The best item in the kitchen!
Although I value the fridge and freezer a lot too, I mean summer in Spain without it would be called disaster but next in line is definitely the air fryer we bought a few weeks ago. It's been only two weeks and until this very day neither of us has had a failure dish with the air fryer although I personally tried really hard to find one. I mean this machine can't be that great can it?
Chicken for the win
I already shared the chicken wings my boyfriend tried in the air fryer the first day, which turned out really well. In fact, they turned out so well that they were bought several times after as we all enjoyed the juicy inside while the wings had a nice crunch on the outside. Still, they aren't my favourite thing to eat because I personally hate eating these with my hands (the only way!) as the marinade is so toxic and hard to get rid of. But sometimes they just look too well to not eat them, lol.
My personal winner in the category "chicken air fryer food" until today is the "solomillo de pollo" which is chicken tenderloin. I normally bake them in a frying pan but with some butter only, not fried in oil. Since the arrival of the air fryer, these chicken tenderloins will never end up in the pan again because why bother standing in front of the gas stove when the fryer does it all without adding extra fat and deliver them crunchier than I can bake them?
A few weeks ago, I had cravings for the chicken strips from KFC, not because they are so wonderful but simply because of the pepper sauce I love so much. But the two times we ordered from them, the order arrived cold and everything was fried in oil or fat that should have been replaced for a while. It smelled disgusting. So I figured I should make a pepper sauce myself instead and skip the whole KFC order.
Sweet potato fries
Next up is something that was so simple to make and it was ready SO much faster compared to doing this in the oven (remember, we don't have a regular fryer) so I was excited that the sweet potato fries turned out this well, meaning I'd have them more often now. For some strange reason, I'm the only one left who is fond of sweet potatoes but I don't mind as it means I have less fries to prepare, lol. Or, there's more for me!
I cut the potatoes in slices, it's advised to have evenly sliced potatoes but with the sweet potatoes being so hard to cut, I failed at that. On top I only sprinkled some salt, pepper and paprika powder.
I believe I put the air fryer a little higher than most items, most things go well at 180 degrees so far, these were done at 200 and for about 20 minutes. I served them with some pepper sauce that I also ate with the chicken tenderloin. The combination works well for me..
Crunchy chicken burger with cheddar cheese
I will throw in another chicken trial we did with the burgers that I normally bake in the pan with some coconut oil as that makes them most crunchy. It always takes forever to then finally see the cheddar melt so I was hoping that this would come out of the air fryer well.
You can probably see that it looks quite crispy, and I have to say 10 for crispiness and 10 for prep time! I put the burger in at 180 degrees I think for about 6 minutes, had to turn it once and a minute before time, I put on the cheddar. This was the perfect melt:
Mind you, this is the burger for my daughter so she has it plain with just mayo and ketchup. Of course, cheddar on top but no veggies lol. I tried one this way myself and it was better than any of these we had before, I do prefer a regular little baguette or something though because these hamburger buns are sticking to your teeth so much.
Air fryer verdict so far
Having the air fryer her for just two weeks, I can't even imagine to not have it anymore. It's been an absolute pleasure to have whatever we put in, prepped in a heart beat and not have an extremely hot kitchen from the big oven as before we bought this fryer. I love the fact that I can put in any kind of meat (well most) that will be done within 20 minutes without having to do much more than season it, shake it or turn it around once. It's such a convenience and there has been a lot more cooking here in the past two weeks compared to the rest of the hot summer months.
I already tried some things that are normally very time consuming as well, but will share that next time. Do you have a favourite food from the air fryer yourself?
All pictures above are mine..