Air Fryer Cooking Times by Food
Actual air fryer temperatures and times for each food, pulled from our individual cooking-time guides — not a single conversion rule applied to everything.
Why This Isn't a Conversion Calculator
Most air fryer advice online reduces to one rule: take the oven recipe, drop the temperature 25°F, cut the time 20%. It's a useful fallback when you have nothing else, but it assumes every food wants the same treatment, and they plainly don't. Bacon does best at 350°F, where the fat renders before the strip scorches. Chicken wings want 400°F, because crisping the skin is the whole point. Shrimp sits at 380°F and is done in five minutes. Starting all three from a shared oven temperature and subtracting 25 gets you three wrong answers.
The chart below skips the conversion step. Each row is the temperature and time we publish in that food's own cooking guide, so you're reading a measured setting rather than a derived one. Where a food has meaningful variation — thickness, bone-in versus boneless, doneness level — the linked guide has the full breakdown.
Poultry
| Food | Temp | Time | Done At |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast (7-8 oz) | 375°F | 20-22 min, flip halfway | 165°F |
| Chicken thighs, bone-in | 400°F | 22-28 min, flip halfway | 165°F |
| Chicken thighs, boneless | 400°F | 16-20 min, flip halfway | 165°F |
| Chicken wings | 400°F | 22-26 min, shake halfway | 165°F |
| Chicken drumsticks | 400°F | 22-28 min, turn once | 165°F |
| Turkey breast, boneless 2-3 lb | 350°F | 45-55 min | 165°F |
Beef, Pork & Lamb
| Food | Temp | Time | Done At |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steak, ¾ inch, medium-rare | 400°F | 5-6 min total, flip once | 130-135°F |
| Burger patty, ¾ inch | 375°F | 8-10 min, flip halfway | 160°F |
| Pork chops, 1 inch bone-in | 400°F | 15-18 min, flip halfway | 145°F |
| Pork chops, 1 inch boneless | 400°F | 13-16 min, flip halfway | 145°F |
| Lamb chops, 1 inch, medium-rare | 400°F | 9-10 min total, flip halfway | 130-135°F |
| Bacon, regular cut crispy | 350°F | 8-9 min, no flip | — |
| Bacon, thick cut | 350°F | 10-12 min, flip halfway | — |
Seafood & Plant Proteins
| Food | Temp | Time | Done At |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon, 1 inch fillet | 390°F | 9-11 min, no flip | 125-145°F |
| Shrimp, large (26/30) | 380°F | 5-6 min, shake halfway | Opaque, curled |
| Shrimp, jumbo (16/20) | 380°F | 8-10 min, shake halfway | Opaque, curled |
| Tempeh, cubed | 375°F | 10-12 min, shake halfway | — |
Each linked guide carries the full breakdown by thickness, cut, and doneness, plus the other cooking methods for the same food. Confirm meat and poultry with the Meat Temperature Guide rather than the clock.
Related Tools & Guides
The Three Temperature Bands
Read down the temperature columns above and a pattern emerges that the flat-conversion rule hides entirely. Air fryer settings cluster into three bands, and knowing which band a food belongs to is more useful than any conversion arithmetic.
| Band | Foods | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 350°F | Bacon, turkey breast | Fat needs time to render, or the cut is thick enough that the interior must catch up before the surface overcooks |
| 375°F | Chicken breast, burgers, tempeh | Lean proteins that dry out at higher heat but still need browning |
| 380-390°F | Shrimp, salmon | Delicate seafood — hot enough to brown, gentle enough not to overshoot in the small window available |
| 400°F | Wings, thighs, drumsticks, steak, pork chops, lamb chops | Skin or surface crust is the goal, and the cut can take the heat |
Notice that the band isn't set by whether the food is meat or seafood, but by what you want from the surface and how much the interior can tolerate. That's the reasoning a flat 25°F reduction can't reproduce, because it inherits whatever temperature the oven recipe happened to use.
When You Genuinely Have No Per-Food Time
For anything not on this chart, the standard rule is still the sensible starting point: drop the oven temperature by about 25°F and cut the time by roughly 20%, then check early. Two adjustments make it noticeably more reliable.
Go further down for baked goods. Cakes, muffins, and quick breads brown much faster than they set in an air fryer's tight, fast-moving heat. A drop of 30-35°F rather than 25°F gives the centre time to cook before the top darkens, and pan size becomes the limiting factor — most standard recipes need scaling down to fit a 6 or 7-inch pan, which our Pan Size Converter handles.
Don't drop the temperature for searing. If the point is a hard crust on a steak or a thin cut, keep the full heat and shorten the time instead. Reducing temperature for a food whose only goal is browning defeats the purpose.
Going the other direction — taking an air fryer recipe to a full-size oven, usually because the batch won't fit the basket — reverse it: raise the temperature roughly 25°F and add about 25% to the time, since a large oven cavity has none of the basket's concentrated airflow. Use a wire rack over a sheet pan so air still reaches underneath.
The Mistake That Ruins Most Batches
Overcrowding causes more air fryer disappointment than any timing error. The machine works by driving hot air across exposed surfaces; pack the basket and that airflow stops, moisture has nowhere to go, and the food steams in its own vapour. The result is pale and soft — exactly what you bought the appliance to avoid.
The fix is unglamorous: single layer, space between pieces, and a second batch when the food doesn't fit. Two rounds of properly crisped wings beat one round of soggy ones, and because air fryer times are short, the second batch costs less than it feels like it should. A few habits help alongside it — pat food dry before it goes in, oil the food rather than the basket so the fan doesn't blow oil onto the element, and shake or flip at the halfway mark for anything in loose pieces.
Finally, treat every time on this page as a range to check against rather than a countdown to trust. Wattage, basket shape, and fan strength vary enough between models that the same food can differ by several minutes, and basket-style units generally run more intensely than larger oven-style ones because the food sits closer to the element. Check at the low end of the range the first time you cook something, note what your machine actually needed, and you'll only have to do it once.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 25°F air fryer conversion rule accurate?
It's a reasonable fallback when you have nothing else, but it's a single rule applied to foods that behave very differently. Bacon works best at 350°F while chicken wings want 400°F — a flat 25°F reduction from a shared oven temperature would put both in the wrong place. When a measured per-food time exists, use it instead of converting.
What temperature should I set my air fryer to?
Most foods land in one of three bands. 350°F suits bacon and larger roasting cuts like turkey breast that need the interior to catch up. 375°F suits chicken breast, burgers, and plant proteins. 400°F suits anything you want crisp — wings, thighs, drumsticks, steak, and pork chops. Delicate seafood sits between 380 and 390°F.
Do I need to preheat an air fryer?
It depends on the food. Steak, lamb chops, pork chops, burgers, and turkey breast benefit from preheating because you want immediate surface browning. Bacon, salmon, and shrimp don't need it — they render or cook through fast enough that a cold start makes little difference. If your model runs cool, add a minute rather than preheating for everything.
Why is my air fryer food soggy instead of crispy?
Almost always overcrowding. An air fryer crisps by moving hot air across the food's surface, so a packed basket traps moisture and steams instead. Cook in a single layer with space between pieces, even if that means two batches. Patting food dry and using a light coat of oil on the food rather than the basket also helps.
Do air fryer times change safe internal temperatures?
No. Safe internal temperatures are identical regardless of cooking method — 165°F for poultry, 160°F for ground beef, 145°F for whole cuts of pork and beef with a rest. Air fryer times run short and the margin between done and dry is narrow, which makes a thermometer more useful here, not less.
Why do air fryer times vary so much between models?
Wattage, basket shape, and fan strength all differ between models, and basket-style units generally run more intensely than larger oven-style ones because the food sits closer to the element. Treat any published time as a starting range, check at the low end the first time you cook something, and note what your machine actually needed.