In our day and age, comfortable and quick solutions are emphasized in marketing. The automated lifestyle is very comfortable and it allows me to do other things with my time. That’s one of the reasons why I use my air fryer on a regular basis.
The air fryer doesn’t know how to unpack, add spices, slice, and insert food yet. But besides that, it takes away most of the work from me. In comparison to an oven where I have to keep track of the time and temperature, an air fryer makes cooking a less time-consuming endeavor.
Do air fryers cook food fast? Yes, they do. Because air fryers are
powerful and much smaller than conventional ovens, they can reach high temperatures very quickly (Some reach 350F+ in less than 3 minutes). But in comparison to a microwave oven, the air fryer falls behind when it comes to speed.
Nevertheless, you don’t need to preheat an air fryer in order to get a crispy surface, whereas the microwave isn’t even capable of giving food a fried texture. They are based around very different principles, making them the masters of their own craft.
An air fryer cooks food by circulating super-hot air which is produced by a heating coil located on top of the air fryer cavity. To circulate air, the air fryer uses something called the convection mechanism. When blasts of super-hot air come in contact with the food, it starts to cook.
The light-golden surface and crispy texture are a direct result of a reaction that takes place in the air fryer called “The Maillard Effect”, a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars.
Are Air Fryers Faster Cooks Than Ovens?
A Convection oven is similar to the air fryer but larger in size and as a result, it takes more time for a convection oven to reach cooking temperatures. I think it’s safe to say that an air fryer can reach cooking temperatures before an oven has come halfway through preheating.
An air fryer has a much smaller chamber than most ovens, except for some toaster ovens, which makes them faster. Larger cooking capacities may come with more benefits than limited spaces do, however, one has to look for the upsides of having a smaller cooking space too, which is incredibly quick cooking times.
For a single individual with a small air fryer, it’s possible to start cooking in less than two minutes. That’s pretty awesome.
The state-of-the-art XL air fryers are both large and very powerful, meaning you are able to cook larger batches in less time.
Do Air Fryers Cook Food Faster Than Deep Fryers?
Now that we know how air fryers work and why they are so quick to heat up, let’s take a look at deep fryers.
Frying food in a deep fryer takes more time than it would if you were using an air fryer as the air fryer only has to heat up the air. Whereas, with a deep fryer, most of the delay is caused by the huge amount of liquid that has to come to a boil in order for the food to fry.
Once the oil reaches its boiling point, the food will cook in a matter of minutes. With that said, the air fryer doesn’t really achieve the exact same crispy texture of deep-fried food, but one has to keep in mind that the air fryer doesn’t use any oil.
How Long Does It Take To Cook In An Air Fryer?
As always, it depends entirely on what you are cooking, the initial state of the food (is it fresh or frozen?), the size of the food, and the power of the air fryer. There’s a ton of things to take into consideration.
These are general guidelines that you can use to your advantage when cooking in the air fryer, however, as I don’t know how big your steak or chicken breast is, you may have to adjust them as you go.
But, with that said, I think these are fairly good starter points to give you an understanding of how fast air fryers cook.
How long does it take to cook chicken in an air fryer? Frozen chicken nuggets take closer to 18-22 minutes, fresh chicken nuggets are ready to eat around 15 minutes depending on their size.
For chicken breasts, I tend to place them in the air fryer without preheating it, for 20 minutes, and they end up crispy on the outside and all juicy and full of flavor on the inside.
How long does it take to cook fish in an air fryer? Cooking fish fillets in an air fryer takes somewhere between 9-12 minutes. If the fish is frozen, add 3-6 minutes. Check regularly to see if the fillets fall apart when you stroke them with a fork.
How long does it take to cook steak in an air fryer? It takes about 12-13 minutes to cook a steak in the air fryer, to achieve the desired doneness, remove the steak once the inner temperature you wish for is reached. Check with a thermometer and flip the steak halfway through.
- 120F Inner temperature for rare doneness.
- 125F Medium rare
- 130F Medium
- 160F Well done
Do You Need To Preheat An Air Fryer
The air fryer does not NEED to be preheated, generally speaking. And to be honest – it’s entirely up to you. If you do not preheat your air fryer, your meal might need to be in the air fryer for an additional minute or two when it’s done cooking.
I seldom preheat my air fryer and I rarely run into problems by skipping it.
It can be beneficial to preheat the air fryer if you are cooking larger bites of food or frozen food. If you decide to preheat your air fryer, remember that it takes less than 2-3 minutes to preheat, which is extremely convenient.
Conclusion
An air fryer is faster than most other kitchen appliances because of its small size and powerful heating elements. When simply reheating food, the air fryer doesn’t stand a chance against the microwave. However, microwaves lack some of the properties of the air fryer which I think outweigh the extremely speedy cooking process of the microwave.