Air fryer party food: save time and money with our tips and recipes

Advice from an expert on the best party food to cook in your air fryer, with 5 recipes to try.

Ladies in the kitchen preparing air fryer food

Image credit: GettyImages/CandyRetriever

By Sam Milner | Published - 28 Nov 2024

Can you use an air fryer for party food?

It’s that time of year where many of us are planning parties or just want to fix ourselves some party foods.

You might already be using your air fryer every day for meals and snacks, or maybe you've already creative with your air fryer, but did you know it is also great for cooking party food?

There's less mess, it takes less cooking time than a conventional oven and can save you money with lower energy costs.

The party foods that are perfect in an air fryer

Pastry foods

These include vol au vents, sausage rolls, quiche, and even your grandma’s egg and bacon pie.

Sandwich fillings

We love to marinate some chicken in a curry marinade and then make Coronation chicken sandwiches.

You could also use the air fryer for some tuna melts or how about some egg mayonnaise.

Sweet treats

Think of your favourite little party sweet treats and most of them can be cooked in the air fryer.

You can make a Victoria sponge, a chocolate cake, oat biscuits, or some cute festive themed cupcakes.

Use the air fryer as a party food warmer

Did you buy some party food from the supermarket? Then note, you can reheat it in the air fryer and make it piping hot again.

160c/320f is the golden temperature for warming food up in the air fryer.

Tips when making party food in the air fryer

If you have just one air fryer and are making party food for a crowd, start the day before with the longest cooking party foods.
We love to make a quiche for our party and then chop it into party sized portions. You can make your quiche and any other pies the day before. Then they can be cool and ready to slice before you work your way through your other favourites.
Foil trays are amazing and save you time and mess. Quite often when using the air fryer for party food there are several batches to do. If you use foil trays you can avoid cleaning the air fryer in between and then keep the food in the foil trays until you need them.
Make a shopping list and a plan of what recipes to include a few days before. It takes the stress out of the party and then you can relax knowing that the ideas are taken care of and focus on making the party food closer to the time.
The air fryer doesn’t need a preheat. Therefore, if you are cooking one recipe after another after another, keep an eye out for the food getting overcooked. Check on it a couple of minutes early. Or put your air fryer outside for a couple of minutes to cool it down quicker in between recipes (more air fryer hacks here!).
If party food stresses you out and you want to make things that look amazing but aren’t difficult, then make jalapeno poppers (recipe below). They’re an old party favourite and, because they are small, you can do a good-sized batch at once in the air fryer.

5 party foods to air fry

These are our favourite party foods to cook in the air fryer. All the recipes are from our latest book Air Fryer Easy Everyday - 140 super-simple delicious recipes.

1. Cheese Impossible

You can mix and match ingredients and, when we make one over Christmas, we use it as an opportunity to have a clear out of the cheese from the cheese board that hasn’t been used yet.

A frittata is a quiche without any pastry, whereas an impossible quiche is a quiche with a fake pastry. You add flour to the quiche filling, then as the quiche cooks the flour drops to the bottom creating the structure of a pastry crust.

It’s called “impossible” because when you make it for the first time, your brain is saying “that is impossible”!

Cheese quiche done in the air fryer — Image credit: Dan Jones

Serves: 2

Air fryer type: basket

Prep: 8 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

5 large eggs
120ml/4fl oz/½ cup whole/full fat milk
2 spring onions/scallions
7 cherry tomatoes
85g/3oz/1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
2 tsp dried mixed herbs/Italian seasoning
2 tsp dried oregano
125g/4½oz/1 cup self-raising/ rising-flour
Salt and black pepper

Method

Crack the eggs into a mixing jug, pour in the milk and mix with a fork until combined.
Chop the spring onions into small chunks and halve the tomatoes. Add the spring onions, tomatoes, grated cheese and dried herbs to the jug, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Stir in the flour and mix again, making sure no flour is stuck at the bottom or down the sides.
Pour the mixture into a 20cm/8 inch loose-based pie tin – or a similar size that fits your air fryer. (We divide the mixture between two 10cm/4 inch pie tins in the dual air fryer). Carefully, as it will be full, transfer it to the air fryer.
Set the temperature to 180ºC/360ºF and cook for 20 minutes, then decrease the temperature to 160ºC/320ºF, cover with foil to avoid overbrowning on top, and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until a thermometer probe comes out clean. Allow it to sit in the air fryer basket to cool a little as the air fryer cools down, as then it’s easier to remove from the air fryer. Serve the quiche warm or cold.

2. Jalapeno Poppers

My favourite easy and fancy looking party food. Works perfectly with a lot of different party settings and you make ahead and store it in the fridge on your party plate.

Jalapeno popper done in the air fryer — Image credit: Dan Jones

Makes: 32

Air fryer type: basket/dual

Prep: 8 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp salted butter
16 jalapeño chillies
165g/5¾oz/¾ cup cream cheese
115g/4oz/1¼ cups grated mature/sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tsp garlic purée
1 spring onion/scallion, thinly sliced
4 tsp dried coriander/cilantro leaf
28g/1oz/½ cup panko breadcrumbs Salt and black pepper

Method

Put the butter in a ramekin and place the ramekin in the air fryer. Set the temperature to 120ºC/250ºF and air fry for 4 minutes, or until the butter is melted.
Slice the jalapeños lengthways and remove the seeds. Discard the seeds and wash your hands; there is nothing worse than touching your face, especially your eyes, after touching the spicy peppers.
Put the cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, garlic purée, spring onion, and half the dried coriander into a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well with a spoon. Spoon the mixture into the jalapeños.
In another bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, melted butter and the remaining coriander, and mix with a fork. Grab one filled jalapeño at a time and push it, cream cheese down, into the breadcrumbs. The breading will stick to the cheese filling to create a crust. Repeat for all the jalapeño halves until they all have a crust.
Carefully place the jalapeños into the air fryer basket/drawer, set the temperature to 180ºC/360ºF and cook for 8 minutes, or until crispy to your liking.

3. Greek Mezze

This is the genius, as you can scale this for a party and then have a Greek themed party. Increase the ingredients x 5 for enough food to feed 20.

Have a big bowl of Greek veg, a bigger Greek salad, lots of Greek meatballs, plenty of quickly air fried flatbreads cut into strips, a feta dip and plenty of hummus served with your air fryer chickpeas.

Greek mezze done in the air fryer — Image credit: Dan Jones

Serves: 4

Air fryer type: dual

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook time: 33 minutes

Ingredients

1 pot of shop-bought hummus
A few crispy chickpeas (drain, pat dry, season and cook at 200ºC/400ºF for 8 minutes in your air fryer)
Feta cheese and chive dip
2 flatbreads
Extra virgin olive oil spray

For the lamb meatballs

250g/9oz minced/ground lamb
¼ red onion, finely diced
1 tsp dried oregano, plus a sprinkling for the flatbreads
6 mint leaves, shredded
1 tsp garlic purée
2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
1 small egg

For the roasted vegetables

1 red (bell) pepper/capsicum
½ aubergine/eggplant
¼ courgette/zucchini
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and black pepper

For the Greek salad

85g/3oz/13 pitted mixed olives
¼ cucumber, sliced
¼ red onion, sliced
175g/6oz cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp shredded fresh basil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Method

Put all the meatball ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and mix well with your hands, then divide it into 8 equal portions and roll them into meatballs (these can be prepped up to 3 days ahead).
The day you want to serve your mezze, transfer the meatballs straight from the fridge into the air fryer basket/drawer. Set the temperature to 180ºC/360ºF and cook for 14 minutes.
As your meatballs air fry, prepare your roasted vegetables. Chop the peppers into thick strips and put them in a mixing bowl. Cut the aubergine and courgette into 2cm/¾ inch dice and add to the bowl. Add the olive oil, oregano and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, and mix with your hands.
When the air fryer beeps, remove the meatballs from the fryer. Tip the vegetables into the air fryer and, using the same temperature, cook for 15 minutes, or until the peppers look like they have been on the barbecue.
Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the Greek salad in a bowl and mix well.
Start building your mezze spread. Put the hummus in a small serving bowl and top with a few crispy chickpeas, then put the feta dip in another small bowl. Put the meatballs and the roasted vegetables each in their own bowl.
For a finishing touch, slice the flatbreads into 3cm/1¼ inch wide strips. Spray with olive oil, sprinkle with dried oregano and air fry at 200ºC/400ºF for 4 minutes. Add to the selection and serve.

4. Sausage Rolls

Sausage rolls are also a brilliant party food that everyone loves. Make a batch of our sausage rolls then chop into party sized ones and then they are ready for serving.

sausage rolls done in the air fryer — Image credit: Dan Jones

Makes: 4

Air fryer type: basket/dual

Prep: 8 minutes

Cook time: 13 minutes

Ingredients

Plain/all-purpose flour, for dusting
½ x 500g/1lb 2oz block of puff pastry (freeze the rest for another day)
1 tbsp tomato purée/paste
1 tsp dried thyme
325g/11½oz seasoned sausage meat (or remove the skin from pork sausages)
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Ketchup, to serve (optional)

Method

Dust a clean worktop and a rolling pin with flour. Roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle measuring 30 x 20cm/12 x 8 inches. Cut the rectangle in half lengthways to create two long pastry strips.
Spread a layer of tomato purée over the centre pastry strips (we find this is easiest to do with a pastry brush), leaving a 1cm/½ inch gap around the edges of each for the egg wash. Sprinkle the dried thyme over the purée.
Divide the sausage meat into two portions and roll each one out into a sausage shape 30cm/12 inches long. Place a sausage down the length of each pastry strip.
Brush egg wash around the bare edge of the dough, then fold the dough over to make a long sausage roll. Crimp down the edge of the log with a fork to seal it, then repeat to fold the other roll. Use a sharp knife to cut each sausage roll in half to make four large sausage rolls, then make a number of small slashes across the top of the rolls so that the steam can escape during cooking.
Carefully place the sausage rolls into the air fryer basket/drawer, spreading them out. I can normally fit four sausage rolls in a basket, or two in each dual drawer. Brush the tops of the rolls with egg wash. 06 Set the temperature to 180ºC/360ºF and cook for 10 minutes. Brush them with a little more egg wash, then cook for another 3 minutes, or until cooked through and golden. Serve warm or cold – they are delicious with ketchup.

5. Strawberry Shortbread Stacks

If you want something that would wow the guests then you must make these shortbread stacks. They are very easy to prep and air fry and don’t require much effort for you, for something that will have everyone talking about them.

strawberry shortcake stacks done in the air fryer — Image credit: Dan Jones

Serves: 6

Air fryer type: basket/dual

Ingredients

Plain/all-purpose flour, for dusting
225g/8oz fresh strawberries
Fresh mint sprigs, to decorate

Chantilly cream

240ml/8fl oz/1 cup double/ heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp icing/confectioners’ sugar, plus extra for dusting

Dough

240g/8¼oz/1¾ cups plain/all purpose flour
75g/3oz/6 tbsp granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
175g/6oz/¾ cup unsalted butter

Method

Put the flour, sugar and butter in a mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the fat into the flour, continuing until big lumps form, then use your hands to knead everything together, then lightly flour a worktop and press the dough out to form a sheet 5mm/¼ inch thick. Using a 7cm/2¾ inch cookie cutter, stamp out 12 rounds – you will need to gather up the offcuts and reroll to make all 12 rounds. Place 4 shortbread cookies into the air fryer basket, or if using the drawers of a dual add 3 to each drawer.
Set the temperature to 180ºC/360ºF and cook for 10 minutes until light golden. Allow to cool on a cooling rack while you cook the remaining shortbreads. Allow all the shortbreads to cool completely before moving on to the next step.
Put the cream into a mixing bowl and add the vanilla extract and icing sugar. Using an electric hand mixer, whip the cream to soft peaks. Slice the strawberries. Add a good spoonful of the chantilly cream to the top of six of the shortbread rounds, then top with some of the sliced strawberries. Add another shortbread on top of each stack and top it with more cream and strawberries. Add a sprig of mint to each to decorate, and dust the tops with icing sugar.

Those are just a few ideas to make your party food wow thanks to the air fryer.

Air Fryer Easy Everyday: 140 super-simple, delicious recipes (RRP £20 White Lion Publishing)

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Written by: Sam Milner

Sam Milner has been air frying for 12 years and with Dom Milner, is the co-author of three best-selling air fryer books, including their latest Air Fryer Easy Every Day: 140 super-simple delicious recipes (RRP: £20 White Lion Publishing). 
Their blog Recipethis.com was the first food blog dedicated to kitchen gadgets and is visited by more than a million people every month. 

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