Healthier Than Deep Frying In Oils ... But You Still Need to Choose Healthy Foods

Cooking with air fryers has grown from an emerging fad to a household item. Ranging in size, price, brand and capability, many consumers are experimenting with healthier cooking in their air fryers. Using an air fryer is a great alternative to deep frying your food when you want to get a crispy taste without the added oils, fat and calories.

When you deep fry foods such as chicken, potatoes, vegetables and fish..they often taste delicious but come with a large amount of calories, saturated fat and are unhealthy for your heart. Emerge the air fryer.

According to the Cleveland Clinic in this article titled “Are Air Fryers Actually Healthy?”, air fryers are healthier than deep frying in oils and can reduce acrylamide, a chemical formed during certain methods of high heat cooking. 

Air fryers are also an excellent way to heat up your frozen foods quickly and get them to a perfect crisp, rather than using a microwave or regular oven. Not convinced just yet? We asked Chef Nick Apone, Director of Culinary Development here at Nino Salvaggio what his thoughts were on using air fryers! 

“Since they were introduced in 2010, they’ve changed the game in the kitchen: You can use them not only to air-fry foods to crispy perfection (and with minimal oil) but also to reheat leftovers, cook pizza, toast and melt the perfect grilled cheese or panini, roast everything from veggies to a whole chicken, dehydrate herbs, and even bake sweet treats," said Chef Nick. "The funny thing is: Air fryers don’t technically fry food. They’re called air fryers because of their ability to crisp up food and reproduce the kinds of fried-food textures you know and love. Inside, a fan circulates hot air to cook the food and crisp up its exterior. It’s basically convection baking—but the small space of the air fryer and the concentration of the hot air make it especially effective at thoroughly and uniformly crisping up the exterior of whatever you’re cooking.”

Yet, just using an air fryer does not make your food automatically a healthier alternative. Bacon is still bacon whether you put it in the air fryer or another method of cooking! Being mindful of your air fryer food choices is important. Choosing vegetables and lean proteins or heart healthy fatty fish is a great start to experimenting with your air fryer. 

New to using an air fryer? Check out this guide featured on Simply Recipes called “How To Use An Air Fryer” A First-Timers Guide”

At Nino’s we have a list of items ready for you to experiment with in your air fryer! 

Louisiana Fish Fry seasoned coatings for air fryers are a great way to add flavor.

Recipes are abundant for air fryer favorites but here is an air fryer friendly grocery shopping list to get you started experimenting with healthful foods in your air fryer:

1. Chicken Breasts (Bone-In or Boneless) Wings, Drumsticks: “Fried Chicken” or Chicken Tenders
2. Steak or Ground Beef for Hamburgers or Meatloaf 
3. Yellow Cooking Onions for Air Fryer Onion Rings or Blooming Onion
4. Potatoes for Air Fryer Sweet Potato French Fries, Baked Potato, Potato Chips
5. Frozen French Fries: Nino’s offers Alexia, Ore-Ida 
6. Louisiana Fish Fry Seasoned Coating Mixes, Specific for Air Fryers: Seasonings for Chicken, Fish and Pork 
7. Vegetables such as Broccoli, Cauliflower, Asparagus, Carrots, Zucchini, Okra, Green Beans, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash, Beets, Eggplant
8. Tofu 
9. Pumpkin Seeds, Garbanzo Beans
10. Salmon 

Check out our featured blog article, Gain The Power of Protein Beyond The Traditional Meats for more ideas for your air fryer! 

Whether you are an air fryer master chef or a beginner, we look forward to helping you  experiment with this convenient and healthy kitchen tool. Share your favorite air fryer recipes and photos with us on social and let’s get the air fryer conversation started!

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