4 Air Fryer Recipes To Make This Autumn

Our global love affair with the air fryer shows no sign of slowing. This nifty kitchen appliance offers a quicker, more energy efficient alternative to oven cooking – plus it comes with some health benefits, requiring significantly less oil than deep fat fryers. But what are the best dishes to use it for? 

Say hello to new recipe book Air Fryer Easy Everyday, created by chefs Sam and Dom Miners, founders of RecipeThis.com, who have been cooking with an air fryer for over 12 years. It’s filled with 140 straightforward air fryer recipes, with suggestions for both basket and dual air fryers, alongside a chapter on cooking in the air fryer oven. Below, we share a selection.

4 Recipes From Air Fryer Easy Everyday

Greek Gyros

• Serves 6
• Air fryer type: oven
• Prep: 15 minutes, plus marinating
• Cook time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 900g/2lb boneless skinless chicken thighs

For the gyro marinade

• 2 tsp garlic purée
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• Salt and black pepper

For the Greek sauce

• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 1⁄2 tsp garlic purée
• 5 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt 
• A pinch of dried parsley

To serve

• Flatbreads, warmed
• French fries 
• Shredded lettuce
• 1 medium cucumber, diced 1 large tomato, chopped

Method:

1. Put the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the chicken thighs and mix well with your hands. Cover the bowl with cling film/plastic wrap and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.
2. After marinating, remove the cling film and feed all the chicken thighs onto the rod. You will have to push them down close to each other for them all to fit.
3. Feed a clamp onto the rod, as far as it will go until the spikes of the clamp are firmly skewering the chicken meat. Then repeat for the opposite end so that all the chicken is clamped in place.
4. Position the chicken so that it is centred in the middle of the rod and not too close to the edges. Once in the middle, tighten the screws to finger tight.
5. Carefully place the marinated chicken in the air fryer oven, positioning the rod in the rotisserie socket. Make sure that it is hooked in properly on both sides and that it won’t fall off.
6. Set the temperature to 180oC/360oF and air fry the chicken for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 160oC/320oF and air fry for another 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 70oC/160oF or above. Use oven gloves to remove the chicken rod from the air fryer oven.
7. Whilst the gyro meat is air frying, put the Greek sauce ingredients in a bowl, mix to combine and set aside.
8. Once the gyro meat has rested, you can slice it directly from the rod and it will slice like a kebab from the takeaway. Pile the gyro meat into warm flatbreads along with fries and salad, and finish with a drizzle of the Greek sauce.

Moroccan Lentil-Loaded Sweet Potato Steaks

Sweet potato steaks are delicious and a fun vegan food that are perfect when sweet potatoes are in season. A gigantic sweet potato will make two large steaks, which we pair with delicious Moroccan-spiced lentils.

• Serves 2
• Air fryer type: basket/ dual
• Prep: 8 minutes
• Cook time: 42 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 gigantic sweet potato (800g–1kg/13⁄4–21⁄4lb)
• Extra virgin olive oil spray
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and black pepper
• Vegan sour cream or thick yoghurt, to serve

For the loaded lentils

• 1 × 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1 × 400g/14oz can of brown lentils, drained
• 1 small white onion, finely diced 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

For the Moroccan marinade

• 1 tsp garlic purée
• 1 tsp ginger purée
• 2 tsp tomato purée/paste
• 1 tsp harissa paste
• 4 tbsp passata
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp dried coriander/cilantro leaf 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Peel the sweet potato, then stand it up and slice through it to create two large slices, each about 3.5cm/11⁄2 inches thick. Trim to make two 225g/8oz sweet potato steaks that measure approximately 12cm/41⁄2 inches in length and 8cm/31⁄4 inches wide. (Or if your sweet potato is smaller you can make 175g/6oz steaks – see tip below.)
2. Spray the steaks with olive oil and sprinkle with the cumin and a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Place them in the air fryer basket, side by side, or put one in each dual drawer. Set the temperature to 160oC/320oF and cook for 30 minutes. Turn the sweet potato steaks over with tongs and spray with olive oil again. Add a sprinkle of smoked paprika and cook at 200oC/400oF for a further 4 minutes.
3. In the meantime, put the Moroccan marinade in a silicone container. Add the tomatoes, brown lentils, onion, cumin, coriander and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
4. When the air fryer beeps, remove the steaks and add the container with the lentils to the air fryer (or put them directly in the drawer without the crisper plate, if using a dual). Cook at 180oC/360oF for 8 minutes, or until piping hot. Pour the Moroccan lentils over the sweet potato steaks, and serve with a dollop of vegan sour cream or yoghurt.

Garlic Parmesan Hasselback Potatoes

We love baby potatoes in the air fryer. Cooked whole, they go so crispy and are fork tender in a third of the time of large potatoes. One way to take them to the next level is to prepare hasselback potatoes, which we make taste even better with garlic and Parmesan.

• Serves 2 
• Air fryer type: hero basket/ dual
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 675g/11⁄2lb baby potatoes 
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp garlic purée 
• 28g/1oz/1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 
• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. To create hasselback potatoes, slice each potato at 2–3mm/1⁄16th inch intervals, only taking the knife three-quarters of the way down so that the slices are still joined at the base and the potato is still in one piece.
2. Put the sliced potatoes in a mixing bowl and add the olive oil and oregano. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well with your hands. Add the garlic purée and mix again – the garlic will create a sticky coating on the potatoes. Add the Parmesan to the bowl and mix a final time to create a Parmesan coating over the potatoes.
3. Carefully tip the potatoes into the air fryer basket/drawer and spread them out so that they cook evenly. Set the temperature to 180oC/360oF and cook for 25 minutes, or until the hasselback potatoes are crispy and fork tender.

Cutting tip: When slicing these, it’s easy to go a little hard on the knife and cut all the way through the potato. To stop this happening, insert a metal skewer lengthways into the potato, about 5mm/1⁄4 inch up from the base. The knife will hit the skewer each time you cut down and stop you cutting all the way through.

The Ultimate Baked Cheesecake

• Serves 8
• Air fryer type: basket
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 37 minutes

Ingredients:

For the cookie base

• 60g/2oz/1⁄4 cup unsalted butter 
• 200g/7oz chocolate sandwich cookies (we use Oreos)

For the cheesecake layer

• 700g/1lb 9oz full-fat cream cheese (we use Original Philadelphia)
• 250g/9oz/11⁄4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 100g/31⁄2oz chocolate sandwich cookies (we use Oreos)

To decorate

• 75g/21⁄2oz/1⁄2 cup white chocolate chunks
• 2–3 snack bags of mini chocolate sandwich cookies (we use about 50g/13⁄4oz of Mini Oreos)

We flavour our easy air fryer cheesecake with Oreos. They make the delicious chocolate biscuit base and are crumbled into the batter, so you get a brilliant effect as you slice through. If you can find bags of the mini ones, they make the cutest decoration for the top, too.

Method:

1. Place a silicone pan into the air fryer basket and add the butter, cutting it into bite-sized cubes as you add it. Set the temperature to 120oC/250oF and air fry for 4 minutes, or until the butter is melted.
2. Put the cookies for the base in a mixing bowl and crush them with a rolling pin, until they are crumbs and you have no big bits left. When the air fryer beeps, transfer the melted butter to the mixing bowl with the crushed Oreos. Mix well with a fork. Tip the buttery crumbs into the bottom of a 18cm/7 inch springform pan and spread level. Press down to compact it – we always find a potato masher is useful for this – making sure it is level.
3. Put the cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until well combined and very creamy. Add the sour cream and vanilla, and continue to mix, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each egg.
4. Finally, add the cookies, breaking them in half as you add them. Use the mixer to naturally break them down a bit more into various sizes, but don’t let them get too small, as it’s nice to see chunks of cookie as you slice the finished cheesecake.
5. Tip the batter over the crumb base in your pan and use the back of a spatula to level the top. Carefully place the pan into the air fryer basket. Set the temperature to 160oC/320oF and cook for 30 minutes.
6. When the air fryer beeps, use a thermometer probe to check that the temperature in the middle of the cheesecake is 70oC/160oF or above, and that the thermometer probe comes out clean. (If it isn’t the correct temperature, give it another 5 minutes and then test again until it is at the required internal temperature.) Close the air fryer basket, and let it sit for another 30 minutes in the cooling air fryer, as the residual heat will continue the setting process. Once completely cool, transfer the cheesecake to the fridge and allow it to chill for 12 hours before decorating and slicing.
7. To decorate, put two-thirds of the white chocolate chunks into a silicone pan and air fry at 120oC/250oF for 3 minutes, or until melted. Transfer the chocolate to a piping bag and snip off the end to make a tiny hole. Drizzle the chocolate over the top of the cheesecake.
8. Use the mini cookies to decorate around the edge of the cheesecake – the melted chocolate will help secure them in place. Add some whole, but break others up to vary the look. Finish by scattering over the remaining chocolate chunks.

Dual cheesecake 

If using a dual air fryer, you won’t be able to fit a 18cm/7 inch springform pan in. Instead, halve the quantities of the crust and cheesecake batter ingredients, and divide them between four 10cm/4 inch springform pans. Place two pans in each drawer and cook as in the main recipe, but reducing the cook time to 20 minutes. You can also save time by using the “match” feature

Top tips

• Easy crushing: To crush the cookies easily, use the end of a rolling pin, standing it up and pressing down into the cookies in the bowl to make crumbs.
• Use the right pan: It’s important that you use the right size pan, as this will determine the thickness of your cheesecake topping and make sure the cooking time is correct. If you use a smaller pan, the cheesecake layer will be deeper and it won’t be set within the cooking time.
• Perfect slicing: To get a smooth edge to your slices, heat your knife in a jug of hot water and wipe off the water and slice whilst still hot. It will melt the cheesecake layer slightly as it goes through, creating the perfect slice.
• Alarm: It’s easy to forget about your cheesecake when you’re leaving it to cool in the air fryer before moving it to the fridge. We set an alarm on our Alexa.
• Use ramekins instead: This cheesecake recipe can also be made in ramekin dishes – perfect for if you want a quicker cooking method. Make the crumb crust and cheesecake batter as in the main recipe, but divide both mixtures between eight ramekins. Reduce the cook time to 15 minutes at 160oC/320oF, followed by a 15 minute cool down in the air fryer. An average-sized air fryer will hold four ramekins, meaning you would only need to do two batches.
• Smaller air fryers: If you have a small air fryer, using ramekins makes it possible for you to cook cheesecake too. You can usually fit in two ramekins at once, so this is a good solution if your air fryer is too small for a springform pan.

Air Fryer Easy Everyday is out 12 September