I want to preface this by saying I am in no way affiliated with any company that manufactures or sells Air Fryers. I feel this is very important to say up front, because I’m about to tell you how much I love my air fryer.
In 2020, Christmas to be exact, I received an Instant Pot Duo. I thought it was going to be the answer to my cooking woes. I hate cooking things on the stove because I cannot time things.
I end up flipping things WAY too many times, or cooking them at the wrong heat. This is especially true on our gas stove. I grew up in America with electric stoves. That made sense to me when I was making things like Hamburger Helper.
I had looked at Instant Pot recipes - not in great detail, but a bit. Enough that I felt confident that if I received one for Christmas, I wouldn’t simply love it, but LOVE it. Then I received it.
The Pot That Was NOT
I was excited. I started looking at recipes, really looking this time, and I have never felt more intimidated. The machine needed to get up to pressure, cook, and release pressure. How long that all took varied at each stage and depended on the amount of food/water that was in the machine.
My brain shut down. The ingredients list was long, the prep was long - there was a lot of troubleshooting things too if your Instant Pot threw out an error. It was too much.
I’m one of those people who thinks cooking a roast is the best thing in the world. Stick the main course in the oven and leave it. Sometimes baste it depending on what you’re cooking, or uncover it, but mostly just leave it.
I often lamented that I wished I could cook everything in the oven.
Christmas 2021, my mom came to visit. I had used the Instant Pot once, and she’s the one who gifted it to me. I hated it. I told her why. She didn’t really get it.
My sibling loved their Instant Pot and used it all the time, or my niblings (my sibling’s children) did. I can’t quite remember, but they also loved their air fryer. Mom talked about it a fair bit, so I looked it up.
It sounded exactly like what I wanted and behold exactly one year after I received the Instant Pot Duo, I received my Air Fryer - a gift from my niblings.
And Behind This Curtain, the Winning Pot That was Not A Pot
Reader, I fell in love with the Air Fryer the first time I used it to make pigs in a blanket and mozzarella sticks. Shame the mozzarella sticks tasted of nothing and cardboard at the same time, but it cooked things so well - so much crunch.
From there I expanded to ‘roast’ chicken, steak, burgers, delicious Parmesan and garlic carrots. I have a list of veggie dishes I now want to try too. It is exactly like cooking everything in an oven and I am here for it!
So, if you’re like me and really, really hate any cooking that isn’t a roast then maybe try an air fryer and see how you like it. Worst case scenario you return it or pass it on to someone else. Best case scenario you delight in trying different recipes.
Please give your favourite air fryer recipes!