Is It Possible To Bake Dinner Rolls In An Air Fryer?

Air fryers are one of the most convenient kitchen appliances, a staple in many kitchens who may even use the appliance just as much — if not more — than other appliances like microwaves or toasters. Air fryers work in a similar way as convection ovens, circulating very hot air with a fan to quickly cook, as well as crisp up your food with little to no oil required (via Kalorik).

Since their commercial release in 2010, people largely use the kitchen tool to cook crispy, delicious fried foods without the excess oil — french fries, vegetables, frozen fried goods, etc. While the air fryer works wonderfully in this way, it doesn't just have the ability to "fry" food. The convection oven technology also rapidly cooks almost any kind of food, including whole chickens, seafood, and more. This is great for preparing a delicious dinner in a time crunch, as well as freeing up your oven for more important, heavy-duty tasks. If you've ever needed to quickly bake some dinner rolls but don't have a free oven, consider breaking out your ever-versatile air fryer.

Dinner rolls can be baked quickly in the air fryer, along with many other baked goods and desserts, including muffins, breads, bread pudding, and even cheesecakes, per Air Fryer Eats. Since air fryers aren't actually frying your food, but rather cooking it with hot, circulating air, it's the perfect appliance to quickly cook dinner rolls without needing to turn your oven on.

You can use either frozen or homemade dinner rolls in your air fryer. The caveat with frozen dinner rolls, though, is that they need to be pre-cooked, notes AirFryer.com. For frozen rolls, all you need to do is pop them in the basket of your air fryer, making sure they're evenly spaced out and don't touch each other, and brush them with butter or oil for a golden brown top. Then, set your air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and cook for five minutes.

If you're working with fresh, homemade rolls, look for a 6-inch cake pan that fits inside your basket, oil the bottom as usual, and add your rolls, instructs King Arthur Baking. Opt for smaller rolls cooked in multiple batches. This is because the pan will heat up very quickly in the air fryer, and may result in burnt tops and raw insides if the rolls are too large. Cook them at a lower temperature for five minutes, then remove them, cover with foil, and cook for another five minutes.