“I was late to the air fryer game, but the second I finally used one, I knew it was a keeper.”
Lucy Lord’s admission feels familiar. The air fryer has spent the past few years hovering somewhere between cult object and kitchen cliché – beloved by some, dismissed by others. Lord, initially, fell into the latter camp. “I didn’t want another fad or gadget taking up precious counter space,” she writes. It takes only one go to shift that thinking. “That’s when I fell in love, hard and fast.”
From there, the shift is less about novelty and more about how people actually cook now. “Since then, my oven’s had a lot of time off,” she says. Not because it’s redundant, but because “for everyday cooking, the air fryer nearly always wins.” It is quicker, yes, but also more adaptable – a way of getting something good on the table without the usual friction.
Part of the problem is the name. “Think of it less as a fryer and more as a compact, powerful mini oven,” Lord writes, a line that quietly reframes the whole category. Once you start thinking of it that way, its appeal broadens. “It also bakes, roasts, reheats and creates meals that are nourishing, wholesome and delicious.” In other words, it’s not just about chips.
Her new book, Love Your Air Fryer, leans into that idea. Built around what she calls “simple, delicious and supportive” cooking, it moves deliberately beyond the beige stereotype – the freezer food, the nuggets, the assumption that speed comes at the expense of anything else. Instead, the recipes are designed for real life: quick, often high-protein, and scaled for one or two people, with an emphasis on meals you might actually want to eat midweek, not just when you can’t be bothered to cook.
That means crispy-skinned fish with fresh salsas, nourishing bowls and meal-prep staples sitting alongside the expected comfort hits. There’s small-batch baking, too – cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls – the kind of thing that makes the air fryer feel less like a shortcut and more like a genuinely useful tool. As Lord puts it, “Suddenly it wasn’t just about quick wedges, it was about small-batch baking… and even brunch dishes that felt weekend-worthy but took half the time.”
That shift – away from beige convenience and towards something more useful – is what these recipes are really about. A plate of crispy chilli beef leans into the fakeaway instinct, all glossy sauce and crisp edges, ready in minutes and sharper than anything arriving in a takeaway bag. Cornflake chicken strips follow, crunchy and salty with a sweet-spicy hit of hot honey, the kind of thing that feels indulgent without the effort or oil of deep frying. And then, almost unexpectedly, there are chocolate-chip cookies: soft in the middle, crisp at the edges, baked in small batches that make sense for real life.
“I’m convinced that once you see what an air fryer can do outside of perfect sweet potato fries… that you’ll fall for it too,” Lord writes. It’s less a sales pitch than a quiet observation. Because what the air fryer offers, at its best, isn’t novelty – it’s ease. Or, as she puts it, “Good food should add to your life, not take away from it, and the air fryer makes that possible.”
Crispy chilli beef
Golden strips of air-fried crispy beef coated in a glossy, sweet-savoury chilli sauce, this is “fakeaway” at its finest. Quick, satisfying and surprisingly easy to make at home. Serve over noodles, tuck into lettuce cups or spoon onto fluffy rice.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 8 minutes | Cook time: 12 minutes
Ingredients:
250g (9oz) thin-cut rump or sirloin steak
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1 tsp olive oil or spray
For the sauce:
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 red chilli, finely sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil
To serve:
Egg noodles
Spring onions, sliced
Red chillies, sliced (optional)
Toasted sesame seeds
Method:
1. Pat the steak dry with kitchen paper to remove any excess moisture, then slice into thin strips.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the cornflour, five spice and a pinch of salt. Toss the beef strips in the mixture until fully coated. Drizzle with a teaspoon of oil or lightly spray.
3. Spray or grease the air fryer basket lightly with oil, to prevent sticking, then add the beef strips in a single layer. Air fry at 200C (400F) for 12 minutes, shaking halfway through, until crisp and browned at the edges.
4. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sauté the garlic, ginger and chilli for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Stir in the soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, vinegar, ketchup, honey and sesame oil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened.
5. Once the beef is ready, add it to the pan with the sauce and toss to coat. Serve over egg noodles, topped with spring onions, chilli and sesame seeds.
Notes: Best enjoyed fresh for crispiness, but leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in the air fryer to revive the crispy texture.
Cornflake chicken strips with hot honey
Crispy and salty with a sweet-spicy kick. Perfect for piling onto a sharing platter with fries, wedges and your favourite dips, or an easy side dish with salads.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
60g (2oz) cornflakes
15g (½oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp salt
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
1 egg
400g (14oz) chicken breasts, cut into strips
Olive oil spray
Hot honey
Method:
1. Blitz the cornflakes, Parmesan, salt and spices in a blender until you have a fine crumb, then tip into a shallow bowl.
2. Whisk the egg in a separate bowl.
3. Dip each chicken strip into the egg, then press into the crumb mixture until coated all over.
4. Arrange in the air fryer basket, spray lightly with olive oil and cook at 200C (400F) for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through, until golden and crisp.
5. Drizzle with hot honey to serve.
Notes: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the air fryer at 180C (350F) for 4 minutes to bring back the crispness.
Chocolate-chip cookies
These bakery-style cookies come out soft in the middle with crisp edges and pools of melting chocolate. Perfect warm with a coffee, or for smaller batch bakes, make the dough and freeze half for later, ready to bake from frozen in under 10 minutes.
Makes: 18 cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes chilling | Cook time: 6 minutes
Ingredients:
110g (4oz) butter, softened
120g (4oz) soft light brown sugar
30g (1oz) caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g (7oz) plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
180g (6½oz) chocolate chips
Method:
1. Cream the softened butter with both sugars in a mixing bowl until pale, creamy and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again until smooth.
3. Stir in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt until just combined, then fold through the chocolate chips.
4. Cover the bowl loosely with cling film and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5. Line the air fryer tray or basket with baking paper.
6. Once chilled, scoop the dough into roughly 40g (1½oz) balls and roll gently between your hands. Depending on your air fryer size, space two to four cookies in the basket, leaving room between them to spread.
7. Air fry at 160C (320F) for 6 minutes, or until golden around the edges and soft in the middle.
8. Let the cookies rest in the air fryer for a few minutes – they’ll continue to cook and firm up slightly.
9. Once cool enough to handle, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely or enjoy warm.
Notes: To make gluten-free, use GF flour. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Reheat in the air fryer at 160C (320F) for 2 minutes to bring back that gooey centre and crispy edge. Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Bake from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the bake time.
‘Love Your Air Fryer’ by Lucy Lord (Yellow Kite).
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