Converting Any Oven Recipe to Air Fryer Time and Temperature
A commonly used guideline for converting a conventional oven recipe to an air fryer is reducing the temperature by about 25°F and reducing the cooking time by about 20%, since an air fryer's small, enclosed cooking chamber and powerful fan circulate hot air even more efficiently than a standard convection oven — but checking doneness early and often is essential, since air fryers vary meaningfully between models.
An air fryer is essentially a very compact, high-powered convection oven, which is why its adjustment from a standard recipe tends to be more significant than a typical oven-to-convection adjustment.
Why air fryers cook faster than even a standard convection oven
An air fryer's small cooking chamber and closer proximity between the food and the heating element, combined with strong forced air circulation, transfers heat to food's surface even more efficiently than a standard convection oven does — this is why the typical adjustment (reducing both temperature and time) is more significant than the standard oven-to-convection guideline covered in the convection comparison guide.
The common starting adjustment
A widely used starting guideline is reducing the original recipe's temperature by about 25°F and its cooking time by roughly 20%, then checking doneness well before the adjusted time is up, since this is only a general starting estimate, not a guaranteed precise conversion for every specific dish and air fryer model.
Why checking early matters even more than usual
Air fryer models vary considerably in actual cooking power and airflow design between brands and sizes, meaning the exact right adjustment for a specific unit can differ meaningfully from the general guideline — checking a dish well before the estimated adjusted time, and adjusting for future attempts based on how a specific unit actually performs, is more important here than with a standard oven adjustment.