Yes, you can use an air fryer to bake, as long as you adjust time, temperature, and pan size for the smaller, stronger heat source.
Air fryers look like small countertop gadgets, yet they can handle far more than fries and frozen snacks. Many home cooks wonder, can you use an air fryer to bake at home and skip turning on the oven for every little treat. The short answer is yes, you can bake in an air fryer, but you need to treat it like a tiny, extra-powerful convection oven.
Can You Use An Air Fryer To Bake? Basic Baking Rules
So, can your air fryer handle baking in a reliable way, not just as a one off experiment. Yes, as long as you respect a few clear differences between air fryers and standard ovens. The cavity is smaller, the fan is strong, and heat circulates around food from all sides.
Quick Air Fryer Baking Conversion Guide
| Baked Good | Typical Oven Setting | Starting Air Fryer Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate chip cookies | 350°F / 12–14 minutes | 320°F / 6–8 minutes |
| Brownies (small pan) | 350°F / 20–25 minutes | 320°F / 14–18 minutes |
| Muffins or cupcakes | 350°F / 18–22 minutes | 325°F / 12–16 minutes |
| Banana bread (mini loaf) | 350°F / 45–55 minutes | 320°F / 28–38 minutes |
| Biscuits or scones | 425°F / 10–12 minutes | 375°F / 7–9 minutes |
| Cinnamon rolls (from dough) | 350°F / 20–25 minutes | 320°F / 14–18 minutes |
| Frozen cookie dough balls | 350°F / 14–16 minutes | 320°F / 8–10 minutes |
| Small fruit crisp (ramekin) | 375°F / 25–30 minutes | 340°F / 16–22 minutes |
These times are only starting points. Check early, use your eyes and nose, and write notes for your exact air fryer model. Keep tests small and simple.
How Air Fryer Baking Differs From Oven Baking
An air fryer is essentially a compact convection oven. Hot air moves around food through a tight space, which speeds up browning but can dry out delicate bakes if you use standard oven settings. Understanding these differences makes your results far more predictable.
Heat Source And Airflow
In a regular oven, heat comes from larger elements at the top and bottom of a wide cavity. In many air fryers, the heating element and fan sit close to the food. That strong, directed airflow gives you crisp edges, but it also bumps up effective temperature.
For this reason, many home economists and air fryer manuals suggest dropping the temperature about 25°F and shortening time by about 20 percent compared with a standard oven recipe. This gentle adjustment helps the center bake through before the top darkens.
Pan Size And Placement
Most air fryer baskets are not wide enough for a full sheet pan or large cake tin. Shallow, smaller pans work best. Round cake tins 6–7 inches across, mini loaf pans, muffin cups, and small ceramic dishes tend to fit inside many baskets or on the rack of an air fryer oven.
Leave space for air to move. If your air fryer has a basket, set the pan on a rack or trivet so air can flow under it. If you have an oven style model with shelves, avoid crowding pans together; that space between pans helps your batter bake evenly.
Moisture, Browning, And Texture
Because the fan moves air quickly, steam escapes from batter faster than in a still oven. That gives you crisp, browned edges on cookies and biscuits, which many people love. Cakes and quick breads stay tender too, as long as you avoid overbaking and use a bit of parchment or grease for extra protection.
When you bake foods that contain meat, eggs, or dairy fillings, treat your air fryer like any other cooking appliance. A reliable food thermometer and safe internal temperatures still matter. Agencies like the United States Department of Agriculture share clear air fryer food safety guidance that applies to casseroles, handheld pies, and other mixed dishes.
Using An Air Fryer To Bake Cakes, Brownies, And Bread
Once you understand how your machine heats and how pans fit inside, baking desserts in an air fryer starts to feel simple. Start with small batches, use pans that sit level, and keep notes on what works in your specific model.
Cakes And Cupcakes
For a standard cake batter, fill a 6 or 7 inch round pan no more than halfway. This gives the batter room to rise without hitting the heating element. Set the air fryer about 25°F lower than the original oven recipe, and start checking doneness at the halfway point of the suggested oven time.
Use the classic toothpick test in the center of the cake. The pick should come out with a few moist crumbs, not raw batter. Rotate the pan once if the top browns unevenly, and tent the top loosely with foil if it browns too fast while the center still looks wet.
Brownies And Bar Cookies
Brownies and dense bar cookies suit the air fryer well because they tolerate a bit of extra edge browning. Choose a metal or silicone pan that fits the basket with a little space on each side. Line the base with parchment so you can lift the finished slab out without breaking it.
Quick Breads And Mini Loaves
Banana bread, pumpkin bread, and similar batters bake nicely in mini loaf tins or small ceramic dishes. Because these loaves are thick, they need a slightly lower temperature and patient timing so the center sets without the crust hardening.
For extra guidance on temperature adjustments, some baking brands publish handy oven to air fryer guides. One example is this detailed baking with an air fryer tip sheet, which shows how much to lower temperature and time for typical recipes.
Step By Step: Turning Oven Recipes Into Air Fryer Bakes
Once you have a recipe that you love in the oven, you can adapt it to your air fryer with a simple process. This works well for cookies, snack cakes, small crisps, and quick breads.
1. Read The Recipe And Check Your Pan
First, read through the original recipe so you know the oven temperature, pan size, and timing. Then check which pan you own that will fit inside your air fryer while still leaving space for airflow. Shallow pans and small tins work best.
3. Adjust Temperature And Time
Set your air fryer 20–25°F lower than the oven temperature. If a cake bakes at 350°F in the oven, start at 325°F or 320°F. Reduce the initial bake time by roughly 20 percent, then plan to check early. You can always add minutes; you cannot pull back overbaked edges.
5. Check For Doneness Early And Often
Start checking several minutes before you expect the bake to finish. Look for color, smell, and texture on top, then use a toothpick or skewer in the center. For bakes that contain meat or egg heavy fillings, you can also use a food thermometer and follow safe temperature charts from agencies such as USDA or FoodSafety.gov.
6. Cool, Taste, And Adjust Notes
Let your baked goods cool for at least 10–15 minutes. Taste the edges and center. If the center feels wet, add a few minutes next time. If edges run dry or dark, lower the temperature a little further or shorten the time. Write notes right away so your next air fryer bake with that recipe starts at the improved setting.
Common Mistakes When Baking In An Air Fryer
Most air fryer baking mishaps come from treating the machine exactly like a large oven. Once you know where things usually go wrong, you can fix them before they spoil dessert.
Overcrowding The Basket Or Rack
Air fryers need space so hot air can move around the pan. If you squeeze in multiple pans at once or use a pan that almost touches the walls, air circulation slows down. The result can be pale centers, tough edges, or a top that browns before the middle cooks through.
Using The Wrong Pan Material
Glass pans can develop hot spots in a small, intense heat source. Dark metal pans brown the crust faster than light metal ones. Silicone pans shed heat slowly. Each of these materials works in an air fryer, but you may need to lower temperature or shorten time for dark pans and increase time for silicone.
Skipping Preheating Or Checking Too Late
If you place batter into a cold air fryer, the first minutes of bake time go toward heating the machine instead of setting the batter. This can flatten muffins and cupcakes.
Late checks lead to burnt tops and dry centers. Set a timer for your first check well before the full estimated time, then add minutes in short bursts.
Common Air Fryer Baking Issues And Fixes
Use this table to match common baking problems in the air fryer with simple adjustments for your next batch.
| Issue | Likely Cause | What To Try Next Time |
|---|---|---|
| Top burns, center raw | Temperature too high or pan too close to element | Lower temperature 15–25°F, move pan lower, tent with foil |
| Edges dry, center just done | Bake time too long | Check 3–5 minutes earlier and stop as soon as pick has moist crumbs |
| Cake falls in the middle | Pan overfilled or door opened too often | Fill pan halfway, avoid opening drawer in the first half of baking |
| Muffins or cupcakes do not rise | Cold batter in cold machine or old leavening | Preheat fryer, bring batter closer to room temperature, check baking powder age |
| Cookies spread into one big sheet | Basket overcrowded or dough too warm | Chill dough, bake fewer cookies at once on parchment |
| Bottoms stick to the pan | No liner or minimal greasing | Use parchment, liners, or a light coat of oil or butter |
| Desserts taste dry or bland | Overbaking or batter changes | Shorten baking time, measure ingredients carefully, and avoid cutting sugar or fat too far |
When Oven Baking Still Makes More Sense
Even with good adjustments, an air fryer is not the right tool for every single bake. Large celebration cakes, full trays of cookies, and delicate items such as soufflés usually suit a regular oven better.
Use your air fryer for small batches, test runs of a new recipe, and treats that you want to pull together without heating the whole kitchen. Reach for the oven when you need roomy pans, multiple racks, or steadier, gentle heat.
Once you get comfortable with conversions and your favorite pans, you will answer friends who ask, “can you use an air fryer to bake?” with confidence. A small basket or air fryer oven cannot replace a full range, yet it can handle many everyday desserts and snacks with less time, less energy use, and less cleanup.