Air Fryer
An air fryer is a small convection oven with an aggressive fan, and understanding it that way explains everything it's good at. Strong circulating heat in a tiny cavity crisps surfaces fast, preheats in a couple of minutes, and doesn't heat your kitchen.
It is not a deep fryer, and food that relies on a wet batter will disappoint. What it does brilliantly is anything you want crisp and dry on the outside: vegetables, breaded things, chicken skin, and reheating leftovers that would otherwise go limp in a microwave.
Getting Air Fryer right
Crowding the basket is the mistake
Air fryers work by moving hot air around each piece of food. Pile the basket and the pieces trap moisture against each other and steam instead of crisping. A single layer with visible gaps, cooked in two batches, beats one crowded batch every time — and the second batch takes less time because the machine is already hot.
Oil is still required, just far less
A light toss in a teaspoon or two of oil is what conducts heat to the surface and gets you an even golden colour. Completely dry food comes out pale and leathery. Toss in a bowl rather than spraying in the basket — aerosol sprays can degrade the non-stick coating over time.
Shake or turn halfway through
Every air fryer has hot spots, usually toward the back and the element. Shaking the basket or turning larger pieces once partway through evens out the browning. Recipes here say when — it's usually the halfway point, and it costs ten seconds.
Drop oven temperatures by about 25°F
Converting a conventional oven recipe, reduce the temperature by roughly 25°F/15°C and start checking at two thirds of the stated time. The fan makes the effective heat higher than the dial suggests, and the small cavity means things move from done to burnt quickly.
