Many of us can’t remember what we did before the dawn of air fryers, and who can blame us? With their ability to preheat in 2-3 minutes and cook food up to 50% faster, air fryers are now a UK kitchen staple. So it makes sense that you probably want to get as much out of yours as possible, including when it comes to desserts.
More and more people are realising that air frying is a genius method for creating decadent sweet treats, from gooey brownies to fluffy doughnuts.
Air fryers are essentially mini convection ovens. But because their convection fans sit on top – rather than the back, like in a traditional oven – they cook more evenly, producing desserts that are beautifully crisp on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.
A good rule of thumb when adapting oven recipes for the air fryer: lower the temperature by 15°C and cut the cooking time by 20-25%. Don’t let their compact size fool you – air fryers open up endless possibilities for desserts, delivering speed, convenience, and beautifully finished results that rival a traditional oven.
If you’re ready to move from savoury to sweet and expand your air fryer repertoire, here are seven delicious air fryer desserts to try.
1. Air fryer apple crumble
The humble apple crumble graces most of our kitchen tables at some point during the year. It’s warm and simple, offering a deeply satisfying contrast of soft, tender, slightly tart baked apples and a buttery, crunchy crumb topping with warming cinnamon drawing everything together.
You can pretty much cook an air fryer apple crumble in the same way you would an oven apple crumble, but it’ll typically cook faster, have a more golden, crispy top, and use less energy. This air fryer apple crumble recipe from Tesco recommends using a 20cm cake tin. It serves six, takes just 30 minutes, and needs only five ingredients. The apples cook first with sugar and spices, then the crumble mixture goes in for a final 10 minutes. Serve warm, with a splash of single cream if you like.
2. Air fryer chocolate puffs
We love these air fryer chocolate puffs from BBC Good Food as they’re cheap, cheerful, comforting, and made with only three ingredients: ready-made puff pastry, chocolate spread, and one large free-range egg. The golden pastry triangles are lovely and crisp on the outside, flaky and buttery inside, and hide a warm, gooey pocket of filling at the centre.
All you need to do is cut your puff pastry into squares, spoon a tablespoon of chocolate spread into the centre of each, and brush the edges of the pastry half with beaten egg. Fold into a triangle to seal, then crimp with the prongs of a fork. Brush the tops with what’s left, and cook in batches for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden on top. If you don’t want to cook all the parcels at once, you can keep them in the fridge unglazed for up to two days.
3. Air fryer cinnamon rolls
If you’re looking for a versatile sweet treat – one you can grab for breakfast, an afternoon snack with a cuppa, or a dessert – cinnamon rolls are tricky to beat. At Rest Less, they’re a firm favourite; it’s difficult not to be drawn in by the melt-in-the-mouth spirals of warm cinnamon-sugar dough, soft-set at the centre, and draped in sweet icing.
These air fryer cinnamon rolls from BBC Good Food take just 15-20 minutes to cook (one batch in a one-drawer air-fryer) and serve six, with the option to freeze the rolls after baking and before icing, if you’d like to save some for later. The intense, direct airflow gives the rolls a wonderfully crisp edge while keeping the interior soft, pillowy, and evenly baked, meaning less chance of a dreaded doughy middle. This is one dessert you might not want to share!
4. Air fryer chocolate chip cookies
Few things smell better than freshly baked cookies: warm, sweet, and comforting in an almost nostalgic way, like home, or the memory of someone’s kitchen. They’re also surprisingly easy to make, considering how good they smell and taste, with a fuss-free ingredients list that relies on baking staples rather than anything too fancy.
Once you’ve made your cookie dough, roll it into golf-ball-sized balls and flatten them into slim patties in your hands. Set the air fryer to 180°C and cook in batches of 3-4 for 5-6 minutes, until the edges are just firm. If you’re cooking for just one or two people, you can also set aside 3-4 dough balls, batch up the rest, and freeze them for up to three months. Check out this air fryer chocolate chip cookies recipe from Lidl to give it a go.
5. Air fryer doughnuts
One of the main reasons air fryer doughnuts are so popular is that they’re lower in fat than traditional doughnuts and use less oil, while still being warm, flaky, and incredibly moreish. There’s no need to stand over a pan of hot oil, worrying about the right temperature or fishing out doughnuts before they burn, as the air fryer does the hard work for you.
Ninja Kitchen’s air fryer doughnuts recipe uses flour, sugar, egg, milk, yeast, and butter for the dough base. Once you’ve rolled this out to two inches thick, cut out your doughnuts with a doughnut cutter, or two different-sized biscuit cutters (one small, one large). Place on a piece of baking paper, cover, and leave to rise for 30 minutes before cooking in batches of 4-5 for about four minutes, until golden brown. From here, the recipe branches depending on whether you want glazed, sugar-coated, or filled (Berliner) doughnuts. The choice is yours!
6. Air fryer lemon drizzle loaf
Lemon drizzle loaf is a reliable crowd-pleaser, largely because the tartness of the lemon keeps it balanced, preventing it from feeling too heavy or overly sweet. It’s also relatively low effort. Though the sponge itself is wonderfully light and moist, lemon drizzle loaf gets most of its character from the sugar syrup poured over later, which settles into a thin, slightly crunchy crust as it cools.
When it comes to cake, air fryers help give an even rise and avoid a sinking middle. They also give the loaf a more defined crust, which helps when you poke holes and pour over the syrup, since it holds its structure while still soaking in and cracking as it cools. To give it a go, check out Ninja Kitchen’s air fryer lemon loaf recipe. It’s worth checking whether your loaf tin will fit inside your air fryer basket before getting started, as you may need a smaller tin or even a silicone version in the right size.
7. Air fryer cheesecake
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Cheesecake is one of those desserts many of us love because it feels indulgent but not overwhelming, thanks to the balance between sweet and tangy flavours. It’s also endlessly customisable, from classic chocolate or vanilla to matcha, lemon, or berry. The drawback is that cheesecake recipes can vary considerably, and baked versions can often feel daunting to get right – but not in the air fryer.
This air fryer layered vanilla cheesecake from Jamie Oliver, for example, takes just 33 minutes including cooling time, and is suitable for a one-drawer air fryer (it recommends placing an 18cm, loose-bottom cake tin inside the drawer). The wonderful thing about air frying cheesecake is that there’s no need for a water bath to get a nice, even bake, as the air fryer achieves that for you. Jamie’s recipe is also cooked one layer at a time, which presents the perfect opportunity to throw in chocolate chunks for extra flavour, and the raspberry sauce it’s finished with adds a bright, tangy contrast. Delicious!
8. Air fryer brownies
Dense, rich, and fudgy inside, with a delicate, slightly cracked crust, brownies are satisfying in a way that’s more about richness than sweetness. Each square feels decadent, special, and more substantial than a cake, with a deep cocoa flavour that lingers. You can also choose just how flavoursome you want them to be, for example, by sticking to cocoa powder only or dialling things up with some chocolate chunks and maybe even some nuts.
One of the most challenging things about making brownies is getting the balance between the squidgy centre and shiny crust (it’s not uncommon to end up with a burnt top and a runny middle!), but an air fryer helps everything cook more consistently. Check out this air fryer brownies recipe from delicious. magazine to give it a go. Before getting started, it’s worth making sure you have a brownie tin that fits in your air fryer. This recipe is best for a one-drawer air fryer, and a 20x20cm tin will often be okay, though it’s best to check.
Final thoughts…
If you’d like to get more from your air fryer, hopefully these dessert recipes are proof that you can. The more you think of it as a mini convection oven, the easier it becomes to think creatively about just how much it can do.
For more information, check out our article: 10 air fryer breakfast recipes to jumpstart your day.
Are you planning to try any of these recipes? Or perhaps you think another air fryer dessert should have made the list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.