Hit 50 air fryer recipes in my notebook and finally changed my mind about marinades

I used to think marinating stuff before air frying was a waste of time. Like why bother when the air fryer cooks so fast anyway? But last week I hit recipe number 50 in my little spiral notebook and counted back. 22 of those were dry rub only and 28 had some kind of wet marinade. The ones with a quick 20 minute soak in something like soy sauce or lemon juice came out way juicier every time. I did a side by side test with chicken thighs one night and the marinated batch won easy. Has anyone else noticed a big difference with certain cuts of meat or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_ross18d ago

Ditch the notebook and just start soaking everything.

hall.ruby18d ago

Oh man, I went through the exact same marinade conversion a few months ago. Pork chops are the ones that sold me for good - a 30 minute soak in some apple cider vinegar and mustard mix and they come out tender instead of dry. The trick is keeping the marinade thin so it doesn't burn in the basket, stick to stuff like citrus juice or vinegar based ones.