Air fryers have become popular kitchen appliances for everyday cooking. The hustle of modern living has increased the desire for healthy, convenient and delicious food – and air fryers are the solution.
There are a few fundamental reasons why many people are using air fryers over traditional cooking methods. People want to reduce the time it takes to prepare food and clean dishes. Weight loss and oil-free diets have also made people more aware of the connection between our health and the way we cook.
If you’re wondering why you should get an air fryer, continue reading as the team at Ninja Kitchen walk you through how an air fryer can support your cooking, nourishment, health, and busy lifestyle.
How does an air fryer work?
You might be surprised to know that air fryers do not technically “fry” your food. This is because it’s the air inside an air fryer that transfers heat to cook your food, which is similar to baking something in the oven.
And that’s just it, air fryers are smaller ovens that can cook your food more efficiently than a typical built-in kitchen oven. Let’s explore how it achieves this.
When your food is cooked in a standard kitchen oven, the heat comes from the elements in the oven. The hot air inside the oven eventually heats up the cooler air around your food, which ultimately heats and cooks it.
The advantage of an air fryer is that air heats up faster and is circulated inside the machine. This circulation causes the hot air to interact with your food quicker, while any cold air surrounding your food is swiftly removed. We can think of air fryers like a scaled down and home-friendly (yet powerful) alternative to the commercial ovens you would expect in a restaurant or café.
How do you use an air fryer?
Air fryers offer a simple, user-friendly cooking experience, which is what makes them so appealing. Typically, air fryers are operated by an easy touch screen interface that displays multiple functions and settings, sometimes with preset settings for commonly cooked foods. Let’s run through the steps for using an air fryer.
- Plug in your air fryer on your kitchen benchtop or other flat kitchen surface.
- Prepare your food and place the food in the air fryer basket, ensuring there is enough room for air to reach every side of the food.
- Close the basket – you’ll notice the clicking sound the appliance makes when the basket is secured.
- Choose the temperature and time for cooking. Select any specific settings for your food and desired outcome.
- Press ‘start’ and wait until your food has cooked.
- Remove your food and enjoy!
- Once the air fryer basket has cooled enough to touch, remove the basket and clean with a gentle dishwashing liquid or place into the dishwasher. Please check if your air fryer is dishwasher safe beforehand. You can find relevant information on our support pages and in your instruction booklet on hand.
Air fryer benefits
The advantages of air fryers have made them a must-have kitchen gadget for many households. They are an appliance that complements any sized kitchen, providing you with new options for recipes, cooking and reheating. At Ninja, we have a variety of single and dual-basket air fryers and kitchen accessories to elevate your kitchenware. Below, discover the benefits of using an air fryer in your home.
When it comes to efficiency, time is not the only advantage of an air fryer, they’re also power and space efficient. Imagine you want to reheat and re-crisp some fries, but doing this in the oven would require using the whole oven for only 10-20 minutes. Air fryers are handy for easy and effective reheating of smaller portion sizes. Air fryers like our Ninja Foodi Max XXXL Smart Dual Zone feature two baskets for enhanced efficiency, allowing you to cook multiple components of your meal at once.
2. Healthier alternative
- Reducing or avoiding the use of some vegetable oils can reduce your risk of inflammation1 and heart disease2.
- Not having to reheat previously used oil (deep frying) lowers your exposure to unhealthy fumes.
- Oils are calorie-dense, and implementing an air fryer to remove cooking oil in your meal plan can help towards your weight loss goals.
3. Versatility in recipes
A common reason why people get an air fryer is for perfectly crispy fries. But, they can be adapted for a range of mouthwatering recipes from golden, herb-roasted chicken to tender honey garlic meatballs – and they can do much more with other ingredients. Here’s some quick recipe examples:
Caramelised banana: Simply peel your bananas and brush with some butter, then cook for 7 minutes.
Teriyaki tofu: Cut your tofu into squares and cover in a teriyaki marinade, then cook for 10 minutes.
Roasted cauliflower bites: Cut your cauliflower into florets and air fry for 15 minutes. This style of cauliflower is ideal to use in salads.
4. Easy to clean and store
Cleaning can be tedious, especially when we’re feeling relaxed after having enjoyed a meal. The final advantage of air fryers like our Ninja Air Fryer Max is the clean-up time. The only part of an air fryer you regularly need to clean is the components of the air fryer basket; these are only parts you can submerge in water. For the Air Fryer Max, this would involve regularly cleaning of its basket and crisper plate attachment. Once clean, easily store your air fryer in a nearby cupboard or keep it in a convenient area of your kitchen.
For a faster cleaning alternative, our latest air fryer baskets are also dishwasher safe. This means you can place your small or large sized basket into the dishwasher on a normal cycle when needed. Please check if your selected air fryer is dishwasher safe beforehand.
We also recommend giving the inside and outside of your air fryer a wipe down every now and then to remove any cooking residue. Clean with a damp sponge and then drying using a microfibre cloth.
We hope you enjoyed discovering Ninja Kitchen’s air fryer benefits. Next, learn how to make tender barbecue chicken breasts.
Citation:
1https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6269634/
2https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6196963/