Over the last few months, air fryers have become the must-have kitchen appliance for households looking to save time and money.
Time and time again, social media users have been in awe at the sheer number of surprising things that can be cooked in an air fryer, from boiled eggs to doughnuts.
But now, a new hack has emerged just in time for Pancake Day, which falls on Tuesday (21 February) – one recipe claims to be able to cook a stack of pancakes in an air fryer.
A TikTok video posted by Currys uses a Tefal Easy Fry air fryer to cook a stack of about six fluffy pancakes.
The clip shows the demonstrator pouring pancake batter on top of greaseproof paper inside the air fryer basket. Underneath are layers of more greaseproof paper, all sandwiched by rounds of pancake batter.
The pancakes are later removed from the air fryer and appear perfectly cooked, before they are stacked onto a plate with chocolate sauce poured on top.
Currys released the recipe after it found that sales of air fryers have risen by 350 per cent year-on-year, with searches for the appliance on the retailer’s website increasing by 800 per cent.
As the cost of living crisis continues to hit households, many have turned to air fryers as a more energy-efficient cooking method. The appliance heats up much more quickly than an oven and therefore cooks food in a shorter amount of time, saving energy in the process.
The video was reposted on Twitter and quickly went viral as thousands of users were intrigued by the hack.
One person wrote: “I was so anti-air fryers because who wants to eat dry chips and chicken, now that I see what more you can do with them, I’m reconsidering and I’m thinking of adding one to my cart.”
Another said: “I shouldn’t have gave [sic] mine away. I am about to buy another one.”
However, some people who tried the hack have warned that it doesn’t work quite as well as many had hoped.
One person called the video “fake”, adding: “Because I’ll try some stuff… the lie detector test determined this was a lie!!! And they came out like bread consistency. Abort, abort, do not try, lol.”
Another said the hack “almost burned down my damn kitchen”, adding: “Issa [sic] trap, would not recommend.”
However, a third person said the recipe worked for them when they turned down the temperature of their air fryer and the pancakes “came out great”.
They recommended greasing the greaseproof paper with butter or oil before pouring batter on top, and adding butter on top of the topmost pancake “when it was about half-way cooked through”.
Currys recommended selecting the air fry programme at 200C and to bake the pancakes for five minutes before flipping them halfway through for the best results.
