Creating A Zero-Waste Kitchen With the Ninja Air Fryer | AD

In this paid-for content, learn how you create delicious meals, dehydrate food, use kitchen leftovers in creative ways, and heat up leftovers in the Ninja Air Fryer.

Did you know that the UN estimates that global food waste from households, retail establishments, and the food service industry totalled 931 million tonnes in 2019? It would be easy to say that the bulk of this waste is caused by food retailers and the food service industry. However, it’s eye-watering when you find out that in the UK a whopping 70% of our food waste comes from householders.

I’m really keen to reduce my food waste. So when the Very Electrical Shop got in touch and asked me if I wanted to try a Ninja Air Fryer from their extensive range to see if I could help reduce my food waste further, I was keen to give it a go.

What Is A Ninja Air Fryer?

You might be wondering what an air fryer is. Well, the Ninja Air Fryer is an electrical kitchen appliance that uses heat and air to cook food. This creates a crisp exterior on foods like chips or roast potatoes. And because the hot air technology does all the crisping, you add hardly any fatty oil, yet you still get an almost deep-fried finish. In fact, the Ninja Air Fryer uses 75% less fat than traditional frying methods, making it a much healthier choice than deep fat frying.

As well as being a healthier choice, what’s to love even more is that the Ninja Air Fryer is up to 75% faster at cooking food, compared to a fan oven. What’s more, there is no pre-heating required, making it perfect for quick dinners or snacks.

Whilst you can get different models, we opted for the Ninja Foodie Dual Zone. This offers 6 different ways to cook your food – being able to choose between Max Crisp, Roast, Bake, Reheat, Dehydrate, and Air Fry. What’s more, with 2 independent cooking zones, you can mix and match the cooking programmes, times, and temperatures across both drawers. This allows you to create delicious meals in minutes.

Cleverly, you can use the sync function to cook different foods in each drawer, with both being ready to serve at the same time. It’s kitchen wizardry at its finest!

We’ve been using our Ninja Air Fryer over the last month to cook a variety of meals. We’ve discovered that tofu cooked in the air fryer, using the air fry setting, is phenomenal. So crispy and delicious. And roast potatoes? Using the roast setting, they are simply the best. So crispy on the outside, but so buttery soft in the middle.

Using the Ninja Air Fryer to Cut Your Food Waste

However, as well as cooking meals, I’ve also been using the Ninja Air Fryer to help cut our food waste. Some kale leftover from making a stew? Instead of lingering in the fridge until it goes slimy, instead, I’ve been popping the leftover kale in the air fryer with some seasoning to make some delicious kale crisps, This takes about 4 minutes flat – no pre-heating required. I used this recipe from A Beautiful Mess and will be using it again and again.

I’ve also tried using leftover chickpeas to make roast chickpeas. This is a really tasty and healthy snack that comes together in minutes. Once roasted, the chickpeas can apparently last for about two weeks, but they don’t seem to last that long in our house!

Next on my to-make list is this zero waste crisps recipe, which I think will work even better in the air fryer than in the oven.

The air fryer has definitely made us get creative with our leftovers, without any real effort. I also feel it’s encouraging us to make healthier snacking choices, which is always a good thing.

Something else I’m excited about is the Ninja Air Fryer’s dehydrate function. I’ve always wanted a dehydrator. However, with a tiny galley kitchen, I could never justify giving up precious countertop space to house one. Having a multi-purpose device, that can be used in many different ways means I can justify devoting space in my kitchen, and get to dehydrate fruit. Whilst I haven’t used that particular function yet, come summer you’ll find me dehydrating all the strawberries and soft berries to preserve them for another day.

Using the Ninja to Reheat Leftovers

I have also found that the Ninja Air Fryer is far superior to using an oven or a microwave to reheat leftovers. As I mentioned, unlike an oven, there is no warming up period. Simply pop your leftovers in the air fryer, select the reheat function, and reheated and perfectly crispy food is ready in minutes.

At Christmas, we prepared our roast potatoes perfectly in the air fryer. Despite our best efforts in portion control, we cooked too many. Popping the leftover roast potatoes in the Ninja Air Fryer meant we had the best tasting leftover roast potatoes ever come Boxing Day! They were perfectly crisp, like they had just been cooked. Not a soggy potato in sight. I’ve also recently learned you can even reheat pizza in the Ninja Air Fryer, and even warm baked goods. Amazing!

I’m not normally bowled over by a kitchen appliance. However, the Ninja Air Fryer has made it so easy to create delicious meals quickly and easily. It’s also really helping us to reduce our food waste further, in such a quick and easy way, that it’s definitely found a permanent spot on our kitchen counter.