🍲🍱🍛After hearing for years from my male friends, who are husbands and boyfriends, or even just single guys, that they “don’t know how to cook”, I have decided to offer help.
I’m gonna give you guys some cooking tips, from a guys perspective. I emphatically add, everyone is welcome to this blog, I think I’m simply trying to address the problem (or excuse) that folks say they can’t cook. Everybody is welcome here!
I’m gonna use some corny emojis, and some pics I took throughout. I’ll try to make it interesting.
🧘🏻♂️First, if your interested in cooking healthy, hang in there, almost all the things I’m gonna tell you about, are healthier alternatives to your normal fare. I say “almost” because, even I have limits, and I may throw in some “fun” stuff.
First, buy an air fryer. Tons of options out there, so decide how much you want to commit. Air fryers cook at high temp, so they occasionally need a deep cleaning. It kind of goes with the territory.
These things come in a variety of configurations. Some have “air fryer only” function, but others will also include crock pot, steamer, and broil functions (These terms will be explained as we go along). So you need to decide how much you want to use this appliance, and what’s your budget. The easiest option and most affordable option, is an air fry only unit. The small ones are generally 3-3.5 quarts, but if your cooking for more than one, step up to at least a 6 quart. Either option is available at Walmart or Sam’s Club, Amazon, or any large department store. I strongly recommend you go to “YouTube” university….(simply YouTube), and get comfortable with how air-fryers work….or, read the instructions, yuck!
🥗Once you’ve made the jump to healthy cooking appliances, you’re ready to get to the cooking part. Many of the following tips don’t require an air fryer…but it helps to cut calories.
I use a Ninja Multi-cook option.
*Slight disclaimer…the fryer lid is attached to the cooker on this model and when raised is pretty tall. Make sure you have a place for this type of fryer. (Thanks for the reminder Faye Baby!)
One of my favorite things to do in the air-fryer is a pre-breaded chicken breast. Tyson, Southern Breaded Tenders are delicious!
Should you want something with a little more kick. Try these…
What You’ll Need For Air Fried Chicken…
Once you get the bag of frozen tenders or breast fillets, get ready to cook. Set the temp of the air-fryer to 390, and set the timer for 17 minutes. Most air fryers require a 5 minute pre-heat, if not, follow the books’ instructions that came with your particular unit. After the warm-up time, add the food you want to cook. You will have 12 minutes left of cooking time. Pre-Spray the tenders with olive oil (comes in a spray can, just like paint) on both sides, and place them in the fryer. Look at the timer and when it reaches 6 minutes, turn tenders over, (you can set a separate timer for 6 min.) and continue to cook for the remaining 6 minutes.
Don’t worry about losing the heat by lifting the lid to turn food, it’s plenty hot in there now. No worries.
* As a side note, you will notice, more and more precooked foods like these, have air-frying instructions as well as conventional instructions, not all, but more are being added as this type of cooking becomes more popular.
That’s it! You have air fried your first chicken tenders! What I do at this point, is construct a home made Chic Fillet sandwich. (Might get in trouble for using that name)
Get your bun (previously purchased from your local supermarket) Any pack of buns you buy, will work. I buy the store brand, they are usually the cheapest, but I sometimes splurge on Kings Hawaiian Buns. Ha!
You’ll spread your toasted bun (lightly smeared with margarine before toasting) with mayo (lite). Put your chicken on the bun, add a slice of dill pickle, and a bit of lettuce.
And I’ll be danged if ya don’t have the best chicken sandwich you’ve ever had. (For an extra boost of flavor, buy a bottle of Yum Yum sauce, available in the International food section, and put a dollop on the air fried chicken before adding pickle and lettuce.
Well, we got that done.
Try something else, trust me, it gets easier and easier the more you do!
To view the other recipes in this series, click the down arrow to the right of “Dads Can Cook” in the main menu… to see headings for all the other recipe pages available.
