Oh, the air fryer: a magical gadget that can make almost anything crispy, crunchy, and golden. By mimicking a convection oven in a small space, it cooks faster, crisps better, and uses less oil than deep frying on a stove, all while leaving your kitchen cooler and your cleanup easier. I speak from experience; not to go all “Avatar the last air fryer” on you guys, but my air fryer really did save my kitchen from total destruction. (I’m not the cleanest person, to say the least.) It was my first big purchase as a fully fledged adult—and it took me some time to get used to. I’m smarter, wiser (hotter, better, more talented) now, but at the time, I could have really used a list of the best air fryer foods to buy.
Lucky for you, we (a team of professional taste testers, thank you very much) have been taking note over the years of the very best foods to cook in an air fryer. We’ve munched our way through countless taste tests to bring you the ultimate list of the best air fryer foods to throw in this mini convection marvel.
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- Grown in Idaho Hand Cut Style Fries
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Grown in Idaho uses modified food starch to get an extra layer of crust on the outside of their fries—and if that doesn’t make them one of the best air fryer foods, I don’t know what does. Our taste tester described them as “creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside,” and I’ve been daydreaming about trying them ever since. I just know these would achieve french fry nirvana in an air fryer. (“French Fry Nirvana in an Air Fryer” is the title of my next modern art piece.)
Read the full ranking of the best frozen french fries
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- House Foods Premium Extra Firm Tofu
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Tofu is one of the best air fryer foods, and also one of the most overlooked. Achieving golden brown, beautifully crisp cubes of tofu requires way more work on the stove than it does in an air fryer. And for air frying, you simply can’t beat House Foods Extra Firm tofu. The firmness and bold soybean flavor allow it to maintain structural integrity and absorb marinades easily, creating some pretty spectacular flavors for something mostly made of water. We’ve got a lot of great frozen options for your air fryer on this list, but tofu is easily one of the best air fryer foods to keep in your fridge. Just make sure you have some cornstarch on hand.
Read the full ranking of the best tofu
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- Red’s Chicken Chorizo, Egg & Three Cheese Breakfast Burrito
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Ever since the Hot Pocket Experiment of 2023 (that’s what I’m calling it), where we learned that the best way to cook a Hot Pocket is in an air fryer, I’ve realized that the same can definitely be said for frozen burritos. (And calzones, obviously, but only Ben Wyatt eats those.) The hot air circulates everywhere, making the tortilla nice and crisp and getting the fillings warm and melty. The spicy chicken chorizo in this Red’s breakfast burrito is almost too good to be true—and cheesiness, fresh out of an air fryer, will wow you.
Read the full ranking of the best frozen breakfast burritos
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- Good & Gather Crispy Chicken Breast Strips
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Here’s the deal: I hate waiting. And when I’ve decided to have chicken strips for dinner, that can only mean a couple of things—I’m starving and I’m feeling lazy. Chicken tenders are among the best air fryer foods because air frying cuts the bake time in half and gives the breading a beautiful, clean crunch. Good & Gather Crispy Chicken Breast Strips have a savory, herb-infused seasoning in the breading, which makes them all the better. They’re super juicy, too, so you won’t have to worry about drying them out.
Read the full ranking of the best frozen chicken tenders
Credit: Merc / Target
- TGI Fridays Mozzarella Sticks
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When it comes to the best frozen air fryer foods, TGI Friday’s Mozzarella Sticks are a no-brainer. These beauties come loaded with melty, fresh-tasting mozzarella encased in a crunchy panko crust that’s just begging, pleading to be crisped. Air frying will give you a jaw-dropping cheese pull while still keeping that sturdy, crunchy exterior. No soggy sticks here. Trust us, your air fryer was made for these.
Read the full ranking of the best mozzarella sticks
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Walmart
- Red Robin Crispy Onion Rings
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There’s a theme emerging in our search for the best air fryer foods: anything with breading. But I promise I’ve put actual thought into these recommendations, okay? Frozen onion rings are actually harder to cook than you think—in an oven, the breading flakes off too easily. Air frying your frozen onions keeps the breading less soggy and more intact. Since we particularly loved the crispy exterior on Red Robin’s Crispy Onion Rings, consider these a slam dunk. Plus, if you’re trying to recreate the Red Robin onion ring tower, your rings must have the best structural integrity—air fry those suckers and get to stacking.
Read the full ranking of the best frozen onion rings
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Entenmann’s Minis Pound Cake
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Throwing snack cakes into an air fryer is a stroke of genius I can’t personally claim (you can all thank my colleague Jordan Myrick for coming up with that one), but I can certainly endorse it. Do snack cakes need to be cooked? Nope, not at all, and that’s why it’s brilliant. The next time you’re craving a warm slice of cake fresh out of the oven, try Entenmann’s rich, light, and fluffy Mini Pound Cakes fresh out of the air fryer instead. I mean, c’mon, what’s a list of the best air fryer foods without dessert? Stupid, that’s what.
Read the full ranking of the best snack cakes
Credit: Merc / Target
- Royal Asia Vegetable Spring Rolls with Soy Ginger Sauce
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Air-frying spring rolls (egg rolls, too) is a total game changer. The problem with frozen spring rolls—and veggie dumplings, but we’ll get to that—is how easily they lose texture and structural integrity, even in the oven. Too often, the filling is mush, and the thin wrapper fails to keep everything together. But the air fryer is capable of cooking those little cylinders evenly, all the way around. We especially recommend these mini vegetable spring rolls from Costco (which, in typical Costco fashion, come 50 to a bag), since even in a small air fryer, you can still cook a ton at once.
Read the full ranking of the best frozen spring rolls
Credit: Merc / Costco
- Bibigo Organic Potstickers Vegetable Dumplings
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Okay, let’s talk veggie dumplings. I’m on the record as a big critic of the way pan-fried veggie dumplings tend to taste like vegetal goop. Frankly, the oil and water can get in there and make a bad situation worse. The air fryer really helps keep things from getting soggy and mushy—and thanks to the edamame, cabbage, carrots, and green onions in these Bibigo veggie dumplings, you can trust that the filling will have actual texture. Plus, it goes without saying that the dumpling wrapper will glisten a beautiful golden brown. (But there, I said it anyway.)
Read the full ranking of the best vegetable dumplings
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- Fremont Fish Market Wild Caught Breaded Fish Sticks
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While I think frozen fish fillets would also cook beautifully in your air fryer, I’m always thinking about time, space, and effort. When is it really worth dragging that bulky appliance out of the pantry? In my opinion, the best air fryer foods should yield a lot in one cook cycle. That’s why we recommend these breaded fish sticks from Fremont Fish Market—which include about 45 sticks per box. They might not be our #1, but they still earned the “best crunchy” award of all the fish sticks brands we tried. Plus, they’re battered, greasy, and oily, so there’s no chance these will come out dry. You could feed a small army of fish freaks with these. (Invite me!)
Read the full ranking of the best fish sticks
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Best French Fries
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Tofu
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Breakfast Burrito
Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
Best Chicken Tenders
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Mozzarella Sticks
Rating:
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Onion Rings
Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
Best Snack Cake
Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
Best Spring Rolls
Rating:
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Veggie Dumplings
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Fish Sticks
Rating:
9/10
Sporks
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!