Cooking frozen foods in the air fryer has become a massive hit with busy city-goers. Frozen food is generally termed as food items that are well preserved under certain temperatures. They can be used over a considerable stretch of time. Here are some reasons why you should use air fryers and the best frozen foods to cook inside it!
The product market covers an array of different food categories, such as soup, fruits & vegetables, ready meals, meat, varied poultry products, desserts, bakery items, and many more. Business consumers including hotels, caterers, brasseries, and fast food hawsers come under the major users of frozen food items that take in both non-veg and veg products. On the other hand, mini cottage tart, reeked haddock kedgeree, cheddar & broccoli roast, chicken quiches, etc. are some of the best frozen foods which are air fried in busy households across the world.
In the last decade, there’s been a growing inclination toward air fryers among individuals, owing to a rise in awareness of consuming healthy food items and persisting demand for fried foods at the same time. In the United States, people tend to consume potatoes more than any other vegetables, with almost fifty percent of the total cropping up from the frozen produces, such as French fries. Manufacturers of air fryers promote this cooking equipment as a way to relishing over fried foods without the unfavorable health effects of oil-fried items.
This post is going to shed some light on the health benefits of plumping for air fryers and compare the method with other cooking procedures.
Deep Fry or Air Fry?
There is no doubt that deep-fried foods happen to hold a lot more fat than food products prepared in other ways. For an instance, around a hundred grams of the fried chicken bottle up more than thirteen grams of fat, when the oven-roasted type of the same amount comprises just 0.39 grams of fat. The fact that air fryers call for just a snippet of the oil that deep fryers require, individuals can have a more nourishing, salubrious, and wholesome meal with similar textures and flavors.
This is undoubtedly highly desirable, as dropping oil intake can be highly advantageous for the wellbeing of an individual. Doctors and medical experts have associated consumption of empty fat from vegetable oil with several untoward health conditions, including higher risks for inflammation and heart diseases.
Now, this is pretty much guaranteed that air-fried food is healthier than that of the ones cooked in red hot oil. However, there are many other cooking appliances coming with the ability to offer healthy, delectable foods. But then, they certainly do not provide the browned crispy consistency that air fryers offer.
How Much Oil To Use?
Now, the question remains, how exactly air fryers tend to work. The equipment operates by passing on hot air around a food item to form the same freshness or moistness as in conventional fried foods. Air fryers achieve the target by confiscating high-calorie oils from the cooking procedure. Utilizing just one spoon of cooking oil rather than numerous cups, similar results can be produced. Isn’t it a win-win situation?
Air fryers utilize heated air that holds fine oil droplets to take the moistness out of the nutriments. The end result is an outcome that has similar properties to fried foods, though with considerably lower planes of fat. Here, it’s worth mentioning that just like many other cooking procedures, air-frying elicits a chemical response, namely the Maillard effect, that enhances the flavor and color of air-fried food.
Benefits
When used appropriately, air fryers do provide a plethora of benefits. The benefits of using air fryers are as followed.
- Using air fryers can stimulate weight loss. Too much consumption of fried foods invites the risk of obesity. This is because deep-fried foods are often high in calories and empty fat. Swapping deep-fried foods with the air-fried ones gives way to reduced intake of harmful oils, thus aiding in weight loss.
- Air fryers are definitely a safer choice than deep fryers. Deep-frying foods generally implicate heating up a large pan full of piping hot oil. This certainly poses a safety risk. On the contrary, air fryers do get hot. However, there is no risk of dripping, leaking, or mistakenly touching the red hot oil.
- Air fryers plummet the formation of toxic acrylamide. Frying food items cooked directly in oil can develop dangerous composites to form, such as acrylamide. Cooking in air fryers, on the other hand, eliminates this risk altogether. Several types of research and studies suggest that acrylamide may have certain associations in developing cancer. These include some breast, esophageal, ovarian, and endometrial cancer. By opting for air fryers, individuals can pare down the risk of having acrylamide on their plate.
- Most importantly, in a nutshell, hacking down on deep-fried foods lessens the risk of developing several diseases. Preparing foods with excessive oil and consuming conventional fried foods has got direct associations with numerous unfavorable health conditions. Replacing deep frying with other healthy cooking approaches can bring down the risk factors for an individual toward these difficulties.
Best Frozen Foods For Air Fryer
- Chicken Wings
- Steak
- Salmon
- Korean Corn Dog
- Chicken Nuggets
- Pizza Rolls
- Spring Rolls
- Puff pastry bites
- Mozzarella sticks
- Fish Sticks
- Sausages
- Dumplings
- Hash Browns
- Potato Skins
- Pizza Bagels
- Mini Quiche
- Meatballs
- French Fries
- Veggie Patties
These can all be cooked in the air fryer in under 15 minutes and below 200C.
According to Allied Market Research, the global frozen food market was estimated at $291.8 billion in 2019 and is expected to hit $404.8 billion by the end of 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.2% from 2020 to 2027. Frozen seafood and meat come out as the most commonly used grocery articles in regions such as North America and Europe. Europe, often known for presenting the largest market for desserts and bakery items, has got an evolving stance for frozen foods. And, the market manifested a sturdy growth pace in the last few years.
At the same time, there’s been a steep hike in the rate of women employment. A significant rise in the number of employed women led the way to grow difficulties for them to prepare meals at home, resulting in wolfing down frozen ready meals. As per the study conducted by the United States Department of Labor, the female employment rate in the United States in the year 2019 was around forty-six percent, when in South Africa, it was about forty-five percent, and in China, the count was nearly forty-four percent. These factors have driven the market growth in more than one way.