooks, it gets easier and easier.
I'm pretty much the Air Fryer Guyer here. My wife has enough difficulty with the TV remote, let alone going beyond burning things on the gas range.

Chicken is easy, and very impressive once it's done. I do pre-heat ours for 10 minutes on the chicken setting.
We get the chicken parts with the skin on. I use a seasoning called Chef Meritos Chicken (Pollo) Seasoning. But please, use what ever you like. Just season your Chicken pieces and lay in a single layer, skin side up to start.
Then poke the selector dot until you see the drumstick. There's your chicken setting.
It will come up with 20 minutes at (I think) 375 degrees. Let it run.
When it is done, turn your pieces over, program in another 20 minute run. And walk away.

Note here: I will reduce the time for smaller pieces of chicken. You can check at 15-16 minutes and see how it's looking. I often now just reduce the 20 minutes to 16-18 minutes and we enjoy that.
Skin side up to start, I did skin side down ONCE. Lost all the nice crispy skin to the bottom of the pan.

No oils. No sprays. Just some seasoning and the chickens natural juices.

I did a chunk of Pork Loin a short while back and it was delicious. I was doing Al's SPOG and was delighted with the taste, not to mention the ease of the Air Fryer.
I also like doing potato Home Frys in it.
Pretty much a set it and forget it appliance. While it's cookin, you can be doin up the veggies or salad.

We made a place for ours in the back of a pull out basket in a cabinet. They are a bit large, or ours is. But because it is round, I found a corner behind it for the clip on Sous Vide appliance. (When you are a pack rat, you find ways to utilize space.)

 

[HalfSmoked]

Looking to learn to use ours more. Had FF and shrimp last night.

Warren

 

[SonnyE]

Looking to learn to use ours more. Had FF and shrimp last night.
Warren

Like Dory sez, Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....
I like being freed up to do other things. The stuff in the Air Fryer does it's thing.

 

[HalfSmoked]

SonnyE Thanks for the like.

Yup then next year there will be another new toy.

Warren

 

[SonnyE]

SonnyE Thanks for the like.

Yup then next year there will be another new toy.

Warren

NEXT YEAR? That's like waiting for Christmas!

 

[dward51]

I took a little time today to combine the various charts I've seen with a "conversion calculator" where you can take a recipe for a conventional oven and convert it to an air fryer recipe. You input the conventional time and temp, and the spreadsheet will convert this to air fryer time and temp. Of course these are general guidelines, but it gives you a starting point.

The spreadsheet is in a new thread here:

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...foods-a-calculator-to-convert-recipes.283422/

The spreadsheet looks like this:

 

[Tex1911]

What the ? I didn't realize I was missing out on this contraption until I saw the responses. Now I will be in the market for an Air Fryer. When I heard crispy fries, and crispy chicken, I'm sold.

Don't want to hijack the thread but wondering which units yall have? And are you happy with it? Would you buy it again or a different model? Dang, with 3 stick burners, 1 gas and 1 MES I thought I had it under control until I heard about this. Stop the madness!

 

[dward51]

Ha ha.... at least you won't spend a fortune on these like good stick burners.....

I bought this one first. Smaller than the one you see at Sam's Club and good for just 2 people and limited counter space. It's a 2.6 qt model. I bought it under the "Cooks" brand at JC Penney on sale, but it is the same as the Bella 2.6 qt which runs $40 at Best Buy, Macy's and other places. (PS there is no way you could stuff any fryer that full with fries - that is a marketing image).

This is the model I just bought (mine is black). It's the Power Air Fryer Elite. I bought it on a deal of the day at QVC for $126 shipped which seemed like a good price for the elite model with the extra accessories. The QVC version came with the rotisserie basket, rotisserie skewers, and a few other things the normal "elite" version did not. It does have a 6 quart "basket" like a regular air fryer so this thing is pretty versatile in how it can cook. There is also a round rotating rotisserie basket that is smaller. All the racks and accessories are stainless except the drip pan and the "regular basket" which are both non-stick coated. Manual says all the removable parts are dishwasher safe. You can also remove the thermal glass for cleaning (double wall insulated - inner layer removes). Yes, it is bigger than my original one (which I moved to our travel trailer), but it's worth the extra space it takes up to me.