Reheating food is something we all do a few times a week. If you’ve filled your plate up too much and can’t finish it all, simply leave it for later and reheat it. We all know we can reheat food in microwaves, but I know I’ve certainly wondered if I can reheat food in my air fryer! But should you? Let’s find out!
Air fryers are outstanding multi-purpose tools and ideal for students or those with smaller apartments. The great news is that you can reheat food in an air fryer.
Whether it’s a leftover Chinese or a sizzling sumptuous steak, you can put it in and get perfectly hot food within a few minutes. It’s recommended that you add some oil for foods like Chinese takeaway and veggies to get the best results.
Air fryers work like a convection oven and use the Maillard Effect. This effect involves the browning of amino acids. This is like caramelization which browns sugars. Air fryers brown both amino acids and sugars so are perfect tools for heating a delicious meal.
Instead of using hot oil, air fryers immerse fried food with hot air like convection ovens. Therefore, the food is evenly warmed and cooked faster.
Can you air fry leftover pizza?
Is last night’s pizza drawing you in? Is the temptation too much? Okay, it’s time to heat it up! And, yes! You can air fry your leftover pizza.
Air fryers work well with most crispy foods such as wings, fried chicken, pastries, and, of course, pizza. On the other hand, they are not the best suited for warming up foods such as soups, stews, or gravies.
Furthermore, if you need to reheat any frozen leftovers, you must thaw the food first. If you do not thaw frozen foods, they may not reheat sufficiently and the insides will remain frozen.
When reheating a pizza, simply:
- Switch on the air fryer and set the temperature to 320 F (160 C)
- Remove the pizza from the fridge
- Place it in the air fryer but do not overlap any slices. Overlapped slices during reheating will cause the pizza to cook unevenly
- Allow the slices to cook for around 3 to 4 minutes. This depends on the thickness of the pizza’s crust
- Open the air fryer and check the pizza
- If the pizza is warm enough for you, take it out
- Enjoy your pizza!
Can you heat a cup of coffee in an air fryer?
You can heat an array of foods in an air fryer but it’s important to remember that these appliances are not the same as microwaves. Air fryers can replace a convection oven or a regular oven but not a microwave.
So, while you can reheat fried foods easily in an air fryer, they are not suitable for reheating soups, stews, or gravy items.
Any liquid should not be reheated in an air fryer and, of course, this includes coffee and tea. As the name suggests, an air fryer works by circulating hot air inside. This heats up and cooks the food resulting in a crispy exterior.
Although an air fryer does not work as well as a deep fryer, it is a far healthier alternative. These appliances use very little oil to cook so your calorie intake will be far lower.
If you were to heat coffee in an air fryer, the hot air that circulates would just heat the surface of the coffee and the cup within the first few minutes. The heat would then travel very slowly to the middle and bottom of the coffee whereas a microwave is far more efficient.
Using radio waves at certain frequencies, a microwave vibrates the molecules of water inside different foods causing them to heat up from friction. If you want to heat up a cup of coffee, a microwave is by far the better option.
How long do you reheat fried chicken in an air fryer?
Cooking times can differ with air fryers. Using one of these instead of an oven could cut your heating time dramatically and even leave your food tasting better, especially when compared to using a microwave.
You will likely find that foods maintain their flavor as well as texture when heated up in an air fryer. They tend to go crispier when compared to microwaves too.
This happens because heat penetrates the outside of the food and works its way inwards. Ovens and microwaves, on the other hand, use heat to penetrate the food from the inside out.
If you need to reheat some fried chicken, it should only take 5 minutes. Here is how:
- Remove the fried chicken from the refrigerator
- Leave it to reach room temperature for around 10 – 15 minutes
- Preheat your air fryer to 370 F (188 C)
- Place chicken in a single layer in the fryer basket with space between each piece
- Cook and reheat for 5 minutes
Enjoy your reheated fried chicken!
