I broke down and bought an air fryer. I got it at Aldi’s for $29.95. I’ve wasted more than that on many things, so I bit the bullet. It’s a compact size, meaning you can only get enough stuff in the little tray for about 2 people, but that’s all we’ve got. Two.
Since it involved some instructions, I let it sit on the counter for about a week, I circled it suspiciously before finally putting it together, which the average two-year old could do in 30 seconds, but then I had to read all the do’s and don’ts.
It was pretty simple, really, so my first attempt at cooking something was homemade French Fries. I carved a potato into thin sticks somewhat resembling McDonald’s French Fries, then I rubbed them with olive oil and added a little salt and pepper. The cooking went well – about 30 minutes – flipping once. They were good, but not as good as McDonald’s of course. But the nice thing is I didn’t heat up the whole kitchen by turning the oven to 425 and I didn’t fry them.
My next air fryer attempt was simply warming up a pork chop. When you warm fried foods in the micro, they turn soggy and if you heat up one pork chop for lunch, what a waste of electricity. The little air fryer did a quick job and did it well.
My buddy Tim Tigner says that chicken wings when done correctly in an air fryer are really, really good. So that’s my next experiment.
Air fryers, though, don’t really fry anything. They are like mini-convection ovens, but so far so good. By the way, Aldi’s keeps these in stock for less than $30. Try one if you dare and send me any good recipes.