It’s taken me a while to really want to use an air fryer, I thought they were a bit of a phase. I do just think they are titled incorrectly, think of them as mini fan ovens and they are brilliant – especially given i’ve got a very basic one for £40! But yes they are versatile, we’ve used them a lot in our spare time, so here are 5 recipes that I think are perfect in the air fryer, better in some ways as they are either healthier, save you time, money and or energy bill costs in some way! Play around with these as much as you like and always keep a bit of spray oil to hand if you wanna kick start something or to prevent things sticking.
Air Fryer Garlic Bread
Mix the butter, garlic, parsley and parmesan together into a bowl until well combined and blended. Slice you baguettes an inch apart cutting down but not fully down to the bottom of the baguette, keep it joined to create pockets all along the bread. Using a teaspoon carefully fill the gaps with the garlic butter mixture. Air fry at 160c for approx. 10 minutes or until golden brown, checking often.
Cauliflower Bites
Mix the water, flour and salt and pepper together in a bowl to make a batter. Dunk the cauliflower pieces in the batter until well coated, air fry at 180c for ten minutes or more until lightly golden brown, adding spray oil halfway if you wish.
Remove from the air fryer, then coat in buffalo sauce all over, stirring well. Carefully return to the air fryer, lining it if you wish with tin foil and piercing holes in to maintain air flow, cook until just starting to char, approx. another 10 minutes.
Prawn Tacos
Mix the chilli powder, garlic powder, cumin powder and onion powder together, coat all over the prawns. Add the prawns to an air fryer with no tray in it (add it to the bottom of the basket), cook for 10 mins at 160c or until lightly charred. Remove from the fryer basket, rub the tortilla in any of the seasoning left and cook for 40 seconds or so at the same temperature to warm the tortilla through.
Serve the prawns on the warmed tortilla(s) with avocado, coriander, lime juice, mayo and onions. Super good!
Teriyaki Salmon
Mix together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, garlic cloves and the cornflour. Divide the mixture in two and marinade the salmon in half of it in a bowl, for approx. 30 mins, (longer if you want to really develop the flavour) turning over halfway, to marinade evenly.
Air fryer the salmon skin side up at 200c for 6 minutes or so until the skin is nice and crispy.
If you want you can add green beans in alongside the salmon in the basket, just use some spray oil and season them in salt and pepper (or anything you like).
Delicately turn over, add a little more sauce on top and cook again for a further 5 minutes. Once done remove and drizzle on more sauce, serve with the green beans, a little lemon juice and some sesame seeds, very nice!
Chicken Enchiladas
Roll the cooked chicken in the taco seasoning until coated. Take a tortilla and fill it down the centre with the chicken, beans, cheese, plus any other filling you like and roll up ensuring to tuck in the ends, place in your lined air fryer basket. Repeat with more tortillas, 4 fitted in mine quite snug making the 2 on the ends smaller. Top with more enchilada sauce and some additional cheese, air fry at 160c for approximately 10 minutes. Top with guacamole, chopped tomatoes and more cheese / sauce as you wish once removed.