Can You Make Pasta In An Air Fryer?

The short answer is yes, you definitely can use your air fryer to cook pasta. While it's true that some methods are better left unchanged, all those injunctions dissolve in the convenience of a good air fryer. A convection oven that uses fans to circulate heat into a contained space, the air fryer provides a much different way of making pasta than the traditional route of boiling macaroni noodles in a sauce pan.

Perhaps the most important ingredient is H2O. You need to make sure you pour enough water into the fryer basket to submerge your pasta while it cooks. Mix in some tomato sauce and wrap your pasta in a cooking dish with another layer of foil across the top. That packs it in and creates the proper boiling environment for the liquid to cook your raw pasta as it simmers. 

Air fryers tend to crisp foods, so you might have to cook at a lower temp to keep your pasta from hardening up and becoming too crunchy. That means it could take longer than the traditional method of boiling pasta on a stovetop. For instance, it generally takes 8 to 12 minutes for fusilli to soften in boiling water. But cooking the pasta at 180 degrees Fahrenheit in an air fryer can take about 20 minutes. The tradeoff is convenience. You can make full-blown pasta casseroles in a single baking dish with no need to cook the other ingredients separately from your pasta by implementing the air fryer.

While there is a school of thought that says the air fryer shouldn't be used for cooking pasta, that rule's not set in stone. Pasta recipes that incorporate air fryers tend to use the kitchen appliance for a finishing effect after the penne noodles have been pre-cooked, either in the oven, a pasta maker, on the stovetop, or by some other, more conventional method. Whether it's a full cook or the hybrid route, the key is to avoid overcooking your pasta shells by letting them dry out. You should also stir in some olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking together.

Making pasta in the air fryer is a lot like baking it in the oven, just with a much toastier texture in the end (as it does with these crunchy deviled eggs). You can even make crunchy pasta chips with it. Boil a large pot of salted water on the stovetop and toss in 2 cups of farfalle, better known as bowtie pasta. Cook until the shells are tender, yet firm to the bite, drain the water, and then preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees. After you drizzle the pasta in olive oil and season them with grated Parmesan, toss those bad boys in the air fryer for five minutes to crunch 'em up.