You can bake cookies in your own air blowing? Absolutely. An air fryer bakes cookies just as well as a standard oven and usually much faster. With a few adjustments to baking time and pan selection, it's a straightforward process.
Here's what you need to know to successfully bake cookies in your fryer.
Can an air fryer cook all types of cookies?
Yes, almost any cookie recipe is suitable for your air fryer. The typical temperature range for pans is about 180°F to 400°F, which allows you to cook anything from buckram (200°F) to bake (375°F).
Given the possible limitations of the volume of the fryer, it may not be possible to bake long cookie logs or some cookies that require a mold (eg Madeleine). But slice-and-bake, spritz, CUTTING – and of course, throw away the cookies – everything will work fine in your air blower.
PJ Hamel
Which air fryer setting should I use for cookies?
Use your air fryer's “bake” setting. It will automatically set the temperature for you, usually 350°F. Select the desired temperature on the control panel if your recipe calls for a different temperature.
Additionally, using the “bake” setting knobs you turn the convection fan down a bit, making your air fryer more like a standard oven.
What if my pan doesn't have a broil setting?
Some older air fryer models don't offer a bake setting, but you can absolutely use the “air fry” setting to bake cookies. The main challenge will be baking the cookies all the way through before they get too brown; convection fans keep hot air constantly flowing over the top surface of the cookies, which causes them to brown faster than in a standard oven.
This can sometimes be a benefit: if you like your cookies crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the center, the “air-fried” setting is the way to go. Learn more: The air fryer is my new favorite way to make chocolate chip cookies.
Photography by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily
But if you're not going for a crispy/soft texture, here are a few things to try:
- If you are able to adjust the temperature of the pan, set it 25° lower than your recipe suggests.
- Place a piece of aluminum foil over the pan, anchoring it securely at both ends so that the convection fan does not remove it. Remove the nest about halfway through the baking time.
- Check cookies often! They will cook too quickly if they are particularly high in sugar or fat, like these Buttersnaps.
How to bake cookies?
If your chosen recipe says to chill the dough, do so; it will help keep the cookies from spreading too quickly and improve their flavor.
Once your dough is ready, decide what pan to use. A small cookie sheet or quarter sheet pan it is ideal if your fryer is large enough. If you have a basket type fryer, you will probably need one rounD OR square cake pan.
PJ Hamel
Arrange the cookies on whichever pan you've chosen while you preheat your pan to the desired temperature. This should only take 2 to 3 minutes or so, compared to your larger oven's 15 to 20 minutes (or more).
Do you really need to preheat your pan? Not necessarily, but preheating at any given temperature allows you to reduce baking time, reliably repeating your results in the future.
Place the cookie pan in the preheated pan. Start your timer and hang around; the cookies will bake quickly, and you'll want to check their progress often, especially when you're getting used to your pan.
So will the cookies cook faster in my fryer?
yes. Air blowers are simply small convection ovens. Full-size convection ovens bake about 20% faster than standard ovens; Your air fryer will bake cookies even faster.
Our tests show that small air fryers using the bake setting can bake cookies up to 40% faster than the recipe's time indicates, so be sure to start checking your cookies well in advance of the time your recipe suggests.
PJ Hamel
If your air fryer has a larger capacity than a typical bucket type fryer (eg our Breville Smart Oven® Fryer Air Pro), cookies will bake somewhat faster—about 20% in our tests—than in a standard oven. Start checking them a few minutes before the recipe's minimum baking time.
If you think the baking process is just too fast for you, try lowering the frying temperature by 25°; this will slow things down.
Should I rotate my pan in the air fryer like I do in a regular oven?
If your fryer is a basket type and only holds a small pan, it does not need to be rotated.
If your pan is a toaster oven type model, then yes, rotate your pan back and forth halfway. This will also promote baking and browning.
PJ Hamel
What else should I know about baking cookies in an air fryer?
If you're a fan of warm-from-the-oven cookies (and who isn't?), the griddle is your new best friend. Store pre-made cookie dough balls in the freezer and when the cookie craving strikes, pop a few frozen dough balls straight into the air fryer. You can have a chocolate chip cookie in less than 10 minutes!
Is there a downside to baking cookies in an air fryer?
Air heaters do not have the capacity of a range or wall oven. Basket or drawer type extractors, even very large models, offer an inside diameter of only about 10″ at most. Extractors shaped more like a conventional toaster oven usually hold the equivalent of a 9″ x 13″ (quarter sheet) pan.
The beater isn't the way to go if you're baking dozens of cookies at once. But for a smaller number of cookies (say, if you halve your prescription); or if you want to bake some cookies now and freeze some dough for later; or if you're just willing to bake your cookies in multiple batches, an air fryer works wonderfully.
Hungry for more? Read on Everything you ever wanted to know about air fryer.
Cover photo by Meredith Truax.
