The Art of Air Frying

Air fryers are a handy cooking tool to have in your arsenal for healthy weeknight meals.

To convert a recipe from oven or frying methods just takes knowing a few facts.

I use two methods for air frying. We’ll call them marinade and dry.

Marinade method

There isn’t much preparation past the marinade. Just ensure the marinade being used is the 3–1–1 ratios suggested in the magic of marinades page.

The marinade method is good for proteins to keep them flavorful and juicy. This is used in John’s Mediterranean chicken thighs.

The downside for that method is that it won’t work for any type of coating.

The dry method

The dry method is faster and works well for most recipes. A good example is the recipe for air fried Cornish hens.

• Pat dry — so that it can crisp up. Use a paper towel to dry ingredients beforehand.
• Use oil sparingly — too much oil is counterproductive in an air fryer. It won’t make it crispier.

Warning: Please do not use accelerant oil on your air fryer or the food. It will gum up your air fryer and is not healthy directly on food. Today there are cooking sprays available that do not have an accelerant.

• Season after adding the oil — this allows the spices to coat the ingredients.
• Light coatings — if you want to play around with a coating, don’t go for a batter; bread crumbs, parmesan, and cornstarch work well.

Always preheat the air fryer

We use the Ninja Foodi air fryer in our kitchen that automatically preheats. Most recipes are written for a preheated air fryer.

Cooking time can be converted from packaging or recipe directions.

Temperature can be decided by the type of ingredient.

I hope this page will inspire new ideas. Let me know what you dream up.

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