I’m definitely not one of the first people to get an air-fryer. As a matter of fact, we’re probably one of the last households to get one. As I never had a deep fryer, I also never had the need to replace it with a healthier deep frying appliance. I also thought it was mostly to prepare meat snacks and that as a vegetarian there wasn’t much use for me to get one. But the more I heard people talk about air-fryers, the more I realized that you can do a lot more with it than deep frying fries and snacks. And that there are also many vegetarian and vegan recipes you can prepare with the air-fryer. It made me curious about it after all.
On this page I’m sharing my review of an air-fryer and I’m sharing some recipes and inspiration with you.
Why an air-fryer?
The benefit of not using a deep-fryer is pretty obvious; you use a lot less fat than if you drain your food in oil. Also you don’t have the unpleasant smell. That smell is the reason that many people keep their deep-fryer in a different room than the kitchen, which is quite inconvenient. An air-fryer doesn’t use any oil at all and doesn’t have the unpleasant smell, so you can prepare your food in the kitchen.
Difference air-fryer and oven
When I heard about the air-fryer, I didn’t get what the difference was between an air-fryer and an oven. As they both circulate hot air in a small room to prepare your food, I didn’t get what the added value of an air-fryer in my kitchen was.
One of the big differences between an oven and an air-fryer is that the hot air is not blown directly around the food. The heating element in an air-fryer is above the food. A fan makes sure that thee heat that comes from the element is divided and via wholes in the bottom the food is also warmed from underneath. This makes an air-fryer more suitable for baking softer goods like cakes.
As the chamber of the air-fryer is smaller than the oven, it takes less time to prepare your food. You often need only 60% of the time that you would need in a regular oven to prepare your food.
And an air-fryer is much easier to clean than a conventional oven as you can take out the chamber that you use.
Aerofryer
I got the Princess Aerofryer, it’s officially called the Digital Aerofryer XL. I heard people complain about their air-fryers that it would be too small to warm portions for a family, but the Aerofryer from princess has a large compartment that can warm up 5 servings of fries in one session.
It has a digital display and the best part is that the compartment is dishwasher safe!
Vegetarian airfryer recipes
As I said, I thought an air-fryer was mostly for meat snacks but I found out that there are all kinds of meals that you can prepare in the air-fryer. From fries to bread and from cakes to vegetables.
I’m sharing a vegetarian air-fryer lunch recipe with you on this page and I’ve got some more vegetarian and vegan airfryer inspiration for you!
As I said you can do so much more than air-frying the snacks that you would usually put in the deep-fryer. Did you know that you can also bake bread in the air-fryer? I made this vegetarian Caprese Bun in the Aerofryer. So an air-fryer isn’t only for snacks; it’s for lunch too!
Recipe Caprese Bun from the Airfryer
Ingredients (for 1 person):
1 wholewheat or multigrain bread roll
1/2 package of Mozzarella
2 tbs pesto
1/2 tomato
Cut the bread roll but make sure not to cut all the way through. Use a teaspoon to divide the pesto over the cuts. Slice the tomato and the mozzarella. Divide the tomato and mozzarella slices over the cuts.
Put the Caprese bun in the airfryer basket. Bake for 8 minutes on 180 degrees.
Kale Chips
We all know that kale is healthy and that crisps are unhealthy. Well I’ve got good news; from now on you can make healthy kale crisps in the airfryer. I’ve tried several recipes and the first time most of the kale got burnt and there was a horrible smell in my kitchen. So, don’t make the same mistake I made! I baked them for much too long the first time. I found a recipe online saying that it needs to bake for 9 minutes. But in my experience that’s much too long. I found 3 to 4 minutes to be long enough. Otherwise it’s pretty simple; just put some kale leaves in the basket and bake for 3-4 minutes on 200 degrees.
Click here for my Pinterest board with vegetarian and vegan Airfryer recipes.
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