15 Fruits You Need To Start Air Frying Right Now

If a single appliance could define the 2010s and 2020s, it would be the air fryer. This tabletop kitchen appliance works by using both radiation and convection for cooking food. The heating element on the top of the fryer provides radiation, while a circulating fan creates air currents that move the heat around the fryer. This creates a cooking experience closer to frying than baking or microwaving.

Air fryers can cook many different types of food and produce a similar texture to frying — just without the oil. Some of the best uses for an air fryer include reheating French fries, preparing frozen pre-made foods, and getting crispy skin on chicken wings. The one way you may have never thought to use your air fryer is to cook fruits.

Recently, TikTok has taken the idea of cooking fruit in an air fryer for simple snacks or complex desserts to a new level. It's a trend we can get behind. Here are some fruits you can put in your air fryer and how to cook them.

Nothing says "home" more like baked apples with your favorite toppings. You can use your air fryer to make cinnamon-sugar fried apples with virtually no mess — all within 10 minutes. To make these apples at home, you'll want to slice your apple of choice — we recommend meaty varieties like Cortlands or Macouns — into small pieces and roll them in a mixture of cinnamon and granulated sugar. You can leave the skin on your apple for more texture, but you should remove it if you want to make puree from air-fried apples. Then, add your slices on parchment paper to the air fryer basket. Bake your apples at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes or until the apples are soft to the touch.

You can upgrade this recipe in many ways — including using a more complex spice blend with apple pie spice, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. In addition, we recommend topping your dessert with homemade granola for a take on an apple crisp or sticking with the traditional à la mode by adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If your banana split seems a bit too basic, you should let your air fryer lend a helping hand. These banana slices only take a few ingredients besides the banana: butter or coconut oil and your desired seasonings. We recommend using brown sugar and cinnamon for a classic sweet profile, but you can also do a drizzle of chili lime seasoning for a savory snack.

Begin preparing your bananas by slicing them in half lengthwise; if you're making a banana split, you will want to cut them partially but not all the way (like a hot dog bun). Top the banana slices with your melted fat and the seasoning, and allow the bananas to cook in the air fryer for about eight minutes at 380 degrees Fahrenheit. If you're using an unripe banana, it may need extra time in the air fryer to soften. You'll know the bananas are done when they're golden brown and smell fragrant. 

Since bananas taste relatively bland when cooked, upgrading the flavor with a quick brush of your favorite liqueurs or extracts or more complex spices like pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cloves is easy. Snack on these bananas hot or cold or with a schmear of peanut or almond butter.

Pineapple is the quintessential tropical fruit. The only way to make it better is to pop it in the air fryer! You can add plain pineapple chunks to your air fryer or add a layer of brown sugar and butter if you want a more confectionary flavor. Then, bake the chunks at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 10 minutes. The resulting fruit has a firm exterior and a soft, juicy interior. These pineapple cubes are a great snack eaten on their own, or you can consider adding a bit of yogurt, granola, or nuts to help add some healthy proteins and fats.

Pineapple is one of the sweetest ways to include more nutrients in your diet. One cup of pineapple contains most of your daily recommended vitamin C, manganese intake, and a hefty dose of copper, folate, and potassium. Pineapple also contains digestive enzymes called bromelain that help improve the digestion of other foods and can help break down meat proteins in your gastrointestinal system.

Grilled peaches are a classic summer recipe. But if it's too cold to grill outside, you should turn to your air fryer instead. You can make these in halves or quarters since you won't have to worry about dropping them into charcoal. When you're ready to cook your peaches, place them in a single layer on a piece of parchment paper and air fry at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for five to 10 minutes.

Our favorite toppings for grilled peaches include a drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of brown sugar, but you can also get inventive with other toppings. For example, if you love a summer peach cobbler's taste and crunchy texture, add butter, graham cracker (or oatmeal), and brown sugar to your peaches before taking them out of the air fryer. Try to keep the butter crumble on the peaches rather than the parchment. 

Cook for another seven minutes to help crisp up the topping. When you're ready to serve, top your grilled stonefruit with a scoop of ice cream or some homemade honey whipped cream.

Mangos likely aren't your go-to cooking fruit, but they should be one of your favorites to air fry. To make air-fried mango chunks, cut the mango into small cubes and toss in a bit of neutral-flavored oil. This will help promote some browning of the fruit but can be omitted if you're looking to curb the calories or fat. Next, air fry the pieces at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for eight to 10 minutes or until you notice a bit of caramelization on the edges.

If you don't have fresh mango on hand, you can use frozen mango chunks too. For the perfect texture, these must cook at a lower temperature, around 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for a little over 10 minutes. You'll also want to ensure that when you place the frozen cubes in the basket, none of the pieces touch; leaving overlaps can cause the mango to stick together as it cooks.

The mango flavor lends itself well to salty, savory, and acidic flavors. Add a bit of salt to your mango slices before eating for a more pronounced sweet taste, or use cumin and chili powder before air frying for a bit of heat.

Baked blueberries can be an acquired texture for some. If you love the taste and texture of this fruit, you should try air frying them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes. When you pull the fruit out, you'll find that the blueberry skin is firm and very squishy inside. Our favorite way to serve air-fried blueberries is with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If you want to go a step further than just baked blueberries, you can also make an entire blueberry pie in your air fryer.  Both pre-made and homemade pie crusts are an option for this ingenious recipe. Assemble your blueberry pie by placing the bottom of the crust into a pie plate, adding pre-cooked blueberries (or canned blueberry pie filling), and sealing the crust with another layer of dough. For the best color results, swipe an egg wash and some crystallized sugar on the top of the pie before placing it in the air fryer and cooking for 15 minutes at 310 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you didn't think strawberries could get any more delicious, you obviously haven't tried cooking them in your air fryer. Cook these fruits for about eight minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and watch the smell of your kitchen quickly morph into that of a candy factory.

If you want your strawberries to have a more dehydrated texture, you'll need to slice them much thinner, and air fry them for longer. The ideal size is about ⅛ of an inch wide; this allows the most amount of water to be removed from the berry as its cooking. You'll want to cook the fruit low-and-slow; 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour is optimal. Be sure to flip the berries over mid-way through cooking and avoid overlapping for best results. The dehydrated berries are perfect for a road-trip snack or adding to a homemade trail mix with dark chocolate chips and yogurt balls.

Cherries are easily the best summer fruit. But it always seems like cherries are in season so quickly and can't be found for months. So if you love the taste of this stonefruit and want to keep snacking on them for months after they hit store shelves, you'll want to try dehydrating them in an air fryer.

You'll first have to use a cherry pitter to prepare your cherries for cooking. If you can't pop out the pit, you can always wait to do so after you dehydrate the fruit; it might get a bit mangled in the process. You should also avoid broken or bruised cherries since this will only lead to getting your air-fryer all gummy. Any type of cherry will work for this hack; we love the taste of Rainier and Bing cherries. Once ready, slice the cherries in half and place them skin-side down in your air fryer. Turn the air fryer to 130 degrees Fahrenheit for nine hours to dehydrate the fruit. You can use the cherries in a trail mix as a snack or chop them up and add them to a carrot cake.

Fried oranges are perfect for snacks, breakfasts, or desserts. You can use your favorite type of orange for this recipe; Navel and blood oranges are both easy to find and perfect for air frying. We also recommend seasoning your oranges with a bit of honey — it adds moisture and a sweet undercurrent to contrast the acid — and a warming spice like cinnamon.

You can leave the skins on your oranges after you cut them in half; this will make it easier to dip the face of the fruit into the honey and spice mixture. Then, place a single layer of the fruit in your air fryer and cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for five to eight minutes or until the face of the fruit starts to brown. Like other fruits, air-fried oranges are best served piping hot. If you have leftover honey, you can drizzle some on top of the fruit after it's finished cooking. A vanilla ice cream or custard is also ideal for serving with the oranges because the citrus curbs some of its sweetness.

Grapefruits can be prepared and air fried similarly to oranges. To make an air-fried grapefruit, you'll need to cut it in half and cook it skin-side down. Spray the face of the fruit with a coconut oil spray and add a sprinkle of granulated sugar for a bit of sweetness and crunch. Then, you can air-fry the fruit for five to six minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can flavor your grapefruit with a menagerie of seasonings and toppings. If you're eating one for breakfast, add a scoop of Greek or coconut yogurt to the top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a serving of crunchy nuts or granola. The grapefruit can easily be shredded with a fork — which plays perfectly with the smooth texture of the yogurt. You can also add a swipe of vanilla extract to the fruit before cooking to enhance its acidic and sweet flavors.

Kiwis are a popular snack food because of their small size and big flavor. If you want to put kiwi into your air fryer, you'll want to peel the skin off and cut it into quarters or eighths. Then, cook your kiwis at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for eight minutes. The finished kiwi slices will taste like candy and have a deliciously crispy exterior.

If you want to go a step further and dehydrate kiwi rounds, you can do so in your air fryer, too. Dehydrating these fruits takes four hours, which is much quicker than using an oven or a dehydrator. Like the other air-frying method, you'll want to peel off the skin and cut it into ¼ to ½-inch thick rounds. Then, place the rounds in the air fryer with ample space between the pieces. Run your air fryer low and slow at around 130 degrees Fahrenheit. You can save your kiwi chips for snacking, add them to a salad, or use them as a cocktail garnish.

Air-fried grapes have been another trending topic on Tik Tok. These tiny fruit pieces are perfect for charcuterie boards and snacking.

Making air-fried grapes at home couldn't be easier. Rinse and pat dry your choice of grapes; black, green, or red grapes are perfect for this air fryer hack. For the most consistent grape pieces, you'll want to use seedless grapes that are similar in size and shape. You also can use grapes that are a couple of days old and slightly mushy since the skins will soften anyway. It's a great way to use up leftover over-ripe grapes.

Toss the fruit in a bowl with neutral oil before placing it into your air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. If you want a more flavorful bake, you can toss the grapes in a bit of brown or granulated sugar before adding an even layer of fruit to your air fryer.

Do you dream of the perfect cocktail? There's no perfect cocktail without the perfect cocktail garnish. And if you have access to an air fryer, you can make your own with leftover lemon or limes. Cut thin fruit discs and place them into a foil-lined air fryer basket. It is imperative to avoid overlapping the slices to ensure they dry evenly. If you want a bit of sweetness to counteract the acidity, try tossing your fruit in sugar or salt before placing it into the air fryer.

You should cook your citrus on the lowest temperature setting for about an hour. When the slices come out, they should be somewhat rigid and lightly toasted in color. We love using these garnishes on margaritas, but we could also see adding a garnish to your favorite vodka tonic too. You can also use these fruit discs as a charcuterie board or fish platter garnish.

Persimmons are unique fruit with a tomato's exterior and an apple's sweetness and bite. Like other types of fruits, you can cook this fruit in the air fryer to help soften it.

Start by cutting the stem off the persimmon and placing the fruit in the air fryer with the cut piece up. Cook at 375 degrees for around 30 minutes. When you pill the persimmons, the skin should ooze and be slightly soft to the touch. Allow the fruit to stand for a few minutes to help let some of the heat off.

Peel off the skin before eating — it should have the texture of a baked potato inside. While you can eat the fruit with the skin on, it disrupts the fruit's soft texture and can stick to your teeth. Peeling the skin off before eating the persimmon also cools the fruit much faster. We recommend topping the persimmon with whipped cream or a drizzle of honey to round out the sweetness of the fruit.

Star fruit is a unique type of produce found in tropical areas like Southeast Asia and India. The star-shaped fruit has a unique, waxy, and hard exterior with a soft, juicy interior similar to a grape. The taste is a cross between an orange, grape, and pear. 

Although it is less popular to dehydrate star fruit compared to more conventional types of fruit, it is possible. First, cut the whole fruit into ¼ inch rounds and remove any seeds with a spoon. Then, place the pieces in the air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 30 minutes. You should check on the star fruit pieces at least once during the dehydrating process — since not all air fryers cook at the same temperature. Flipping the pieces halfway through the cooking time can help the fruit dry more evenly. While you can stick with the regular star fruit recipe, you can also coat the pieces in warming spices, like apple pie or pumpkin pie spice, for more flavor.