Air fryers work in the same way as convection ovens but preheat and cook the food much more quickly.
They also use heat and air to cook food evenly, reducing the need for little to no oil to be used in the cooking process.
I often use my appliance to cook savoury food but after recently baking cupcakes in it, I decided to opt for muffins to see how they would turn out.
I used a recipe from BBC Good Food and opted for blueberries in mine, but chocolate chops also work just as well.
The recipe notes said: “Make beautifully golden brown muffins in your air fryer in no time. You can even double the mixture to make more.”
Ingredients:
60ml vegetable oil
75g natural yoghurt
One egg
Two tablespoons of milk
100g golden caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
75g blueberries, or chocolate chips
Method:
I started by preheating the air fryer to 160C before mixing the oil, yoghurt, egg and milk into a large bowl until combined.
I then folded in the sugar, flour, and baking soda and combined well to create a thick mixture before folding in the blueberries.
The mixture was then spooned into tulip muffin cases, filling them until they were around three-quarters full.
I managed to get six good-sized muffins out of my mixture, so I would definitely double the recipe if I wanted to make my usual 12
Luckily all six muffins managed to fit into my air fryer, but they may need to be baked in batches if your appliance is smaller.
The muffins took around 12 minutes to cook fully and they had a lovely brown crust on them.
They tasted delicious and I couldn’t tell that they were baked in an air fryer as opposed to the oven.
They had a lovely texture which was light and fluffy and had the right amount of sweetness so it is no surprise to see they have a five-star rating on BBC Good Food.
Muffins tend to take up to 30 minutes in the oven so I was impressed to see a recipe that said they would bake in as little as 12 minutes.
I would opt for a stronger case next time as there was no support for the tulip cases in the air fryer, and so I think silicone may work better.
The recipe noted added: “The air fryer requires less cooking time and uses less energy in general, so this recipe is a more energy and time-efficient way to bake, especially when cooking smaller batches.”
