Cooking times for popular air-frying foods revealed – and how much it costs to cook them

MOST of us will be looking for ways to cut our energy bills after prices rose 10% last month and are set to rise again in January.

Bills for millions of households increased in October after energy regulator Ofgem increased the maximum price suppliers can charge consumers for energy.

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Energy regulator Ofgem yesterday confirmed the new price cap, which comes into force on 1 January 2025.

The average dual fuel bill for those not on a fixed deal will rise from the current rate of £1,717 per year to £1,738.

As more households feel the pinch, many will be looking for ways to reduce their energy consumption and save precious pounds.

One way to do this is to cook in an air fryer rather than an oven.

These handy gadgets will help you save time in the kitchen and reduce your cooking costs.

Eliza Melville, energy expert at Uswitch, said: “Air fryers are ideal for cooking smaller portions of food as you don’t have to waste energy heating up a large oven.”

We’ve crunched the numbers to explain how long it takes to prepare popular supermarket dishes and how much it will cost you.

Iceland has provided us with a list of the ten most popular foods that can be cooked in the air fryer and how long they take to cook.

We then asked price comparison site Uswitch to calculate how much it would cost.

All figures were calculated using the current electricity price cap, which is 24.5 cents per kWh.

Cooking times are based on a 4-quart, 1400-watt fryer.

Some people have different rates, for example if they pay less at night, so the exact cost may vary slightly.

The amount you actually pay will depend on how often you use the appliance, as well as your make and model.

The most expensive foods to air fry

Our research shows that preparing one food item costs significantly more than preparing all other foods.

Half a packet of Icelandic BBQ chicken wings (£4) cooked for 18 minutes at 180 degrees.

The popular fryer dish costs 10.3p – twice as much as some other dishes.

Cooking this meal every week will cost you £5.36 for a year.

Meanwhile, a popular lunchtime treat was revealed to be the second most expensive dish cooked in an air fryer.

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Making just one Iceland Jumbo sausage roll (£1), which comes in a pack of two, will cost you 9.1p.

Baked goods are cooked for 15–17 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees in a deep fryer.

If you eat a sausage roll every week, it will add £4.73 to the cost of your bills over the course of the year.

Just behind the sausage roll was Icelandic battered fish fillet (£1), which cooks for 14 minutes at 180 degrees.

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Cooking two fillets in the fryer will require 8p more energy, just 1.1p less than cooking sausage rolls.

Eating this dish every Friday for a year will cost you £4.16.

Cheapest item to air fry

For comparison, preparing some of the dishes in our test costs just pennies.

Icelandic Potato Sticks (£1) are easy to make after a long day at work and cost just 4.6p to air fry.

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Half a sachet is cooked in just eight minutes at 200 degrees.

Plus, you only need to flip them once after four minutes to get them crispy and golden.

Eating them every week for a year will cost you just £2.39.

The Icelandic chicken selection was also a winner at the dinner.

A whole bag of chicken pieces (£1) cooks in just eight to ten minutes at 200 degrees.

They cost just 5.1p to cook in the air fryer and only need to be shaken once during cooking.

Southern Fried Chicken Popsters (£3.50) are also just 5.1p.

They take eight to ten minutes in an air fryer heated to 200 degrees.

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Making these meals every week for a year will cost you just £2.65.

Crispy Icelandic chicken strips (£4), thin and crispy fries (£2) and crispy breaded chicken strips (£4) all cost just 6.3p to make.

Food takes 10 to 12 minutes to cook and should be turned halfway through cooking.

Eating just one of these every week for a whole year will cost you £3.28.

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Meanwhile, six Icelandic pancakes cost 6.9p (£2) to make.

They cook at 200 degrees for 12 minutes and only need to be turned once during cooking.

Adding them to your weekly list will cost you just £3.59 for the year.

How to save money when using an air fryer

The capacity of your air fryer limits how much you can cook in it at one time and therefore how much money you can save.

If you’re feeding an entire family, you might want to consider purchasing a larger air fryer than if you’re just cooking for yourself.

Larger air fryers tend to cost more, but they will usually save you more money in the long run.

Elise Melville said air fryers use the same amount power like an oven, but they are cheaper to run because they cut the cooking time in half.

She said: “For example, a 1.4kW deep fryer will cost 17p to run for 30 minutes, while a 2kW oven to run for an hour will cost 49p.

“Ovens can be very useful and energy efficient when cooking for large gatherings that require the use of both shelves, such as at Christmas.”

You should also try not to open the fryer compartment any more than necessary to avoid heat leakage and energy loss.

Also consider how much you plan to cook before you get started.

Consumer Champion What? suggests that the amount of money you can save will decrease if you have to cook in batches.

“If you have a lot of cooking to do, it’s possible that you’ll have to batch cook since the air fryer doesn’t have as much space as a regular oven,” he recommends.

“So when cooking large quantities of food, the oven may be the most economical choice.”

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