Morante - The Ultimate Air Fryer Oven Cookbook: Easy Recipes That Satisfy

THE ULTIMATE AIR FRYER OVEN COOKBOOK. Copyright 2021 by Coco Morante. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Photography 2021 by Katie Newburn

Food styling by Nathan Carrabba

Prop styling by Katie Newburn and Nathan Carrabba

INSTANT and associated logos are owned by Instant Brands Inc. and are used under license.

marinerbooks.com

Book and cover design by Melissa Lotfy

Cover photography by Katie Newburn

Author photo by Aaron Blumenshine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-0-358-65012-6 (hbk)

ISBN 978-0-358-64992-2 (ebk)

v1.0921

To Eve, my favorite kitchen helper and taste tester

There are air fryers, and then there are air fryer ovens. With their ample cooking space, powerful convection, and top and bottom heating elements, these appliances are so much more versatile than their predecessors. They represent a huge upgrade from either a basket-style air fryer or a basic toaster oven, with so much more power and versatility.

Instant Brands sells a wide variety of air frying appliances. This cookbook is focused specifically on the biggest and best of the bunchthe air fryer ovens in the Omni line. They come in both 18- and 26-liter sizes, with the names Omni, Omni Plus, and Omni Pro. From here on out well refer to them as Omni ovens. The recipes in this book will work without modification in any model of either size. If you have an air fryer oven appliance from another brand, similar cooking times, temperatures, and cooking programs can be used, but you may find that some slight adjustments are necessary.

The Omni ovens have a wide variety of cooking programs, designed to help you easily select the time, temperature, and convection level suited to whatever food you are preparing. The selection of cooking programs differs slightly on the two sizes of ovens, but there are no tasks that cant be done in either one. For instance, the 26-liter Omni Plus has a SLOW COOK program, but with the right timing and temperature settings, you can use the BAKE program on the 18-liter Omni Plus to accomplish the same ends. Whenever this is the case in a recipe, both options will be listed.

Because these ovens are so versatile, the recipes and methods in this book run the gamut: Youll learn how to use your air fryer oven not only to air fry, but also to roast, rotisserie, bake, broil, slow cook, and dehydrate, and even to proof dough. My recipes are clearly written and easy to follow step by step, and Ill often give flavor variations as well as basic instructions for more pared-down versions. For instance, you can cook up a pan of praline-coated bacon or just plain baconthere are instructions for both. Whether you want to whip up homemade latkes or simply heat up a batch of frozen Tater Tots, youll find recipes here.

I made sure to incorporate lots of different breadings, coatings, spice mixtures, and sauces in this cookbook so that cooking through it will teach you many ways to prepare your favorite crispy and flavorful fried foods. The Pantry chapter contains homemade condiments and other basics that will take your cooking up a level, but you can also substitute in store-bought items if you would like to keep things simple. Its all up to you.

I hope that you enjoy cooking in your Omni oven as much as I do in mine. This appliance has truly revolutionized the way I get meals on the table. Whether its to impress and delight dinner guests, you really can do it all in this amazing countertop oven.

The following introductory pages will walk you through using all of the functions of your appliance. Ill tell you about my favorite accessories and tools to use with the air fryer oven, most of which youre likely to have in your kitchen already. Ill also talk about air fryer pantry staples, give you my best tips for air fryer oven care and cleaning, and list some helpful FAQs. Lets get cooking.

Coco Morante

Air fryer ovens are very intuitive machines to use. If youve ever operated a toaster oven, you wont find theres much of a steep learning curve as far as operating the appliance goes. However, there are some important things to know, which well go over here.

First off, its a good idea to open the manual that comes with your appliance and become acquainted with all of the different programmed settings. Different air fryers have different cooking programs and accessories included, and youll want to be able to take advantage of them all.

Most air fryer ovens will, at the very least, come with an air frying basket, a wire oven rack, and a cooking pan. The Omni ovens also come with a rotisserie spit. With all of these accessories, youll be able to do so much more than air frying. (In the coming pages, Ill also talk about my other favorite accessories and tools to use with the air fryer oven, most of which youre likely to have in your kitchen already.)

Omni ovens currently come in two different sizes: 18 liters (a little over 4 gallons) and 26 liters (a little under 6 gallons). Though it might seem like this would make a big difference in capacity, it actually doesntthe extra liters are mostly in height rather than width or depth of the cooking space. So youll be able to fit most of the same cookware in both sizes of air fryer oven. More than size, choosing between these machines really comes down to what you like in terms of aesthetics, safety features, and price point.

Preheating, Cooking, and Keep Warm

While some basket-style air fryers begin cooking right when you press the Start button, air fryer ovens generally have a short preheating cycle on most of their cooking programs. Happily, this takes much less time than preheating a traditional oven. The Omni ovens take 2 to 4 minutes to preheat, depending on the cooking temperature. The cooking status indicator at the top of the display will change from preheating to cooking when the oven has preheated, and the oven will beep as well. For best results, wait until your air fryer oven has preheated to cook the food when the cooking program requires it, unless a recipe instructs otherwise.

Some cooking programs, such as TOAST , SLOW COOK , REHEAT , and DEHYDRATE , do not have a preheating cycle. With those programs, youll put the food in the cold oven, then select the cooking program and press Start for the cooking program to begin. The cooking status indicator will read cooking from the start of the program.

There is also a keep warm cooking status indicator on all of the Omni ovens. The keep warm status indicator turns on at the end of the AIR FRY , BAKE , ROAST , and BROIL cooking programs and switches to off once the oven cools down to 180F.

High and Low Convection

Most of the cooking programs on the Omni ovens can be set to either high or low convection. This allows you to change the speed of the convection fan. On the hi setting, the airflow is quite strong, to the point that lighter items will be blown around, including any parchment paper or aluminum foil that is not being held down by somewhat heavy food items. You would not, for instance, want to cook smores on the high convection setting.