How To Convert Any Recipe To The Air Fryer

Our air fryer conversion times will explain to you how to convert any recipe to the air fryer and the main principles of cooking with air fryers, with key examples.

We also have 2 amazing free air fryer cooking times and temperatures PDF for you to download, along with a fridge friendly cooking guide.

Convert ANY Recipe To The Air Fryer

This is perfect for bookmarking whenever you are thinking about a recipe that you want to convert to the Air fryer.

If you’re anything like me then you will have an air fryer and you will want to cook everything and anything in it.

You will dream of air fryer steak, air fryer rotisserie chicken, air fryer meatloaf and so many more classics. After all, air fryer cooking is so simple and why shouldn’t we?

But in a way when you start with the air fryer, it is like learning to cook from scratch all over again.

You have an understanding that it works differently than what an oven does or a fat fryer, but once you get into it, you will realise that it is so much fun and well worth doing.

How To Convert ANY Recipe To An Air Fryer Recipe?

There is no straight forward rule as all air fryer recipes are different. Cooking steak is going to be different compared to cooking French Fries and of course meatloaf is a totally different story.

I would say that you should start with these principles:

#1 – Air Frying Is Just Like Baked + Grilled + Deep Fried (IN ONE)

If you imagine that you’re cooking a roast dinner for Sunday lunch. You have planned to make roast chicken with roast potatoes and vegetables.

You would normally steam the vegetables in a pan and then cook the chicken and the potatoes together in the oven. You would then finish roast chicken on the grill to crisp up the chicken and potatoes.

But now you have an air fryer and then only downside is that it is smaller than the space you have in the oven but everything else is very similar.

You would cook the chicken and potatoes together but because the air fryer acts as the baked, grilled and deep fried all in one means that there is less work and less oil involved.

You can place your chicken and potatoes in the same way, then you would add the oil (but a lot less) and then it would cook evenly and then you can serve it.

That chicken and potatoes that would usually take 90 minutes in the oven, will take just 45-50 minutes in the air fryer.

Add to this that instead of having to splash the potatoes with a lot of oil to make them crispy you just need a tablespoon of olive oil for a decent sized portion of roast potatoes.

Expect air fryer cooking to be simple and not as difficult as the way you cook now, so it is a nice cooking experience.

Here are a few examples of air fryer roast chicken so that you can understand the air frying experience better:

• Air Fryer Roast Chicken Dinner
• Air Fryer Whole Chicken
• Air Fryer Chicken & Potatoes
• Air Fryer Chicken & Stuffing

#2 – Air Frying Uses Less Oil/No Oil

There is always a lot of chat in air fryer groups about how much oil you add to the air fryer, how you add it and how you use.

The general rule is that the air fryer will reduce your oil quantity by 85% and that for the best results use extra virgin olive oil. But most importantly stay away from 1 cal sprays with chemicals such as fry light or pam spray.

Also not every food requires oil. If you would use oil on it for the oven, then you will for the air fryer. I.e. you wouldn’t need oil for air frying frozen Yorkshire puddings just like you wouldn’t in the oven. Or that if you cook chips in the oven you use oil and of course use oil in the air fryer.

Though I do recommend you read our air fryer oil usage guide as it goes into much greater detail.

Expect trial and error though and have fun recipe testing. Our air fryer French Fries for example took us 3 years to perfect them and now our dinners wouldn’t be the same without them!

#3 – Air Frying Cooks Fast

Because the air fryer is cooking in a small space and uses its amazing air technology its very fast cooking.

If you look online you will think that the perfect formula for a air fryer time conversion is simply to drop the temperature by 10c and shorten the cooking time by 25%.

Which in truth very rarely works. I can think of so many things that I cook the air fryer when the cooking time is reduced by half. If I followed this rule I would have burnt chicken and potatoes, not to mention veggies that would either be too hard or too soft.

That’s why we have a different approach and instead create some amazing air fryer cooking times for you and then you can use those as your guide instead.

#4 – Air Frying On 80% Full

Never fill your air fryer more than 80% capacity. This is because when it gets too full everything sticks together and comes out like glue.

Fries when they are overcooked will come out stuck together and incredibly dry. You will then need a lot of mayonnaise to make them taste good.

I find this applies especially to if you overload your air fryer when cooking sweet potato fries.

#5 – Air Frying Halfway Rule

Another rule of the thumb is to make sure that you check and shake halfway through cooking when cooking air fryer fries.

This gives you chance to make sure that the fries is not stuck together and to make sure they don’t end up dry.

I find that a lot of my air fryer French fries recipes end up needing to cook for 15 minutes at 180c/360f.

I will then give them a shake at the 7.5 minutes mark. If you’re likely to forget, just put them on for half the time and then cook again after shaking.

#6 – Air Frying From Frozen

There are a lot of delicious frozen foods that you can cook in the air fryer instead of the deep fat fryer. This includes classic air fryer frozen French fries, air fryer frozen chicken wings and of course air fryer frozen jalapeno poppers.

What I have learnt from the numerous frozen food that I have cooked in the air fryer is that a medium temperature of 180c/360f and a high temperature of 200c/400f work best together to ensure the food is cooked and that it is crispy.

#7 – The Flip, Shake & Spray

Beyond placing food in the air fryer, what is the most important lesson when you convert oven time to air fryer is understanding when to flip, shake and spray. You can read our full blog post dedicated to the flip shake and spray here, but the shortened version is:

Flip – Is all about getting an even cook on each side. Especially well known with foods such as air fryer sirloin steak or air fryer fishcakes.

Shake – For when you would be concerned that food would stick together. Such as shaking your air fryer potato wedges, or air fryer homemade chips.

Spray – This is for adding extra olive oil to your food. This is when you use a spray bottle (such as this one) to spray the tops of the food for an extra crisp. We do this for air fryer frozen cauliflower, air fryer chicken nuggets or air fryer onions.

Quick Air Fryer Conversion Chart

This is our original Air Fryer conversion chart. We first shared it back in 2018 and I thought it would be fun to share and take a trip down memory lane.

It featured a lot of my favourite Air Fryer foods, and it is great for referencing later.

It included meat, fish, vegetables, desserts (I cook plenty of those), pastries, breakfast ideas and so much more:

But why update it you may ask? Because what we really needed to do was provide you with the best cooking times and temperatures for the air fryer that everyone liked to cook. So that it would be a useful resource and not just the odd item that would appeal to you. Also the original air fryer cooking chart was hard to print so we have made a physical one for you rather than digital that you can put on your fridge.

So, let’s talk about our amazing air fryer cooking guide….

The Complete Air Fryer Cooking Guide

Did you know we feature EXACTLY when to flip, shake and spray in our brand new air fryer cooking guide?

We have a symbol next to the 275+ everyday air fryer foods so you know exactly when its time to flip, shake or spray.

Of course, it will help you in learning how to work out air fryer times and how to go from oven cooking to air fryer cooking.

These are also hugely popular air fryer food that you would cook everyday. Such as chicken breast, potatoes, veggies, frozen staples, breakfast essentials, fish, meat and of course reheating your leftovers.

Love the idea of the cooking guide?

Then order here in the UK or here if in the USA/Canada.

It’s priced at less than a fiver so a real bargain but if you want to try before you buy we also have a big selection of air fryer times compared to oven, in our free PDFs which you can find below.

Air Fryer Cooking Times PDF

Over in our members area (totally free when you sign up for our free newsletter below) you will find a selection of air fryer times and temperatures that you can follow along at home.

These are a great starting point for now as it’s an instant download whilst you wait on delivery of our Air Fryer Cooking Guide.

Plus, of course, we make sure you are covered with both metric and imperial and Celsius and Fahrenheit.

What About Air Fryer Times For Other Air Fryer Types?

We have you covered in our air fryer time guide. We tell you what to do differently if you have an air fryer oven for example. Though if you have a Ninja and looking for Ninja air fryer cooking times then what is great here, is that just by using the air fryer button you can follow like for like.

Though whilst Ninja air fryer times are like for like, it’s a little different with tower air fryer cooking times. This is because the Tower is slower, so you need to cook at a 20c/40f higher temperature but keep the same cooking time.

This same rule that you use with Tower air fryers also applies to Instant vortex air fryer cooking times.

Does The Air Fryer Take Less Time Than Oven?

Yes, the air fryer does take A LOT less time than the oven. In fact, the oven feels like such a slow method for cooking now for me and I haven’t cooked with an oven for years.

A good example is a Sunday roast. You will often have the oven running for 1-2 hours whilst in the air fryer you can get this down to an hour, less if it’s a smaller roast.

Our Air Fryer Books

Our air fryer books focus on actually teaching you how to use the air fryer not just throwing a load of snacks or weird food at you that you will never eat.

You can learn all about the air fryer via our books and they can take you from air fryer beginner to seasoned air fryer user:

• The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook
• Air Fryer Easy Everyday
• Air Fryer Cooking Guide

Can’t Read it now? Then save it for later!