'I tried Jamie Oliver's air fryer recipes and one made me gasp they were so incredible'

Air fryers are still popular and the trend doesn't seem to be dying down.

In fact, more and more people seem to be getting one in their kitchens to create dinners easily - and in less time, using less oil. Not only can it speed up your meals, but the appliance can save money on energy bills with people replacing their oven with the tech must-have.

Type in 'air fryer recipes' on TikTok or Instagram and there is endless content - but cooking shows, not so much. Thankfully a new TV show dedicated to the mini gadget is out with Jamie Oliver as its host.

Renowned for his one-pot meals, quick 15 minute dishes and cheap eats, the chef is a household name in the UK - and now he's raving about air fryers in his latest Channel 4 series - aptly named Jamie's Air Fryer Meals.

As an avid air fryer user, the Mirror's Lucy Marshall decided to put Jamie's new recipes through their paces. Having once cooked an entire turkey in her air fryer as well as a whole Christmas dinner, she is no stranger to a challenge.

Using her trusty Tower air fryer, which was a bargain in Amazon's Black Friday sale, costing me just £36.99 down from £69.99, she prepared barbecue chicken thighs in breadcrumbs, as well as cheese and chive scones and oat cookies.

Barbecue chicken thighs

Lucy purchased a bag of chicken thighs from Asda for £3.14, Nandos peri-peri seasoning for £1, and plain breadcrumbs for £1.

She dusted four chicken thighs with Nandos BBQ seasoning before spreading bread crumbs all over them and pushing the crumbs so they stuck. Turning her air fryer on at 180 degrees, she set a timer for 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking, she noticed the chicken underneath was still looking pink. But following Jamie's recipe, she turned the thighs over for 10 minutes and out came a crispy, golden treat.

Looking and smelling "super appetising" she squeezed a lime wedge over the top. The chicken fell off the bone beautifully and the thighs were succulent and crispy she said and is a meal that is "quick and easy to prepare and is definitely a crowd-pleaser - perfect for a social gathering."

She added: "Annoyingly, my air fryer is now covered in breadcrumbs and chicken grease. It needs a good wash before my next recipe. With all the mess in my air fryer and the worry of trying to clean it without breaking the appliance, I do think it would have been less hassle to cook the thighs in a tray, in the oven."

Total cost of ingredients: £8.95

Rating: 7/10

Cheddar cheese scones

To make the dish she purchased self-raising flour, baking powder, unsalted butter, mature cheddar cheese, a tub of light cream cheese, and a lemon - all from Asda. She already had cayenne pepper and milk for the recipe.

To start she grabbed a bowl and mixed 200g of self-raising flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, a dust of cayenne pepper and pinch of salt. She said: "Things then got messy as I used my fingers to rub 75 grams of butter into the flour mix before make a well and adding in 70ml of milk."

Once the dough is formed, Jamie says to 'slice' it into six wedges with Lucy explaining: "I have always known cheese scones to be dome-shaped so I just made it into six small balls. Once brushed with milk and topped with more cheese and cayenne pepper, I popped the cheese balls in the air fryer for 12 minutes."

She added: "I didn't really understand why the next 12 steps of the recipe had nothing to do with the scones - making a side salad. I wasn't bothered about this but I did enjoy the 'lemony cream cheese' sauce - a mix of black pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and cream cheese. Yum!

"As I pulled the cheese scones apart to have a bite I gasped at the oozing middle. They tasted incredible. My only regret is that I didn't dip it into a hot bowl of soup. Without a doubt I will make these scones again."

Total cost of ingredients: £8.95

Rating: 9/10

Oat cookies

Now for the best part - the sweet stuff. To start Lucy melted 85 grams of unsalted butter and golden syrup in a pan over low heat in the microwave, before adding lemon zest, flour, porridge oats, one teaspoon of ground cinnamon and caster sugar into a bowl.

Once the dough mixture was formed she formed five balls and despite not looking the most appetising, they tasted very nice. She explained: "They were sweet with a soft centre and are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea. However, if I made them again I would swap out the sultanas for chocolate chips - Jamie missed a trick there. Eating sultanas makes me feel about 80 years old.

"Although the cookies cooked perfectly fine in the air fryer I am not totally convinced baking is better than in the oven. If I had used grease-proof paper and a baking tray with cupcake moulds, it would have helped the cookies form a much better shape and stopped the bottom of the sweet treats getting stuck to the bottom of the appliance."

Total cost of ingredients: £10.39

Rating: 5/10

Lucy's verdict

There's no denying I enjoyed the food and would consider cooking some of it again in the future - the cheese scones for definite. I would give the dishes an overall score of 6/10. While tasty they are quite basic and I would have liked to see some more versatile ingredients used. Nonetheless, they do all work and aren't too difficult to cook up, plus the preparation process was a lot of fun.

However, I don't think these recipes scream 'celebrity chef approved'. Anyone who has a brain, a few ingredients, and an air fryer, could have easily produced these recipes. For someone whose brand is focused on easy and cheap meals, I can see the direction he was heading in, but Jamie needs to come up with far more exciting air fryer recipes to cut through the crowded market.

It does feels like he is desperately trying to hop on the bandwagon - and while you can't blame him in a way, if you're going to promote yourself as an 'air fryer cooking expert' then in my opinion, the recipes should be more unique and exciting.

What's more, I am not totally convinced these recipes are suitable for the mini oven - they create a lot of mess which is difficult to clean off the small appliance. Plus the cheese scones and cookies came out unusual shapes due to the lack of oven tray and the dough balls got stuck together. The chicken worked well in the air fryer, as does other meat and main dishes, but as for baking I cannot be persuaded.

Jamie's Air Fryer Meals continues on Monday 22 April. You can catch up on the first episode on Channel 4. For the full recipes tried above, visit Jamie Oliver's website.

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