Can I Make Salt And Pepper Squid In An Air Fryer?

Our answer

Nigella's Salt And Pepper Squid (from NIGELLA BITES) tosses pieces of baby squid in a pepper-spiced cornflour (cornstarch) mixture and fries them. Frying is a good method for cooking squid as the oil can be heated to fairly high temperatures. A high temperature is good for cooking squid as it needs to cook very quickly to crisp the outside but leave the inside tender and not tough.

Air fryers are popular as they can reach fairly high temperatures and they have a strong fan, which cooks food fairly quickly. In effect, it is very high temperature baking. However, we unfortunately do not think it is ideal for this dish. The cornflour coating needs a little fat on the outside to add some moisture. If the squid is air fried or baked then the coating will be quite dry. Also part of the effect of frying is that the oil conducts heat to the surface of the food very quickly. Air is actually slightly insulating, so it will take longer for the squid to heat up and cook in an air fryer and leaves the risk that the squid will cook a little too much and become chewy. Overall we would prefer to fry the squid and if you get the temperature of the oil right - hot enough that the oil fizzes as soon as you put a piece of squid in the frying pan - then the squid should be crisp but not greasy.