Brands include air fryer instructions on their oven chips packaging

McCain, Aldi and other major brands edit their packaging to include advice on how to use air fryers – as devices soar in popularity

• Chip manufacturers are adding air frying cooking instructions on their products
• Millions of home owners have bought air fryers to beat the cost of living crisis 

Air fryers have become so popular, brands like McCain are adding instructions on packaging to show how to cook their food in them.

This follows a rising number of families becoming confused over how to use the fryers, which cook much faster and need a slightly lower temperature than ovens.

Shoppers will start seeing an air fryer logo under the cooking instructions on packaging, next to more familiar ones for microwaves, ovens, grills and frying pans.

McCain, the UK’s biggest seller of frozen chips, and Waitrose are among those introducing the extra information. Other supermarkets are looking at following suit.

Mark Hodge, McCain’s marketing director, said: ‘When we saw how popular cooking our chips in air fryers had become, it was a no-brainer to move quickly to include air fryer instructions on our packaging.’

McCain, the UK’s biggest seller of frozen chips, and Waitrose are among those introducing the extra information. Other supermarkets are looking at following suit

But McCain’s home fries require 24 to 26 minutes at 220C in a normal oven – when an air fryer will crisp them in 15 minutes at 200C

Without printed instructions, users have been setting their air fryers to the temperature and time specified for a normal oven.

But McCain’s home fries require 24 to 26 minutes at 220C in a normal oven – when an air fryer will crisp them in 15 minutes at 200C.

Aldi’s head of buying Julie Ashfield said: ‘We will shortly begin rolling out “Suitable for Air Fryer” labelling across our new products.’

The last time cooking instructions were widely altered in this way was when microwaves became commonplace in the 1980s. Some experts thought air fryers would be a fad. But sales are still strong and customers have been bombarding supermarkets and food firms for advice over using their gadgets.

More than 30 per cent of households now own an air fryer.

Chips are the top food to cook, with chicken wings and drumsticks also popular. Air fryers can also do roasts, stir fries and brownies.

Lakeland, which introduced air fryers to Britain in 2010, said sales are increasing, even after a bumper year in 2021. Kathryn Farrell, its cooking buyer, said: ‘Customers are telling us they haven’t used their ovens since owning air fryers.’

The fryers use hot air rather than oil, though for some food a few drops of oil are recommended.

They make food healthier than deep-fat frying but still give favourites like chips a crisp, ‘fried’ finish. But the health benefits have been trumped by their cost-saving benefits, since electricity prices more than doubled after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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