I would love to tell you that everything here at the Minda’s Cooking kitchen is made from scratch and totally home cooked. But the truth is, like a lot of busy folks, I rely on a fair amount of prepared food. My husband and I have always resisted the urge to buy a deep fryer because I feel like we’d exist solely on deep fried mozzarella sticks and fries and gain massive amounts of weight. However, when air fryers began to become popular, we were both intrigued.
A few months back, we bought the NuWave Brio Air Fryer. It was somewhat on a whim and I really knew very little about them aside from an enthusiastic conversation with a cashier at Kroger. It turns out that this is definitely one of the best kitchen gadgets that I’ve ever owned.
My son loves Tyson Chicken Nuggets and eats them several times a week. I hate microwaved nuggets-too soggy-so I always prepare them in the oven for him. This required pre-heating the oven then baking time. Plus, to get an even crunch, you needed to flip the nuggets halfway. And now that he’s 4 going on 15, by the time I get seated at the table, he’s ready for more which means starting the process over again.
With the NuWave, pre-heat time is about 5 minutes and nuggets are done in 8 minutes. Not only that, the nuggets have the crunchy texture of a fried nugget without any added oil or fat. Amazing, huh?
Other favorites that we’ve tried are: French fries, tater tots, hash brown patties, breaded chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, and onion rings. I’ve even done mini frozen pizzas.
So is it only good for junk food? The answer is absolutely not! I’ve also made chicken breast in my air fryer which turns out wonderfully tender and browns nicely. The recipe booklet that came with the fryer has lots of great looking things in it-everything from meatloaf to wings to fresh tortilla chips; I just haven’t tried any of them yet.
I have however tried a couple of egg roll recipes. I love egg rolls but I’d always been super intimidated to try to make them homemade. But thanks to a couple of recipes from www.theskinnyishdish.com and www.skinnytaste.com I got my nerve up and tried a couple of egg roll recipes. They were delicious!
I use my fryer most days and I tell my husband often that this was one of his better ideas. If you are looking to save some time in the kitchen, I’d highly recommend checking it out!
As you can see below, I’ve already worn the lettering off mine in a very short time!
