Air Fryer Recipes for Summer

August 10, 2021

If you’ve ever had your grill go fritzy on you, can you turn to your air fryer for help? Does spinach grow like a weed? YES! The best summer air fryer recipes will rescue you from meal-prep malfunctions and give you all sorts of options and menus for summer!!

Everything Can Be Air Fried!

When it’s hot outside veggies, lean proteins and low carbs seem more appealing and even for summer snacking, the guilt-free crispiness an air fryer affords, makes meals a crunchy delight. According to blogger Samantha at Every Day Family Cooking, you can air fry hamburgers, hot dogs, brats – the German cousin, and of course barbecued drumsticks. Here’s a recipe for Air Fryer Chicken Fajitas with red peppers and sweet onions, chili lime seasoning and ideas for add-ins (like Avocado Lime Crema).

Don’t worry – we’re getting to the crunchy part!

Samantha at Every Day Family Cooking loves the ease of prepping frozen foods in an air fryer – from onion rings and panko shrimp to tater tots! You’ll find fish, more chicken, and lots of veggie recipes here, too – 40 total – which will make you wonder if you really even need your grill, after all! 

Beef, Seafood and Tasty Temptations

The Prudent Penny Pincher did us a favor curating a slew of recipes (more than 50) and grouping them in chicken, beef, seafood and veggie sections. From Stuffed Peppers and Eggplant Parm, to Southern Style Pork Chops and Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Marmalade Sauce, you’ll find recipes from Copykat, My Forking Life, Watch What you Eat and Mommy Hates Cooking, in the mix. 

A quick glance at the 50 and two jump out to try for healthy options: the Keto Shrimp Scampi recipe from Two Sleevers, or the Whole 30 Salmon Cakes from Food Faith Fitness.

The Salmon Cakes are crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside, and Taylor, who blogs for Food Faith Fitness, reinvented a classic crab cake recipe. She dices fresh Atlantic salmon (skin removed) and adds half an avocado, cilantro, curry powder and salt plus a bit of tapioca, beaten eggs and coconut flakes. She serves them on a bed of spinach and arugula. The tapioca flour helps crisp up the cakes, and while we can’t help thinking that a little remoulade sauce might be tasty on top – it would blow the whole 30 concept!

It may surprise you to learn that even cuts of beef and pork can be air fried — it did us! Air Fryer World offers up instructions for steak with herbed butter with air fries as a perfect combo, especially a steak with good marbling like rib eye , New York or t-bones. The Steak Bites and Mushrooms are a no-fail option in the air fryer, and Pork Chops look scrumptious, too, with these Air Fryer World’s recipes for juicy, breaded and parmigiana chops.

Veggie-Magic Recipes For Summer

Let’s look first at two vegetables that immediately come to mind when you think of summer: corn and zucchini. Clean Plates has a recipe for Zucchini Corn Fritters made in the air fryer thanks to the Diethood food site. Blogger Katerina mixes grated zucchini and onion (squeezing out the liquid) with eggs, spices, flour and Parmesan (what would we do without Parmesan?!). Katerina suggests chilling the formed patties for eight minutes before frying so they don’t fall apart and for extra crunch, pressing a layer of breadcrumbs onto them. 

This Recipe for Corn on the Cob from Watch What U Eat, uses olive oil (or butter), lime juice, paprika, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and roasts the corn for 14 to 15 minutes. You have to preheat your air fryer for about three minutes and give the cobs a quick flip when you’re down to three minutes left in cooking time. Bloggers Swati and Tushar suggest buying thick, long cobs and experimenting with your favorite seasonings.

And Zucchini Bites in the air fryer from Delish take grated zucchini, spices, and a couple of dip possibilities:  ranch dressing and marinara sauce, but one of the readers uses sriracha cream sauce – a little mayo, a tablespoon of dulce de leche and a squirt of sriracha. Another reader modified the recipe and added sharp cheddar cheese, and topped them with a horseradish onion dip. We’re thinking these would be a great take-to-the-potluck barbecue dish!

Just Another Terrific Tuesday at Southshore!

It’s the best of both worlds, an exclusive Aurora master-planned community, with two amazing rec centers and the 800-acre lake (the Aurora Reservoir) just minutes from your front door! Check out all the options in floor plans and designs Southshorewith a variety of ranch and two-story brand new homes from Taylor Morrison, Century Communities, Richmond American Homes and Toll Brothers. Your little corner of Life at the Lake is waiting for you – priced between the $400s and the $700s.