Me, my Air Fryer and I… and You

[Davey S2]

I've had mine for all of 2 weeks now but its been used everyday.

I've done a roast chicken, roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese in it and a lot of kids meals but I find it really good for doing quick stuff like garlic bread and naan breads which previously I'd sometimes not bother with as I couldn't be bothered turning the oven on just for that.

Will be doing roast beef in it on the weekend.

[andrewcliffe]

For our Ninja, Mrs. C obtained a stainless steel pan as she'd read that the non-stick coating on the pan that comes with it as standard can come off. It came from Amazon in America. This can withstand a bit of scrubbing.

We've not had anything that has been scraped into the bin that has been unedible. There are a few things that didn't quite work as intended, with a note to adjust cooking time or temperature for next time.

Edited by andrewcliffe on Tuesday 16th January 11:19

[Blib]

Hello.

People on the thread refer to their 'Ninja'. Are you referring to a particular model?

Thank you.

[Composer62]

Blib said:

Hello.

People on the thread refer to their 'Ninja'. Are you referring to a particular model?

Thank you.

Ninja "Foodi" for me.

[andrewcliffe]

Ours is the 15-in-1 which has the pressure cooking option although it can be summarised in three.

- Pressure Cooking mode
- Combi-Steam mode (5 sub modes)
- Air Fry / Hob mode (9 sub modes)

[dickymint]

For all you weirdos Air Fryers. Channel 5 tomorrow......................

https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/pr-airfryers-17jan24

[dudleybloke]

Just done my first gammon joint in the AF.
Was only a cheapo formed one, 900g, cooked for 55 mins @170c turning half way and it came out perfect.

[98elise]

Blib said:

Hello.

People on the thread refer to their 'Ninja'. Are you referring to a particular model?

Thank you.

We have the "Health Grill".

It's a decent size (some are quite small) and the cooker parts are removable and go in the dishwasher so no need for liners or foil etc. It loads from the top rather than a draw.

It also has a skillet tray so you can do steaks etc.

Edited by 98elise on Wednesday 17th January 15:30

[droopsnoot]

I've been looking at various times on packets recently, and something puzzles me, I wonder if anyone can shed any light please - I'm seeing different cooking times based on the wattage of the air fryer. Why wouldn't the time just be based on the temperature? If my 1000W air fryer is set to 200C, why does that take longer (according to the McCains web site, for example) to cook my chips than a 2000W unit set to 200C would?

I did start watching a thing on Channel 5 last night about air fryers, but after seeing almost nothing other than talking heads telling us how great air fryers are in the first part of the programme, it didn't seem worth continuing.

[MightyBadger]

said:

It gets hotter quicker being twice as powerful?

[droopsnoot]

MightyBadger said:

It gets hotter quicker being twice as powerful?

I should have mentioned, mine's a basic one, so I put it on for three minutes before I put anything in it, but the McCains site that I was looking at says "preheat the air fryer to 200C", so would that still make a difference?

It just seems to me that it would be more relevant for it to give the temperature and time, not least because that's how the controls on the air fryer are labelled. The oven cooking instructions only give that information. I know there's an amount of "keep looking at them to see when they're done", but when I'm trying to do other stuff to finish at the same time, it makes it a bit tricky.

Edited by droopsnoot on Thursday 18th January 13:45

[Silverage]

droopsnoot said:

I should have mentioned, mine's a basic one, so I put it on for three minutes before I put anything in it, but the McCains site that I was looking at says "preheat the air fryer to 200C", so would that still make a difference?

It just seems to me that it would be more relevant for it to give the temperature and time, not least because that's how the controls on the air fryer are labelled. The oven cooking instructions only give that information. I know there's an amount of "keep looking at them to see when they're done", but when I'm trying to do other stuff to finish at the same time, it makes it a bit tricky.

Edited by droopsnoot on Thursday 18th January 13:45

I had this same thing with some McCain chips a few days ago. I thought, great - air fryer instructions - and then noticed the power thing. I have no idea what power my Ninja is, so I resorted to my usual tactic of dropping the oven temperature by 20°C and taking about 1/5th off the oven time. The chips came out fine.

[Fastchas]

Late to this thread so here's my two penn'orth.

Roast pork - a game changer. no more worrying about the crackling not being crispy enough - 1 hour in the AF and it's rock hard and can be broken up to share (YMMV?) onto the plates.

Jacket potatoes - 10mins in the microwave, then roll in olive oil then a little sea salt. then another 10-15 mins in the AF, according to preference.

Chips - my experience isn't great. I preferred the Actifry (but that broke them up). I haven't tried frozen chips. Nothing beats deep frying!

Roast chicken - depending on size - sml to large, it can take 45-60 mins.

Roast beef - again, depends on preference, but I think it tastes better than in the electric oven (but not as good as gas oven!).

The secret IME is using one of these;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThermoPro-Thermometer-Sta...

[droopsnoot]

Silverage said:

I had this same thing with some McCain chips a few days ago. I thought, great - air fryer instructions - and then noticed the power thing. I have no idea what power my Ninja is, so I resorted to my usual tactic of dropping the oven temperature by 20°C and taking about 1/5th off the oven time. The chips came out fine.

I don't see much stuff that has air fryer instructions on the packet, but those that do all seem to do it this way. I often get chips that aren't cooked all that well, along with some that are spot on, so I thought I'd re-think the timings along the lines of the packet instructions. I also went back to 180C and 18 minutes and they're fine.

[Ham_and_Jam]

droopsnoot said:

I should have mentioned, mine's a basic one, so I put it on for three minutes before I put anything in it, but the McCains site that I was looking at says "preheat the air fryer to 200C", so would that still make a difference?

Edited by droopsnoot on Thursday 18th January 13:45

It’s all to do with the temperature drop.

You’re filling a small space with food at -18C which will quickly and significantly drop the temperature in the basket.

A 2500W element (Ninja air fryer) will recover that temperature drop much quicker than a small 1000W air fryer.

This will have a significant impact on cooking times.

[jonysan]

sunnyb13 said:

over past 5 years we've had 2 breaks.

Tower manual knob air fryer, the knob eventually fell off, so threw it away.

Gorumia the first one lasted about 2 years and the non-stick tray began peeling only to find the wife was using a brillo to clean it!
have bought another one now.

What ? you bought another wife. good on you.

[RATATTAK]

jonysan said:

sunnyb13 said:

over past 5 years we've had 2 breaks.

Tower manual knob air fryer, the knob eventually fell off, so threw it away.

Gorumia the first one lasted about 2 years and the non-stick tray began peeling only to find the wife was using a brillo to clean it!
have bought another one now.

What ? you bought another wife. good on you.

Yeah, that'll teach her

[droopsnoot]

Ham_and_Jam said:

It’s all to do with the temperature drop.

You’re filling a small space with food at -18C which will quickly and significantly drop the temperature in the basket.

A 2500W element (Ninja air fryer) will recover that temperature drop much quicker than a small 1000W air fryer.

This will have a significant impact on cooking times.

Ah, I think I see what you mean. Thanks for the explanation.

[scz4]

So we impulsively came back with a Ninja Air Fryer (9.5L) the other night after seeing it on discount at Curry's. Impulsive being the word, but I can't bring myself to open the box. Anyone else had similar reservations?

Most friends and family rave about them, but not sure they work for everyone, especially a family of 4 portion wise.

When we look back at what we cooked this week and I think we could only have used it once, maybe twice at 28p per week vs £170

- Chicken curry (nann bread maybe, but better grilled)
- Stir-fry (noodles, chicken & veg)
- Home made vegetable lasagne
- Chicken steaks with mash and veg (chicken steaks maybe)
- Baked potato and salad
- Home made baked cannelloni
- Tuna pasta bake

I figure I might save 0.5 KWh each time I use it, but if once or twice a week, it has a very long payback period.

So my question is, have most people altered their eating habits and menu to fit in with the air fryer capabilities\limitations? Neither of us enjoy prep\cooking, so not particularly adventurous when it comes to that.

Wonder if you can buy a fully integrated air fryer yet? Go back 20 years ago and microwaves were also free standing and an eye sore.

Edited by scz4 on Sunday 21st January 09:52

Edited by scz4 on Sunday 21st January 10:01

[twing]

But you could cook pretty much all of that in an air fryer