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The air fryer has indisputably established itself as America’s favorite kitchen appliance. Whether you use a Ninja, a Cosori, or Midea’s Two Zone Air Fryer, the household staple has made waves as an efficient way to cook and reheat foods. This usefulness stems, in part, from its multitude of settings; air fryers typically come with options that include, at the bare minimum, roasting and air frying. These choices may sound interchangeable, but they’re actually, significantly, different. That’s because roasting and air frying correlate with different cooking lengths and levels of heat and, therefore, apply to different kinds of recipes.
Specifically, an air fryer’s roast setting will generally heat your appliance to a higher temperature than the standard air frying option. That temperature may fall between 375-425 degrees Fahrenheit. Avid bakers and chefs likely won’t be surprised by this higher roasting temperature; roasting via the oven likewise correlates to hotter heat than standard baking. Given this temperature, however, roasting sets your air fryer to a shorter time frame, so your recipe typically won’t need as long under high heat.
For comparison, using the designated air fry setting will cook your food at a lower temperature. Often, 325 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal baseline starting point — though that temperature comes with a longer cooking length. As such, air frying and roasting both guarantee hot food but should be used strategically depending on what you’re cooking.
Choose between your appliance’s roasting and air frying settings depending on the nature of your recipe
Any option on any air fryer is bound to heat up your food, but you’ll have the best results if you intentionally choose your settings. For instance, when air frying bacon, salmon, and chicken tenders, you can typically set the device to around 400 degrees Fahrenheit for just a few minutes, while Tasting Table’s crispy air fryer paneer sticks similarly call for cooking at a temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit for roughly eight minutes. Meanwhile, Tasting Table’s recipes for chicken fajitas, eggplant fries, and bone-in pork chops all require a little more time but all roast for under 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
For comparison, the air fry setting works best on dishes that require a slightly lower and slower cooking approach. This includes baked goods and breads. Brownies, for instance, cook at roughly 350 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 45 minutes — metrics that also apply to an air fryer’s bake setting, should you also have that option. Despite all the variances, recipes for fried or frozen foods seem to work best when roasted, while baked goods and breads benefit from an air fry setting. However, there’s no consistent end-all-be-all rule for when to roast as opposed to air fry, so you’ll have to use your judgment accordingly. When in doubt, treat your air fryer like you would an oven, and your food will be better off.
