Ten Basic Air Fryer Recipes To Get You Started

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My little brother (who is 6 inches taller and far more muscular than me) got me an air fryer for Christmas. I’ve always wanted one and being the better sibling, he got me the fancy version. (This one)

So I set out to try and make all of the air fryer things I could for two weeks. Almost every single meal, I ate something out of the air fryer, and it was glorious.

In the interest of not gatekeeping all the good stuff, I compiled my favorite basic recipes for air fryer cooking. These are the ones I use the most, and most of them don’t require any special equipment beyond your air fryer (with the exception of the brownies, you’ll need a pan to bake those).

1. Bacon. No mess, no splattering your face with grease, no splattering everything and your entire stovetop and the floor and everywhere with grease.
2. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
3. Potato chips. Far better for you than grabbing a bag at the store, but maybe slightly more labor-intensive if you count having to put on pants and drive to said store.
4. Hard boiled eggs. Simple as pie. No green yolks and you can even get jammy centers if that’s your thing.
5. A whole chicken. Chicken, seasoning and avocado oil. That’s it, and you get a chicken better than those rotisserie ones from Costco. I had to chase off my roommates with a fork to keep them from eating all the skin.
6. Steak. No fooling with barbecues or cast iron, plus this recipe includes a delightful garlic butter.
7. Baked potatoes. Crispy skins and fluffy interiors. Better than microwaving them like I used to do …
8. Brownies. I mean … do you even need an oven anymore? (The answer is yes, you do because you cannot fit your dutch oven in an air fryer, which makes things like beef broth really hard.)
9. Croutons. Easy peasy, and without all the weird unpronounceable ingredients some of the store-bought ones can have. Bonus points if you make your own bread too.
10. Toast. Yes, you can air fry your toast. I don’t own a toaster because … Well, I honestly can’t remember why but since this thing toasts, I don’t need to.

And as a bonus, here’s an awesome calculator that helps you figure out the appropriate times to heat things that only provide oven instructions. After burning the hell out of a set of pretzel dogs and then fish fillets, I figured out that you can’t just cook premade things (like Trader Joe’s gyoza) per the instructions, it’s usually at a lower temperature for less time.

Happy air frying!