The worst foods to reheat in an air fryer include stews/curries, gravy/sauces, steak, pasta, soup, delicate greens, and whole chicken – it comes out far juicer when carved before reheating. Sticking your food into an air fryer before it's preheated is going to ruin it. Always preheat your fryer first.
An air fryer can be used similarly as conventional oven making reheating easy as well: Preheat your air fryer at 400°F (200°C). Put your leftover chicken curry into an oven safe dish.
Since the air fryer will cook and reheat chicken at a high temperature, you need to be certain that you don't cook it for a long period of time. Most times 3-6 minutes is going to be enough.
Preheat the air fryer at 350-400F for 4 to 5 minutes. Place the food you want to reheat in the basket without crowding. Air fry 3 to 5 minutes or so until crispy and heated through but keep a close watch on it.
Air fryers specialize in crisping up fries, vegetables and the like. Microwaves agitate water molecules, so are better suited to high-water content foods, excelling at steaming vegetables or reheating leftovers.
To reheat a takeaway curry you'll need either a microwave, an oven or a stovetop. If you are using a microwave, place your curry into a microwaveable dish and cook for around 5 minutes. Make sure you stir the curry every minute or so in order for the heat to be evenly distributed.
The best way to heat up your Indian leftovers is in a pan on a low to medium heat and will you need to keep stirring to make sure everything is hot all the way through. Add a splash of water or oil to your rice and curry if they start drying up.
However, it's pretty tempting to throw a little foil in there to catch any drips and make clean-up even easier, but is that allowed? The short answer is yes, you can put aluminum foil in the air fryer.
How to Reheat Rice in the Air Fryer. Transfer the leftover rice to a 6-inch air fryer pan or cake pan. Tightly cover the pan with a piece of aluminum foil, then place the rice in the air fryer. Cook at 320 degrees F for 5 to 6 minutes until nice and hot.
Efficiently reheat chicken in an air fryer by first preheating it to 365°F (190°C) for 5 minutes. Next, arrange the chicken pieces in the basket so they aren't overlapping. Cook for 5-6 minutes, flipping midway for even reheating and crispiness. If needed, extend the cooking by 1-2 minutes.
Anything with a sauce
Hearty dishes including stew, chilli con carne or bolognese are midweek favourites, but BBC Good Food's food copy editor Samuel Goldsmith advises against using an air fryer to cook them.
When we reheated spaghetti Bolognese in the air fryer it took 8 minutes. Though note it was enough for just one person and wasn't a big portion size. However, when we reheated spaghetti Bolognese in our Ninja Foodi pressure cooker it took 2 minutes. But you also have to factor in the time it takes to go to pressure.
Curry: Reheat in microwave or in a saucepan (with a splash of water) over low heat. Dumplings: Steam in a steamer or steamer basket, or reheat in a hot skillet with small pour of water to steam, covered.
In terms of food safety, however, so long as you reheat the food at the correct temperature and for the correct duration of time, it can in fact be safely reheated multiple times. However, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends that food is only reheated once, so follow this guidance wherever possible.
Curries. To reheat the curry from chilled, empty content into a container and either heat on the hob or in the microwave for 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly until piping hot all the way through.
“Also, when a curry, spag bol or stew has been bubbling on the stove, collagen from the meat breaks down. When left to rest in the fridge, this will set to a firm jelly … once reheated, the gelatine melts to create a silky texture in the mouth.”
Never reheat in a slow cooker. It takes far too long to get hot. Food poisoning risk. Reheat on hob.
Limited Cooking Applications
Air fryers aren't logical appliances for every restaurant's offerings, as their temperature settings can dry out or burn the food. Investing in combination ovens and deep fryers is a far more valuable and efficient solution for modern establishments.