An air fryer becomes an essential household appliance, which everyone wants to get the most out of. Hence, the question “Can you cook two things at once in an air fryer?’’ is most asked on Google.
Is it possible and still preserves flavors and textures like separately cooked or not? This interesting post will give you explanations, along with practical methods to cook two things at once. Let’s check it out!
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Can You Cook Two Things At Once in An Air Fryer?
“Can you cook two things at once in an air fryer?’’ is the most asked question. To be more specific, the main reason is that everyone wants to save cooking time.
Cooking two things at once is doable thanks to rack accessories, multiple dishes having similar ingredients, which can be cooked at the same temperature. Especially, many air oven have a bigger capacity, which can serve up to 6-8 persons.
Well, how to cook two things at once in this oven efficiently? Continue reading the post and finding out the five methods!
How To Cook Two Things At Once In An Air Fryer?
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Method 1: Using a divider
The first way is to use a divider. Specifically, air fryer basket dividers are perfect for keeping the distinct taste of each meal once you cook two things at once. It would also avoid cross-contamination or a mixture of food smell. Besides, using a divider is handier once some food is well-cooked sooner than others. In such a case, you can take the one finished earlier out first.
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Method 2: Coupling similar ingredients:
As you can see, the advantage of cooking similar or the same ingredients at once is that both of them are well-cooked under one temperature. Furthermore, you do not need to worry about the taste mixture once cooking together. In this situation, a divider is unnecessary.
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Method 3: Stacking
Stacking a piece of ingredients into the bracket is totally possible as long as you cut it into small pieces. In detail, it allows heated air to circulate properly into the bracket and make dishes evenly well-cooked.
Small ingredients like fries, donuts, vegetables, small potatoes, etc., are fine to stack. During the cooking time, make sure that you shake the basket to make pieces move into the new position and evenly well-cooked on other sides; this also helps create a new hole for the air to travel through.
Also, piling large and heavy pieces of ingredients like steak and chicken makes the heated air struggle to distribute. As a result, the pieces placed at the bottom of the bracket overcooked and the rest on the top uncooked.
The best way to stack food like steak or chicken is using the rack. Additionally, make sure that food you will stack evenly so that the air could circulate properly throughout the layers.
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Method 4: Using Air Fryer Rack
The fourth method is using the rack. While a divider separates the basket horizontally into small spots, the rack divides the vertical space by giving a second food layer. As aforementioned, using this accessory is ideal for large pieces of meats like chicken stakes rather than piling them up.
While this rack gives an extra layer for such food equally cooked, it also allows the heated air to distribute properly without turning them over during the cooking time.
Besides, using the racks gives you the capacity to cook two different batches or similar ingredients at once.
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Method 5: Using A Large Air-fryer.
Using a large air-fryer is the easiest method to serve more foods at once. The capacity is measured in quarts, which are equal to a quarter gallon.
Phillips, the leading brand in household appliances, including air fryers, recommends a 2.2-quart model to cook 1.8 pounds of food. Its 3.2-quart unit is sized for 2.6 pounds of food. Based on this information, to prepare two types of roasted meat or roasted meat and vegetable/ French fries for the family of 4-5 members, you should have a 5-6 quart range.
The curious question is how large it should be to roast a whole chicken? Yes, the suitable size is 5.3 quarters or larger as the small whole chicken weighs around 3 pounds. With this size, you would also enjoy preparing two dishes at once.
Which Dishes Can You Cook Two Things At Once in An Air Fryer?
In this part of the article, we shall discuss which dishes you can cook at once.
The first combination is between either croquette or spring rolls and French fries. More specifically, you can stack the fries at the top of the croquette and spring rolls as long as they are flipped and turned at intervals.
French fries are also easy to cook together with roasted chicken wings. Nevertheless, this combination still leaves enough space for the heated air to move around the basket.
Another interesting combination is baked fish with some chips as long as we will wrap them in aluminum foil. This wrapping protects against cross-contamination.
Additionally, it cooks steaks and burgers together with or without using a double layer. If you serve steaks and burgers to many people, a double layer is useful. Along with giving more space to place food, the heated air can circulate easily.
In terms of stacking ingredients, sliced pieces of fruit or vegetables are fine to stack. However, it is necessary to turn, shake, stir, or separate so that the food won’t be evenly cooked.
Final Thoughts
We believe that throughout this interesting post, you don’t only find the answer “Yes” to the question “Can you cook two things at once in an air fryer.” But you also gain more useful information on how to cook different or similar ingredients properly to get the perfect taste as usual.
The most important principle once cooking two things is always making the air circulate easily. By doing that, if you use either racks/ dividers or stacking ingredients, you still have the perfect dishes serving for the family.
