use the Golden Mean: 380° for 8 minutes, with a shake halfway through

May 17, 2019 11:44 AM

Bill Oakley and his friend Chris Onstad figure out the best frozen foods to cook in your air fryer, and how to cook them.
posted by prize bull octorok (16 comments total)

We use the shit out of our air fryer in my household. Frozen fare - fries, spring rolls, samosas, chicken/veggie burger patties; fresh chicken wings. Stuff turns out great.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:07 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

The product in that review i am mostly likely to consume turned out to be a fake one thrown in to see if we were still reading? an enjoyable review but im not sure i can justify the counterspace. i already feel like a slave to my instant pot.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:22 PM on May 17, 2019

Chris is a reserved guy who rarely “flips out,” but he was flipping out over these, the Wal-Mart house brand of “Wyngz” (see above).

I like how Chris Onstad seems to be in a better place these days.
posted by ocular shenanigans at 12:34 PM on May 17, 2019 [13 favorites]

I enjoyed that article and shared it with some like-minded friends. Thank you!
posted by merriment at 1:07 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

I guarantee no other Bagel Bites have ever attained this level of a high B-minus.

I love the snark from actual junk food lovers. It was great.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:33 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

I won an air fryer at our company Holiday party "gift game" thing - it's one of those "you can keep what you got or trade someone else" and while everyone else was fighting over the little TV and the MP3 player, I quietly held onto what I knew would be the superior product, and it has lived up to my expectations, we use it about weekly.

My only disappointment is that I'm not a fan of hot pockets or other 'personal' pizza things so much of the list is lost on me, and many of the other are things I already have tried (fries and 'fried' things are where it's a viking, by nature). I am going to have to try the taquitos and corn dogs, though. My grocer doesn't carry bunny legs, unfortunately.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:28 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Well, in an unexpected twist, I have eaten 2 foods courtesy of my parents’ air fryer: cheese wrapped in prosciutto and spicy crispy rabbit legs.

I might be in the wrong timeline.
posted by slipthought at 4:02 PM on May 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

cheese wrapped in prosciutto and spicy crispy rabbit legs.

I'm not into any of the frozen foods mentioned in the article, but I could definitely enjoy the hell out of both of those.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:28 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

The best chicken wings I've ever made have been in the Acti-fry. Even with the agitator arm beating the shit out of them, the perfect crispness can't be matched.

It's a pain in the entire ass to clean it up, tho.
posted by Reyturner at 8:07 PM on May 17, 2019

I'm just happy someone took on that mean-spirited NYTimes article. Normally I'm not among the Times-haters at all, but that hurt. I love my actifry and I resent people who are mean towards air-fryers.
posted by mumimor at 1:36 AM on May 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Has anyone owned both an air fryer and a convection toaster oven? How do they compare?

This post is making me lust after a Breville Smart Air.
posted by porpoise at 3:57 PM on May 18, 2019

I purchased an air fryer because of this article.

The hope is that it'll let us do baking style stuff in the summer without running the oven.
Testing a batch of frozen fries for kicks right now, then will try using it to crisp up some sous vided hot wings.

It's made by GoWiseUsa, so I have high hopes that is a superior quality product.
posted by Lord_Pall at 6:10 PM on May 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

We never owned a convection toaster oven, but have used a convection oven oven extensively.

This seems to be a lot more directed than the oven. The oven had consistent temperature, but this is like a 400 degree blow dryer pointed at the food. Functionally seems to be different.
posted by Lord_Pall at 6:11 PM on May 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Okay for a tiny batch of frozen fries, it did an amazing job in 11 minutes @400 degrees and the kitchen isn't a zillion degrees.

Next up, wings.
posted by Lord_Pall at 6:18 PM on May 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Annd aside from kinda overloading the basket, it did an amazing job crisping the wings.

This is a neat device. Seems more useful than a toaster oven, and gives pretty impressive results. Definitely fits in with the sous vide/finishing cooking flow.
posted by Lord_Pall at 6:49 PM on May 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

My main use of the Airfryer is fresh fried potatoes, blocks, wedges, fries. Peel a few potatoes, (or just wash them if they have a nice skin without blemishes) cut them in pieces and throw em in the Fryer for 25 minutes. Toss the basket a few times while preparing the rest of the food. Great results every time. I probably don't clean the thing often enough, but we're still alive.
posted by Akke at 3:23 AM on May 20, 2019