How To Cook Frozen Roast Potatoes In The Air Fryer
Have you ever wondered if you can cook frozen roast potatoes in the air fryer?
Well, the good news is that you can Air Fry frozen roast potatoes and this post tells you need to know, including some handy hints and tips.
Can You Cook Frozen Roast Potatoes In The Air Fryer?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with cooking frozen roast potatoes in the air fryer.
In fact, you might even find that it’s both quicker and cheaper to cook them in the air fryer.
Plus, it’s a perfect solution if your oven is out of action for some reason, or you’re cooking for a crowd, perhaps at Christmas.
You might even find your frozen roast potatoes have air fryer instructions included on the back of the packet, along with the directions for oven cooking.
Some things to mention before we get started:
Appliances Vary – I’ve included the air fryer settings I used in this post, but appliances do vary and you may find you need to adjust your settings slightly.
Timings Are Approximate – As with above, I’ve listed the timings that work for me, but you might find you need a little more or a little less time.
Brands Can Vary – I’m a bargain-focused gal who loves Lidl, so that’s where my frozen roast potatoes were purchased. If you’re using a different brand you might find the colour or shape of the potatoes is slightly different from the ones pictured here.
Overall, you can’t go too far wrong when air-frying frozen roast potatoes, so there is no need to worry if yours take a little longer than expected to cook.
How To Cook Frozen Roast Potatoes In The Air Fryer
Here’s how to cook frozen roast potatoes in the air fryer:
- Place your frozen roast potatoes in the air fryer basket (or baskets if you’re using a double air fryer) being careful not to overload. As you can see below, mine were touching but not piled up high. You could also add some oil at this stage if you wanted to.
Frozen roast potatoes ready to be air-fried - Cook the frozen roasties at 200°C for around twenty minutes, giving the basket a shake halfway through the cooking time (see image below)
Frozen roast potatoes halfway through air fryer cooking time - The potatoes should be golden in colour once cooked and piping hot all the way through.
Top Tip: If the potatoes vary in size, some of the smaller potatoes may need to be removed from the air fryer a little sooner to avoid them becoming burnt.
The air fryer instructions on my particular bag of frozen roast potatoes recommended placing the roasties in the air fryer so that they weren’t touching each other.
I decided to ignore this, as this would mean cooking about five frozen roasties at a time, which doesn’t save any cooking time whatsoever and would mean I’d need to do about ten batches to cook a whole 1kg bag!
That said, you do need to be careful not to overfill your air fryer basket.
I found I was able to cook around half a bag (500 grams) at a time, and the potatoes still cooked fairly evenly.
The cooking time was around twenty minutes and I gave the potatoes a good shake halfway through to ensure consistent colouring.
Here’s how they turned out:
Can I Cook Aunt Bessie’s Frozen Roast Potatoes In The Air Fryer?
Yes, you can cook any type of frozen roast potato in the air fryer, including Aunt Bessie’s.
Think of your air fryer as a mini version of an oven – most frozen foods that can be cooked in a regular gas or electric oven can also be cooked in the air fryer.
Typically I’m cooking on a budget, which is why opted for own brand frozen roast potatoes for this post.
Do I Need To Add Oil To Frozen Roast Potatoes?
Adding oil to your frozen roast potatoes is completely optional.
You might find that the potatoes already have an oil coating on them or you could add some oil before cooking for an extra crispy finish.
Is It Quicker To Cook Frozen Roast Potatoes In The Air Fryer?
Typically, it does take less time to cook frozen roast potatoes in the air fryer, as an air fryer heats up more quickly than a conventional oven.
However, the air fryers’ small size means that you can only cook a small amount of frozen roast potatoes at a time.
Perfect if you’re cooking for one person, not so great if you’re cooking for ten!
How Long Does It Take To Cook Frozen Roast Potatoes In An Air Fryer?
Answer: 15-20 minutes at 200°C
I cooked my frozen roast potatoes for exactly twenty minutes, giving them a quick shake after ten minutes.
However, I did not pre-heat my air fryer and doing this may reduce your cooking time by five to eight minutes.
As I mentioned at the start of this post, there are many brand of air fryer and appliances can vary when it comes to cooking times, so if you need to cook your frozen roast potatoes for a bit longer, there’s no need to worry,
Is It Cheaper To Cook Frozen Roast Potatoes In The Airfryer?
Yes, if you’re cooking a 1kg bag or less of frozen roast potatoes, the air fryer takes less cooking than the oven, meaning you’ll save on electricity.
Should I Preheat My Air Fryer Before Using it?
The instructions on the back of the packet of frozen roast potatoes recommended pre-heating the air fryer before use.
This isn’t something I usually do, so I didn’t on this occasion either.
However, I think it does affect the cooking time slightly, so if you preheat the potatoes might take slightly less time to cook, but your air fryer will have been switched on the same amount of time overall.
Tips For Cooking Roast Potatoes In The Air Fryer
Finally, here are my top tips for cooking roast potatoes in the air fryer.
Don’t Overlaod The Basket – Overloading your air fryer basket means that the roast potatoes won’t cook evenly and could take much longer to cook too.
Coatings – Some roast potatoes have an oil coating, if your air fryer basket doesn’t have holes, you might some of this at the bottom of the basket when cooking.
Checking The Frozen Potatoes Are Cooked – There are a couple of ways to do this, you could simply slice the largest potato open to check or use a food thermometer.
Cooking frozen roast potatoes in the air fryer is the perfect way to cook them especially if you’re cooking for just one or two people.
Did you know you can also cook frozen mini sausage rolls in the air fryer?
