How to make a jacket potato in an air fryer

HEALTHY ways to cook carbs are all the rage of late and air fryers are now all the rage.

People are often asking how many of your favourite meals can you actually cook in them, with jacket potatoes being a common question.

How do air fryers work?

Air fryers use a combination of radiation and convection to cook your food.

A heating element near the top of the air fryer emits heat into the air in the cooking chamber (radiation), while a fan circulates the heated air rapidly around it (convection).

This combination creates a very intense heat transfer, resulting in a cooking method that’s closer to frying than baking.

The technical term for it is RUSH, or Radiant UpStream Heating, although, if your air fryer is made by Philips, it’s referred to as Rapid Air Technology.

What can I cook in an air fryer?

Air fryers are surprisingly versatile when it comes to cooking different types of food.

Here are some of the options you can use it for:

• Fries and chips
• Battered or breaded fish
• Fried chicken and other meat
• Crispy chickpeas (try these with salt, cumin, and paprika for a tasty snack or side)
• Falafel
• Potatoes (for a healthier roast dinner)
• Vegetables
• Kale (add salt and paprika for deliciously moreish kale crisps)
• Tofu
• Reheated food (will heat like a microwave will)
• Empanadas and other pastries
• Mozzarella sticks
• Pigs in blankets
• Cookies and brownies
• Cannoli

How to make a jacket potato in an air fryer

Quicker and cheaper, air fryers are proving a popular cooking method with energy prices rocketing.

They will give you the same fluffy potatoes with the crispy skin we all crave as well.

The cooking time is drastically reduced they pass warm air all around the potato.

Simply follow these instructions:

1. Wash and scrub the potatoes before drying them and piercing them several times with a fork.
2. Massage the potatoes all over with oil.
3. Season with salt and pepper,
4. Place the potatoes in the air fryer basket.
5. Cook at 200 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes, turning halfway through.

If you do not have 40 minutes to spare, you can speed up the cooking time by microwaving the jacket potatoes for 12 minutes and then cooking them in the air fryer for 3 minutes on each side.

Now all you have to do is decide what you are going to have with them and enjoy a healthy meal.