Flip foods over halfway through the cooking time. Just as you would if you were cooking on a grill or in a skillet, you need to turn foods over so that they brown evenly. Open the air fryer as often as you like to check for doneness.
Even if your air fryer has top-notch air circulation from its fan, you need to give most larger pieces of food (such as pork chops, burgers, and chicken cutlets) a turn about halfway through cooking.
Cook the beef roast for about 75 minutes, flipping and seasoning with a good amount of salt and some pepper on both sides when flipping. Remove the roast beef from the air fryer when the internal temperature hits 140 degrees F (medium rare). Let the meat rest for at least 10 minutes, then enjoy!
Do you need to flip steak in an air fryer? Yes, you should flip steak once in the air fryer halfway through its cooking time, just like you would when cooking in the oven or searing. This allows the steak to cook evenly and sear on both sides.
Converting oven recipes for your air fryer
When taking a recipe from oven to air fryer, the general rule is to reduce the temperature by 20ºC – 30ºC, and cook for 20% less time.
Roast or Broil
Use the Roast setting when you're ready to place a marinated piece of meat—let's say a beef chuck roast—into the air fryer basket. In a conventional oven, you would typically brown meat before baking. With an air fryer, you can skip that step.
Recent experiments and noted food scientist and writer Harold McGee indicate that flipping a steak several times while cooking results in a steak that is ready sooner but also yields better overall results than the single flip method. Flipping your meat constantly also minimizes the desiccation zone or the dry area.
Thin steaks are prone to overcooking quickly and becoming chewy. To enjoy the best flavor and texture, allow the steaks to come to room temperature at least 30 minutes before cooking them in the air fryer.
The Difference Between Roasting and Broiling
When roasting, your air fryer will default to a higher temperature and cook for a shorter amount of time than air frying, which makes it suitable for cooking beef or poultry (hello, chicken wings!) like you would in a traditional oven.
Place in the oven for 4-4.5 hours. You want the leg of lamb to fall apart when you use a fork and start scraping it a bit. Once it's fall-apart tender, take it out of the oven, flip the leg of lamb (this will be difficult because it breaks into parts, simply use some tongs and a spatula and do your best).
To help food crisp, always turn, rotate or shake the contents in the air-fryer basket—just like flipping french fries, fish fillets or chicken tenders halfway through cooking in a traditional oven).
Pro Tip: Even if you have a top air fryer, when you will plan to cook a piece of meat or fish, I still recommend flipping them at half of the cooking time to distribute evenly the inner juice. In that way, the meat or fish will be juicer inside, and it will be beautifully browned on both sides.
But the reality is that flipping a steak repeatedly during cooking—as often as every 30 seconds or so—will produce a crust that is just as good (provided you start with meat with a good, dry surface, as you always should), give you a more evenly cooked interior, and cook in about 30% less time to boot!
Cooking steak in an air fryer will create extra flavor and a delicate texture to truly satisfy everyone in your family! Make this a scrumptious meal with a Caesar Salad, or Garlic Butter Green Beans and a Perfect Baked Potato or Homemade Sweet Potato Fries. Your friends and family are going to love this!
Preheat a 3.5-quart air fryer to 400 degrees F. Season the steak on both sides with a generous pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Place the steak in the center of the air fryer basket and cook until desired doneness, about 10 minutes for medium-rare, 12 minutes for medium and 14 minutes for medium-well.
Some experts believe that flipping a steak multiple times does not allow the internal meat to cook thoroughly, leaving it at an uneven temperature and cook. When you allow the steak to cook for a few minutes on one side before flipping it, the half that's closer to the pan gets time to cook, too.
After a total of around 5 minutes on the first side, flip the steaks over using your tongs (never pierce the steaks with a fork!). Rotate again. After another 2 or 3 minutes on the other side, again rotate the steaks 45 degrees to create our grill marks on the other side.
The method is basically “3-3-3-3.” That means: grill steak side 1 over direct heat for 3 minutes. grill steak side 2 over direct heat for 3 minutes. Flip steak and grill on side 1 over indirect heat for 3 minutes.
An air fryer is simply a small oven that runs on convection heat. The heat is circulated around a tight space by a powerful fan that lies just below or behind the heating element. Just as in a standard oven, it is perfectly safe to use aluminum foil in the air fryer.
As with all dry-heat cooker methods (grilling, broiling, pan frying and oven roasting), tender beef cuts perform best in the air fryer. Those cuts include Top Sirloin, KC Strip, Ribeye, Tenderloin and Tri Tip. Ground beef also can be easily prepared in an air fryer.