How to Revive Raw Fast Food in the Air Fryer
A rainy day makes food delivery more tempting than usual. For me, if I order something, it’s probably not rice or quinoa salad, but rather fast food – I have a weakness for fried chicken sandwiches. The problem is that ordering fried food has a tendency to turn corners very quickly, especially on a rainy day. Guys, I’m talking about raw food, and it’s not pretty. Luckily, there is help.
There’s a reason I rarely order fast food delivery, and it’s not because I’m a food writer and recipe developer. This would be quite reasonable, but no. This is the cost. At least in New York (but I’m sure everywhere), the price sneaks up on you at the end of your order. If I decided to spend $40 on burgers and nuggets, I’d want to eat them at the peak or pretty darn close to it.
How to revive raw fast food
Air frying can help bring deeply hydrated fast food back from the dead. Waiting 45 minutes only to find out your food is raw is infuriating, and I know it’s hard to convince you to wait another five to ten, but it’s worth it.
Air Fryers to Consider When Reconstructing Fried Foods:
Fried side dishes made easy
French fries, chicken nuggets, chicken fries, onion rings and similar side dishes are much easier to revive. I’m pretty sure the air fryer was created simply to reheat leftover French fries , and it just so happens that it reheats other foods as well. The outer layer of any food that was once deep fried has become saturated with oil. You don’t need to do anything with these special items.
Place food in the air fryer basket. Set the machine to 375°F on the air-fry setting and let it steam for three to five minutes. They heat up at an amazing rate, so be sure to check them after about two minutes and shake the basket. They had already cooked once; you are simply removing the moisture that is weighing down the crust.
Divide and conquer sandwiches
Sandwiches are hard. While it’s easy to reheat something like fried chicken at a fast food joint , sandwiches are great multi-piece arrangements. Simply fitting the entire sando into the air fryer can be difficult as some parts cook differently or aren’t meant to be cooked at all.
Fried chicken sandwiches
You can see in the photo that my fried chicken sandwich had softened so much that the breading was far from crispy—it had puffed up and pulled away. I wanted the chicken to be hot and crispy on the outside without making a mess of mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato, and gently warmed the bun. I decided that minor surgery was the best course of action.
With the air fryer set to 375°F on the air fry setting, I added a chicken cutlet (stripped of lettuce, tomato and special sauce) and bun halves, cut side up, to the basket. It only takes a minute or two for the bun to get rid of the soggy feeling, so you’ll remove it relatively quickly.
Luckily there was some leftover mayonnaise on the chicken and buns. While this may seem like a hassle, it’s actually beneficial. Mayonnaise is mostly oil, which means it conducts heat well to the chicken skin and helps it get crispy again. The same goes for the bun. Air fry the chicken for a total of five to seven minutes, depending on how crispy you like it.
Burgers and cheeseburgers
Burgers heat up much faster than chicken sandwiches (there’s no fried layer on the outside to crisp up), but alas, the cheeseburger gave me a bit of a problem. The processed cheese, congealed in the machine, drove up to me, and since I got a double cheeseburger, both patties were completely, completely, and irrevocably attached to the buns. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it. One side even used pickles and ketchup, but the connection was still reliable.
I was able to split the sandwich in half, the patties separated peacefully from each other, but the bread was impossible to remove without destroying it. To best protect the bread from drying out, I placed the hamburger slices with the lid open, meat side up, and air fried them for two minutes. Because my basket style air fryer heats only at the top (where the heating element and fan are located), the meat patty sizzled while the bun underneath received enough ambient heat to dry out the moisture.
Assembly and filling
Add a personal touch
Once your freshly reconstituted pieces come out of the fryer, you can simply cover the fried sides and reassemble the sandwiches. Maybe it’s just my experimental eating habits, but since you’re at home, why not add some fresh toppings? I know the point of ordering delivery is to do less work. You don’t have to do this, of course, but I prefer to make my own sandwiches if I have the resources.
I added some salt to the fries (the burger kingdom near me must have run out of salt) and dumped it into a bowl. I scraped the original pile of mayo, lettuce, and tomato back onto the bun, but also added some freshly popped iceberg and a few pieces of my favorite semi-sour pickles from Grillo’s. Depending on what you ordered and what’s left, you might benefit from adding a fresh dollop of ketchup or mayonnaise, new lettuce, a couple slices of American cheese, or freshly chopped onions.
My air fried delivery was crispy, hot and retained all of its original flavor. Admittedly, there was some incidental moisture loss from the travel and reheating, but I wouldn’t say it suffered. The result was a toastier bun and crispier chicken nuggets, and I’d take moist bread over this any day. Use this quick air frying technique to deliver any fried food. Even if fast food is just delivered, sometimes it needs help. Take the extra five to ten minutes to save it and you’ll be glad you did.