We put air fryer recipes from Jamie Oliver's new series to the test (2024)

Let’s be honest, it was only a matter of time before king of the TV kitchen Jamie Oliver got on board with the air fryer craze.

Unlike any that have come before, air fryers have seemed to stay top of the list of must-have kitchen gadgets for some time now.

Most of us are likely pretty good at air fryer cooking these days, making use of the many recipe books that have been published, not to mention tonnes of TV segments and literally millions of hacks broadcast across TikTok and Instagram.

Their popularity means it’s perhaps not unsurprising that Jamie Oliver failed to impress with his new series about cooking with air fryers.

From the list of ingredients and associated cost, to his techniques that don’t seem to allow for having to clean your own air fryer, plus the clear product placement, reviews of the first episodes of Oliver’s episodes - in which he promised to show that air fryers are about 'so much more than nuggets and chips' - were scathing.

An air fryer fan myself (Icooked a whole Christmas Party in one once just to see if I could), I’m always up for a few new recipes, so decided to try some of Oliver’s creations myself and see how easy they are.

A quick look through the collection (which you have to sign up for to gain access to some of the recipes, and swerve the many Tefal adverts along the way - one of the sources of criticism of the new series) and there’s a nice enough selection, from a strange-sounding ‘gnarly pork and pineapple noodles’ to ‘Kerala-style roast chicken’ and ‘Prosciutto baked fish’ which sadly looks slightly unappealing thanks to the image.

I opt to try a selection. Air fryer barbecue chicken thighs, because who doesn’t love barbecue chicken. Salmon with crispy potatoes, because it’s more like a ‘proper meal’ than some of the other recipes on there.

Then a few baked goods - air fryer oat cookies, and cheese and chive scones - as I’m still not quite sold on the idea of baking in an air fryer, so maybe Jamie Oliver will be the one to convince me.

Predictably, the ingredients lists require a trip to the local Co-op with the hope they’ll have everything I need.

To be fair to Oliver, the list isn’t too far out of the ordinary and is fairly bog standard, though I might have helped him out with my recipe choice.

Herbs is where I’m let down, but I decide I can make do, and commit to my cheese scones being chive-less - but hopefully still tasty.

The shop for the main ingredients for the four recipes - bearing in mind I’ve got a few staples like flour and other spices in my store cupboard already - comes to just over £20.

It doesn’t seem unreasonable for two meals for two, plus endless baked goods that will see us through a couple of days of snacking (unless they’re awful of course), compared to some ingredients lists.

But given the fact food bills are still problematic for many people, hence so many of us turning to air fryers as a cost-saving option, forking out £20 for essentially four meals and some treats may be seen as a step too far compared to some of the other air fryer and one-pot options out there.

Barbecue chicken thighs

I start with the chicken, figuring that cooking salmon first will mean I definitely have to wash the air fryer between recipes, whereas this way round I can probably cook it afterwards.

The recipe is easy enough - essentially coating chicken thighs in a barbecue rub along with breadcrumbs, which I make thanks to a rogue piece of bread from the back of the freezer, then air fried, with corn on the cob added on top after the chicken’s had a head start.

The corn comes out nice and golden (thanks to a liberal spray of olive oil spray on my part) and while some of the chicken does, some breadcrumbs still look a bit anaemic at the end of the cooking time.

I’d love to trust Jamie Oliver, but instead I choose to trust my temperature probe and it confirms that yes, the thighs are indeed cooked.

I serve it all with a pot of barbecue sauce, because I can’t be bothered with Jamie’s suggested ‘crunchy slaw’, and to be fair it looks pretty good.

As appealing as a golden, crispy pile of fried chicken? Maybe not, but we knew that wouldn’t be the case.

It’s a crowd-pleaser, though, and one you could easily serve up for friends. But is it doing anything we haven’t been doing with chicken in air fryers for a few years now? Not really.

Annoyingly, though, my air fryer is now full of breadcrumbs so my plan to be able to re-use it without washing it is ruined. Off I head to the sink.

Salmon with crispy potatoes

Next up is salmon. Another simple one, that really isn’t testing either my air fryer or my own cooking abilities.

Sliced new potatoes, tossed in olive oil and seasoning then air fried with some thyme.

Except I don’t have thyme so I chuck a bit of rosemary in instead. The salmon sits on top after being tossed in more olive oil and seasoning along with the asparagus, plus a few chunks of lemon.

Again, it’s tasty and a nice easy meal. But did I need a much-hyped recipe from Jamie Oliver to make it? Probably not.

Air fryer oat cookies

The baked treats are perhaps more of a reason to consult recipes for. I’m no baker, and certainly haven’t ever bothered trying in my air fryer, but I can see why the oat and sultana cookies appeal.

They’re not too complicated in terms of ingredients, though I’m not sure they’d win any healthy eating awards thanks to the volume of sugar and golden syrup in them - but these are air fryer recipes, not virtuous health-driven ones.

The method is easy enough. Melt butter and golden syrup, add to a bowl full of oats, flour, sugar, lemon zest and some cinnamon and bicarb plus the sultanas, then mix together into a dough and divide into balls ready to cook.

It’s actually no different to normal cookie making - you’re simply swapping the cooking method from oven to air fryer.

Although frustratingly, the fact that 15 cookies need to be done in batches means it takes three goes of 15-minute cooking sessions to get them done, and lots of swapping and changing, which leaves me wondering if it would have been easier to just bake conventional cookies in the oven.

Not to mention the fact that some have stuck to the air fryer basket which means yet more cleaning, so on batches numbers two and three I have to keep a closer eye and try to make sure it doesn’t happen.

A spray of oil helps, too, I find. Despite what feels like a bit of a faff, I’ll admit the house smells lovely thanks to the hints of cinnamon and general home baking loveliness.

They get the taste test seal of approval from my husband, who praises the crunch on the outside and softness inside, though I’m not sure if that's down to Jamie Oliver’s genius or just a tried-and-tested cookie recipe that he’s adopted.

Cheese and chive scones

The scones are again essentially a conventional recipe, just using an air fryer.

Flour and butter, along with some mustard powder and cayenne pepper, gets rubbed into breadcrumbs, then grated cheese added.

I couldn't find chives, so I’ve turned Jamie’s ‘Cheese and Chive scones’ into bog standard cheese versions but I’m sure he won’t mind. I mean, he doesn’t even suggest using a scone cutter.

Instead, we’re advised to cut into ‘triangular’ wedges, so I’m sure he’ll applaud my similar laissez-faire attitude.

Once brushed with milk and topped with more cheese and cayenne pepper, in they go, emerging after 12 minutes rather beautifully and as promised - in his words, 'crispy and golden but also fluffy inside'.

I’m amused to find that the final five steps of this 12-step recipe is actually nothing to do with scones, but is a very detailed method to making a salad to go with them. I ditch this - because who eats scones with a salad - but I do make his ‘lemony cream cheese’ which is a nice addition.

Of all the recipes, this is the one I’d do again, and maybe even follow his jolly advice to 'give a sweet version a whirl'.

Final verdict

Feast prepared, I’m not quite as annoyed as some of the people commenting on Jamie Oliver’s latest contribution to the UK’s culinary scene. Just underwhelmed.

We’ve all long agreed that an air fryer is hugely versatile, thanks to the fact it’s essentially a small convection oven, so of course some recipes can be basically the same as the originals, just cooked in this much-loved gadget instead of our traditional ovens. This collection of recipes are good enough.

They all work, taste pretty good, and aren’t too difficult to knock up, even though some really would be easier to do in an oven, unless you can maybe have three air fryers on the go at the same time to get the space you’d need to do multiple things at the same time.

But more importantly, in a world where chefs, influencers, and all sorts of other people have been doing weird and wonderful things with air fryers, Jamie’s recipes just feel a bit basic and, quite frankly, a bit last season when it comes to air fryer experimentation.

I suppose we can’t blame him for wanting to jump on the bandwagon, especially if it’s going to earn him a bit of money and get him on the telly. But the problem is, he’s just a bit late to the party….