I've been experimenting with my air fryer and one of the best things I've made EVER...is this air fryer crumbed crunchy pasta! And...it only takes 5 simple ingredients!

platter with air fryer crumbed crunchy pasta, veggies and tzatziki

So grab your air fryer, some spinach and cheese agnolotti (or ravioli!) and let's make the best starter ever.

Air fryer versus frying

Sure, you could deep fat fry these and come out with a similar result. But deep fat frying is exactly that- deep fat! Using an air fryer means you can make fried things using much less (or no!) oil. It's awesome for things like these air fryer banana fritters or making the best ever sweet potato fries.

child's hand reaching in to take a piece of air fryer crumbed crunchy pasta

What air fryer?

It seems every brand is coming out with an air fryer right now. I love the Philips range, they have been out there since the beginning and they always seem to be making new ones.

But I've also had a Kambrook, and I also love the versatility of this one from Russell Hobbs. The key thing when choosing an air fryer is that you need to get one big enough to feed your whole family.

air fryer crumbed crunchy pasta in the basket of the airfryer

Tips for making everything crispy in the air fryer

less is more when it comes to oil
I use an oil spray bottle from Decor and use olive oil that I refill
don't overload the air fryer, air needs to be able to circulate
check the temperature guide unlike ovens there is a lot of variance about suggested temps for different foods in air fryers
shake it, baby! Open the air fryer regularly and give things a shake to make sure they are all getting air on them

crunchy crumbed air fryer pasta close up showing all the crumb and crunchiness

Using packet pasta

This recipe uses pasta in a packet- but if you want, you can make your own for it. I love the simplicity of buying the pack and knowing that I can make a fun and yummy starter that everyone loves in no time at all.

What you need

650 g filled pasta- your choice of brand
3 eggs and ¾ cup water
2 cups plain flour
2 cups panko crumbs
olive oil spray

ingredients shot: flour, eggs, panko crumbs and pasta

How to make them

Once you have mastered my way of crumbing, you can use it to crumb anything! For things like this where it's hard to make the crumbing stick, I use a wet-dry-wet-dry method. The initial wet means the flour sticks, then the second wetting gets the crumbs to stick!

whisk together the eggs with ¾ cup water
dip the pasta into the egg mix
then into the flour
then into the egg mix
then into the panko crumb
place in the air fryer and spray lightly with olive oil
cook at 200 degrees celsius for 5-10 minutes, shaking regularly to ensure all of the pasta is crunchy and golden

process, whisking eggs, dipping pasta into the eggs, coating in flour, dipping into egg again, coating in panko crumbs and frying

Substitutions

You could also use any filled pasta of your choosing. I do spinach and cheese because I like the flavour. Use normal breadcrumbs instead of panko if you prefer, but panko really adds to the crunch.

Serving suggestions

I've paired this with tzatziki- because it's a kid friendly dip but anything like a garlic aioli, or favourite dipping sauce will work
I've done this is a snack platter but for a more substantial starter grazing platter it would be awesome alongside pumpkin fritters, or even something like Chicken, haloumi and kale fritters.

child's hand dipping air fryer crumbed crunchy pasta into tzatziki

More air fryer ideas