How to Convert Any Oven Recipe for the Air Fryer (Without Guesswork)
By the Super Simple Digital Tools Team · Updated June 2026
Air fryers are essentially small, fast convection ovens, and that single fact explains every conversion you will ever make. A fan drives hot air around the food in a tight basket, so the surface heats and browns much more quickly than it would on a sheet pan in a large oven. If you simply copy the oven temperature and time, the outside often overcooks before the inside catches up. The fix is to dial both numbers back a little, and the converter does that math for you in one step.
The standard formula is to subtract 25°F from the oven temperature and shorten the cook time by roughly 20 percent. To apply it manually, take your oven temperature and drop it by 25, then take the oven minutes and multiply by 0.8. A casserole written for 375°F for 40 minutes lands near 350°F for 32 minutes. This works most reliably in the common 350–400°F band, where the majority of roasting and baking happens, and it gives you a sensible setting to test rather than a wild guess.
Preparation matters as much as the numbers. Preheat the air fryer for a few minutes so the food meets hot air immediately, and arrange everything in a single layer without crowding, because piled-up food blocks the airflow that makes the appliance work. A light mist of oil from a refillable sprayer helps most items brown, though naturally fatty foods like chicken wings need little or none. Avoid aerosol cooking sprays, which can damage the non-stick coating over time.
Not every recipe is a good candidate. Loose, wet batters such as tempura and beer-battered items tend to drip and never set, dishes swimming in marinade steam instead of browning, and very delicate bakes can dry out in the aggressive airflow. Large whole birds also cook unevenly in the confined space. Roasted vegetables, chicken pieces, fish fillets, meatballs, and anything you would normally deep-fry or bake on a tray usually translate beautifully with the standard adjustment.
Treat the converted figures as a starting point and let your eyes and a thermometer make the final call. Open the basket and check at the halfway mark, flip or shake as needed for even color, and add time in two- or three-minute steps rather than one long stretch. For meat, confirm a safe internal temperature, such as 165°F for poultry, before serving. Jot down the settings that worked the first time, and you will have your own reliable conversion ready for the next time you cook that dish.
- Start checking doneness at the halfway point of the converted time, then add minutes in short bursts so you never overshoot.
- Keep frozen packaged foods at the temperature printed on the box and only trim the time, shaking the basket midway for even crisping.
- Cook in a single uncrowded layer; if you have a lot of food, run two smaller batches rather than blocking the airflow.
- Use a refillable oil sprayer instead of aerosol spray to help browning while protecting the basket's non-stick surface.