Best air fryer recipes: 16 easy family meals you should make in your air fryer

Wondering what to cook in your air fryer? We've rounded up the best air fryer recipes we'd highly recommend cooking in your beloved kitchen gadget.

From chicken, pork, and fish dishes, to doughnuts and French toast, there's almost no limit to the great food you can cook in an air fryer. Once you've chosen from one of our best air fryers for families, you will be needing to fill your repertoire with an array of delicious air fryer recipes. 

"I love the air fryer because it helps me prepare kid-friendly meals from scratch without compromising the food's wholesomeness," says chef Vittoria Veltri, who runs Panzone, a Southern Italian street food business and cooking classes Pasta and Play. "Big hits prepared in the air fryer in my family are fries (I make them using either normal potatoes or sweet potatoes), chicken nuggets, veggie muffins, and fish fingers. French toast is my absolute favourite air fryer recipe. It is  delicious but not as greasy as the pan-fried version."

Vittoria uses a Cosori air fryer, which she highly recommends. She finds it is saving her money during the cost of living crisis. "Energy saving is also a big positive point for using an air fryer. Most of the time, I prepare food for two people, and turning on the oven would be a big waste of energy and money. The air fryer allows me to cook smaller portions without any waste."

Here are our best air fryer recipes for the family...

Best air fryer recipes

1. Air fryer pork chops

Serves: 2 | Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 15 mins

A simple mid-week dinner for all the family, these pork chops are rubbed with oil and seasoned before frying, and served with boiled buttered new potatoes and steamed broccoli – though you could do the whole meal in the air fryer, with the veggies rubbed with oil, to give a roasted flavour. 

Add some crispy sage leaves, and serve with a dollop of apple sauce on the side for all the classic flavours. 

Get the recipe: Air fryer pork chops

2. Air fryer salmon pesto

Serves: 4 | Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 20 mins

Fillets of salmon take just nine minutes to cook in the air fryer and will be beautifully tender and flaky, just like if they were foil wrapped in the oven. This recipe sees the fish topped with a tasty homemade pesto made with just four ingredients – store any leftovers in a jar in the fridge for an easy pasta dinner, and it also works wonderfully with chicken. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and a side of kale, spinach, or green beans.

Get the recipe: Air fryer salmon pesto

3. Air fryer chicken wings

Serves: 2 | Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 15 mins

These sticky wings (pass us the baby wipes) are perfectly done in the air fryer, reducing the saturated fat content of a famously fatty food while maximizing the flavour. The most crucial ingredient of the glaze is gochujang, a Korean red pepper paste that can be found in Asian stores or larger supermarkets, alongside ginger, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. 

Serve with rice, or go more classic with coleslaw as well as some corn on the cob – cooked in the air fryer, of course.

Get the recipe: Air fryer chicken wings

4. Air fryer chicken goujons

Serves: 4 | Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 40 mins

Chicken goujons with a twist here, as the marinade contains the sweetness of pineapple juice, along with paprika, garlic, and oil. Once the meat has been left to sit absorbing those flavours and then coated in breadcrumbs, it's perfectly cooked in the air fryer, avoiding the use of deep fryers for a healthier dinner – made even healthier with a zesty pineapple salsa on the side.

Get the recipe: Air fryer chicken goujons

5. Air fryer prawn skewers

Serves: 2 | Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 10 mins

You don't need to rely on BBQ weather to enjoy these prawn skewers as they're perfectly cooked in the air fryer – as with a grill, just make sure you soak the wooden skewers first to prevent burning. 

Combine the marinade ingredients and ideally leave the prawns to soak in the fridge overnight for maximum flavour. Serve with a salad and tortilla wraps, rice, or potato salad.

Get the recipe: Air fryer prawn skewers

6. Air fryer jerk chicken drumsticks

Serves: 4 | Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 25 mins

One to prep in advance – the jerk marinade has a lengthy ingredients list and you'll need some time to put it together plus a good few hours to infuse the chicken with those punchy Caribbean flavours. 

Allspice, honey, lime, sugar, and ginger are all key ingredients in these drumsticks that can be served with rice or wedges made from sweet potato or regular spuds, also cooked in the air fryer.

Get the recipe: Air fryer chicken drumsticks

7. Air fryer aubergine

Serves: 2 | Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 20 mins

This brilliant vegetarian dish (vegan, if you omit the dairy yogurt) is a delicious Middle Eastern/Moroccan-inspired meal, flavoured with harissa paste and pomegranate seeds. Aubergines are a very 'thirsty' vegetable that soaks up shocking amounts of oil in traditional cooking, so air frying them is a perfect way to cut back on excess fat. 

Load them up with all the flavours – basically like veggie 'boats' – and cook until they achieve that lovely tender, melty texture. Serve with yogurt sauce – or they would also be wonderful with baba ganoush and tabbouleh salad on the side. 

Get the recipe: Air fryer aubergine

8. Air fryer pork tenderloin

Serves: 4-6| Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 20 mins

A perfectly speedy Sunday lunch, all done in the air fryer, so all you'll have to do is add some steamed veggies – or roast up some root veg in the fryer, too. Both the pork and the potatoes are flavoured with a spice mix including cumin, chilli powder, and garlic, and it will all be ready in just 30 minutes. Cheers to that. 

Get the recipe: Air fryer pork tenderloin

9. Air fryer doughnuts

Makes: 6-8| Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 1 hour 25 mins

Doughnuts are a brilliant one to do in the air fryer because they save on the mess (and the fat grams) of deep frying and will come out just as well baked. Of course, there's a lot of pre-prep, from creating the dough and giving it time to rise, to proving the doughnuts once you've cut them into shape. 

But once all that's out of the way, the bakes, which are infused with lemon and can be topped with optional edible dried lavender, will take only ten minutes to be ready. 

Get the recipe: Air fryer doughnuts

10. Air fryer pickles

Makes/Serves: 6-8| Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 1 hour 10 mins

They're gherkins, but not as we know them. This American-style recipe sees the humble pickle elevated from accompaniment to center stage, wrapped in panko breadcrumbs, cooked in the air fryer and served with a punchy ranch dressing. Perfect as a snack with a cold beer on a summer's day.

Get the recipe: Air fryer pickles

11. Air fryer chicken

Serves: 2 | Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 50 mins

Cornflakes are a key ingredient in helping this crumbed chicken go crispy in the air fryer, as tried and tested in the book Air Fryer Perfection. Dipped in buttermilk and then coated with the cereal and a mix of spices and mustard, they'll be more delicious and vastly less fatty than if fried in a pan.

Just make sure you space them out well and turn partway through cooking so they're deliciously crunchy while tender on the inside. Serve with a side of coleslaw. 

Get the recipe: Air fryer chicken

12. Air fryer Brussels sprouts

Serves: 4 | Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 20 mins

We love a sprout, but sometimes they do need a helping hand to really bring out the best in them. Ditch the pan of boiling water and cook them in the air fryer, livened up with lemon, seasoning, and a spritz of oil. Perfect for a roast accompaniment or, in the summer, shred them after cooking and add to a salad or slaw. 

Get the recipe: Air fryer Brussels sprouts

13. Air fryer baked potatoes

Serves: 2| Skill level: Easy | Cooking time: 40 mins

We love a jacket potato a lot, especially for an easy family meal. What we don't love is the amount of time they take to cook in the oven, or how unpleasing their texture and flavour are if cooked in the microwave. Which is where the air fryer comes in. You'll have a perfectly fluffy spud with crispy skin using half the time and energy it would take in the oven. 

This recipe includes a choice of blue cheese or lemon and thyme butter toppings. Delicious with a summer salad on the side.

Get the recipe: Air fryer baked potatoes

14. Air fryer sweet potato and chorizo hash

Serves: 3| Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 20 mins

A refreshing change from the norm for a speedy meal idea, this recipe involves cooking the sweet potatoes first in paprika and oil, before adding the chorizo (this could be switched to prawns, if you prefer). It's served with garlic chilli butter and a big dollop of yogurt for simple perfection.

Get the recipe: Air fryer sweet potato and chorizo hash

15. Air fryer fish tacos

Serves: 8 | Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 20 mins

Fish tacos as a weekend treat with a cold beer or a glass of rosé anyone? The fish is lightly battered and fries beautifully in the air fryer so that it's tender and flaky. And while it's cooking, you can assemble the spicy, citrusy sauce and get the salad and tacos ready (they can be hard shell or soft varieties, but we recommend soft for the perfect texture with the other ingredients. Enjoy.

Get the recipe: Air fryer fish tacos

16. Air fryer French toast

Serves: 4| Skill level: Easy| Cooking time: 20 mins

Unusually, this French toast is made with sourdough and it works brilliantly – though you can use different bread, should it not be to your taste. Dip the bread in the eggy mixture, shake off the excess, pop in the air fryer, and voila. 

Sprinkle with icing sugar and top with melted Biscoff, Nutella, maple syrup, or whatever you fancy. It might be prudent to add a few berries to give the kids a fruity hit, while you're at it.

Get the recipe: Air fryer French toast

Top tips on how to use an air fryer

Use special air fryer parchment paper (you can buy it on Amazon). "It doesn't get dirty and you don't have to wash the air fryer every time you use it. After using the baking paper, I just wipe it clean," says Vittoria. 

"Never use normal baking paper in the air fryer. It is not suitable. And make sure the paper has enough weight on it so it doesn't fly around in the fryer. If it does, it could burn."

You must shake the basket halfway through cooking with most recipes, and many foods will benefit from flipping over

Don't put too much in there. "If you really want crispy food cooked in the air fryer, do not overcrowd it," says Vittoria. 

Spray the food you cook with olive oil. "I spray because you do not need much fat for cooking in the air fryer, but it does add more taste and makes everything crispier," says Vittoria. "Make your own spray oil – and use a clean food-grade spray bottle."

If you're looking for more air fryer recipe inspiration, we've rounded up some of the best air fryer cookbooks which you can buy online. We've also got plenty of help on what to not cook in an air fryer as well as answering the burning question when it comes to using an air fryer - can I put tin foil in an air fryer?