We have had our Philips XL Air Fryer for over three years now and love it more each year! I wasn’t sure we would use it very often when we received it as a gift, but now I can’t imagine cooking without it.
Cooking healthy and quick meals is very important to our family and our Air Fryer helps with convenience and meal prep.
Here are a few ideas on how we use our Air Fryer to make dinners easier!
Chicken
I always struggled to make juicy chicken because I was afraid of under-cooking it. With our Air Fryer, I simply add marinated chicken pieces to the basket and set the timer for 10-12 minutes on each side. The photo below shows that we marinate our chicken in olive oil and seasonings (like Italian seasoning, Lawry’s, or even salt/pepper/garlic powder). Many people say you don’t need to add oil for the Air Fryer, and that is absolutely true. However, I add about 1tsp of olive oil because I find the seasonings stick to the chicken better, and we like a little bit of oil too!
We marinate chicken on Sundays during weekly meal prep and then add the chicken to the Air Fryer for dinner. Add a quick side of rice or veggie and dinner is done! Another tip I highly recommend is getting a digital meat thermometer. I found a cheap one on Amazon that has worked really well.
Check out this chicken recipe from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen: Chicken Tenders.
Meatballs
Since we are often eating first and second dinner (before and after evening sports/activities), I like quick things to reheat. Meatballs are a family favorite! They are available as frozen, pre-made meatballs. It is also very easy to mix up some seasonings, bread crumbs, and an egg with ground meat (chicken, beef, turkey). I like to use an ice cream scoop to help shape the meatballs. It takes about 20 minutes (shake basket halfway through cooking time) to bake meatballs.
While we make up our own recipe for meatballs based on what we have, this is a good place to start too: Cooking Light Air Fryer Meatballs.
Vegetables
Vegetables are a go-to side for dinners and we use our Air Fryer for vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes (shown), onions, broccoli, green beans, whatever we have on hand! I add a teaspoon of olive oil to coat veggies and some salt/pepper. Cooking time depends on the vegetable. We find small pieces take 10-12 minutes. Vegetables are great in an Air Fryer because the outsides of the vegetables get a little crispy and inside is fully cooked. Yum!
Here’s our favorite french fry recipe: Williams Sonoma Air Fried Fries
Favorite Frozen Foods
If you think it sounds like we always eat healthy, this is where I come clean. We also use our Air Fryer in place of a microwave for reheating frozen food favorites like egg rolls, sausage links, meatballs, chicken nuggets, and sweet potato fries. Even when we’re eating these foods for first or second dinner (or breakfast!), I still feel like it’s healthier and cheaper than grabbing fast food on the run. The great thing about an Air Fryer for frozen foods is that they come out crispy on the outside and fully cooked inside–without a deep fat fryer!
A few other tips: pay attention to the owner’s manual for cooking times and temps. We like our XL Air Fryer because we can cook a meal for four people at once. We had a smaller one and then “upgraded” models.
Do you have an air fryer? What do you love about it?
