Too hot to use your oven? An air fryer can be a worthy replacement, keeping your kitchen cooler while still allowing you to enjoy roasted meals. The Drexel Food Lab tested 10 air fryer models by cooking chicken, vegetables, and french fries, and experts Samantha Erb and Niki Webster share tips to make the most of your air fryer.
Elevate Your Summer Produce
Erb cooks corn on the cob in her air fryer, while Webster roasts cherry tomatoes in a Ninja Foodi using an air fryer-proof bowl to keep juices together. After cooking, she adds olive oil, salt, and herbs. The CDC recommends cooking veggies to avoid the cyclospora parasite.
Skip the Stovetop Completely
“You can actually cook whole meals in there. People underutilize the whole of the air fryer,” said Webster. She cooks entire curries by roasting onions and garlic before adding liquid ingredients, noting this only works with a solid, leakproof cooking base. Erb makes chicken fajitas: “I can chop the chicken up, throw in the peppers and onions and the fajita seasoning all at the same time. So it’s all in one basket. It’s all less cleanup. The kids love it,” she said.
Don’t Forget Dessert
Erb has a brownie recipe and makes fried Oreos that taste like carnival ones. Webster enjoys baking and has a chocolate chip pistachio cookie recipe in her cookbook.
Don’t Omit This Key Ingredient
“I just think that food tastes much better with good oil,” said Webster, recommending brands like Good Phats and Honest Toil. Filter commissioning editor Karen Yuan recommends Partanna or California Olive Ranch. Erb agrees: “I definitely recommend using some sort of oil when you’re frying. I’ll hear a lot of people say that their chicken comes out dry, and that’s either they didn’t use oil or they overcooked it.”
