Why my air fryer is my secret weapon

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Cameron Rogers (@FreckledFoodie) is an In The Know Cooking contributor. Follow her on Instagram and check out her website for more.

Oh, the air fryer — the appliance that totally took over the internet and quickly made it into everyone’s kitchen — how I love you so.

Let me set the record straight: The praise and obsession over the air fryer is warranted. I know, it’s absurdly annoying how everyone with an air fryer needs to make sure you know they have an air fryer, but it’s for good reason. They want to make sure you know how much it will change your cooking and time in the kitchen.

Let’s start off with the number one reason I love my air fryer: efficiency. There’s nothing I hate more than wasting time (I mean, I live in NYC), and the air fryer ensures I’ll save time cooking. Because of its high heat, convention-style of blowing hot air around the food and size, the air fryer cooks ingredients way faster than if you were to roast or bake in an oven.

The air fryer also provides the No. 1 thing I look for in food: crunchiness. In my opinion, there’s nothing worse than soggy food meant to have a golden-brown crisp. Thankfully, the air fryer makes sure that doesn’t happen. Because of the method it uses to cook food, it browns the exterior while simultaneously providing a crunchiness to foods without requiring flouring first.

Think of your favorite fried food and imagine being able to easily make it in your own kitchen. Did your mind go to chicken fingers and French fries? Same. If so, I got you covered with this delicious recipe.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, This girl fries her meals on a weekly basis? That can’t be great for her arteries. Let’s clarify the largest misconception: Air fryers don’t fry your food in oil. The rapid circulation of the hot air rushing around the food creates that crisp I mentioned earlier, but without the need for a ton of oil.

Now that we’ve clarified why the air fryer is so incredible, let’s talk about what you can use it to cook. The answer is, honestly, just about anything. If you’re like me and you’re on Air Fryer TikTok, you’ve seen some ridiculous dishes cooked in these appliances. I prefer to use mine to roast vegetables that need an extra crisp (think: broccoli or any type of potato), and any type of protein that tastes better with that extra crunch.

Chicken, specifically, is my favorite to cook in the air fryer, because it provides that crunchy skin that you just can’t mimic in an oven. Trust me, I’ve tried. There is nothing quite like some air-fried chicken drumsticks for dinner. While we’re talking proteins, I recently started cooking my salmon in my air fryer, and I won’t ever go back. I told you, you really can use it for anything!

Besides cooking delicious, fresh ingredients, one of the main benefits of the air fryer is using it to reheat leftovers or takeout. Because of the cooking style, the air fryer delivers a finished product even better than the first time around.

Let’s not forget about frozen items! I’ve gone so far as to cook my frozen pizza in my air fryer and, to no one’s surprise, it was delicious. If you need another reason to invest in an air fryer and turn your cooking game up a notch, I can’t forget to mention the compact size of this device. Living in an apartment, I’m very selective with what devices I invest in because of limited space. But given the size of the air fryer and how much I use mine, it’s a no-brainer.

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