Frozen foods in an air fryer

Time

14 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

5

Frozen french fries are what the air fryer was built for — about 14 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one shake gives results closer to drive-through than the oven, in half the time. Major brands diverge mostly on cut size; the brand row below is calibrated per product.

Time

12 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen tater tots cook in about 12 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one shake — far better than the standard 30-minute oven instruction printed on the bag. Spread them one layer thick and the result is restaurant-style: shattering-crisp shell, fluffy centre.

Time

6 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen mozzarella sticks are the single most timing-sensitive frozen item in an air fryer. The 6-minute window at 380 °F (193 °C) is narrow — go longer and the breading ruptures, go cooler and the cheese stays cold inside. Treat the brand row below as the source of truth per product.

Time

9 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

5

Frozen chicken nuggets cook in about 9 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with a shake at the halfway mark — visibly crisper than the oven and significantly faster than the bagged 18-minute oven instruction. Confirm 165 °F internal before serving.

Time

24 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen wings are the longest-cooking frozen category — raw frozen wings need about 24 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with a flip at 12 minutes, while fully-cooked breaded wings finish in 14–16 minutes. The brand row below splits raw from breaded.

Time

8 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

5

Frozen breaded shrimp cook in just 8 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with a shake — faster than any other frozen protein. Coconut, popcorn, and standard butterfly varieties all hit the same window with small temperature tweaks shown in the brand row.

Time

12 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen hash browns cook in about 12 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a flip — patties hold their shape and crisp on every face, while shredded hash browns crisp at the tips and stay tender below. The slightly lower temperature is critical.

Time

22 min

Temp

360 °F

Brands

4

Frozen chicken breasts cook in 22 minutes at 360 °F (182 °C) with a flip at the halfway mark — about 4 minutes longer than fresh. The two-stage technique (thaw briefly, season, finish) is what makes the difference between dry centres and properly seasoned chicken.

Time

14 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen salmon fillets cook in 14 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) without flipping — about 5 minutes longer than fresh salmon. The lower temperature and the seasoning pause at 4 minutes are what make frozen-to-cooked salmon work without ending up overcooked or under-seasoned.

Time

7 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen raw shrimp cook in 7 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with a shake — but only after a 5-minute cold-water thaw. The thaw step is non-negotiable: without it the shrimp end up rubbery on the outside and cold in the middle.

Time

12 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

7

Frozen pre-cooked meatballs reheat and crisp at 380 °F (193 °C) in about 12 minutes with one shake at 6 minutes — no preheat, no thaw, no oil. The air fryer gives a deep mahogany crust that oven-baking from frozen rarely matches. Load 12–14 meatballs direct from the bag in a single layer, shake halfway, then probe the centre before pulling. Sauce goes in a separate bowl after cooking, never in the basket. Beyond Meat plant-based meatballs need a lower temperature (360 °F) and a light oil mist; times for other brands vary by size and are listed in the brand rows below. See Meatballs for fresh homemade meatballs, which cook at 380 °F for about 10 minutes.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen personal pizza or single-slice cooks in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with no flip — substantially faster than the 18–22 minutes a conventional oven needs, and the crust comes out crispier on the bottom than any oven rack. The brand row below covers the eight most-cooked frozen pizza products in US households.

Time

7 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen taquitos crisp in 7 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one careful flip at the 4-minute mark. The dry convection heat shatters the shell into the right crackly texture without the soggy bottom that microwaved taquitos always have. Flour and corn shells track the same temperature; corn is slightly more delicate at the flip.

Time

6 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

3

Totino's-style frozen pizza rolls crisp in just 6 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one basket shake. This is one of the best air-fryer-vs-oven contrasts on the entire site: the oven recipe is 13 minutes for a worse result. The brand row below is Totino's-dominated because the category is, but the technique generalises to any small bite-sized frozen pizza pocket.

Time

12 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

3

Frozen burritos cook in 12 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a flip at the 6-minute mark — the trick is wrapping in foil for the first half so the tortilla doesn't burn before the centre thaws. This is a substantially better result than the microwave (which produces a tortilla that's part-hot, part-cold, and part-soggy) and faster than the 25-minute oven cycle the box recipe calls for.

Time

10 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen empanadas cook in 10 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single flip — substantially faster than the 25–30 minutes the oven needs, and the egg-washed crust comes out closer to bakery quality than oven-baking achieves at home. The brand row below covers South American and Caribbean styles; both track the same temperature with minor time variation.

Time

8 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen onion rings crisp in 8 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one flip — faster and crisper than the 13–15 minutes the oven needs, with no soggy underside that the oven invariably leaves. The brand row below covers the four most-cooked frozen onion ring brands in US households.

Time

12 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen broccoli florets cook in 12 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one shake — the surface frost flash-evaporates into steam (which blanches the floret centres), then the convection air takes over and chars the bud tips. The result has the same charred-tip restaurant-style texture as fresh roasted broccoli, in less than half the time and with zero prep.

Time

16 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen brussels sprouts cook in 16 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one shake — the par-blanched centres warm through while the outer leaves char dark-brown. Halve the larger sprouts before adding (the bag has uneven sizes), shake at 8 minutes, then mist oil and finish. The result is closer to restaurant-roasted sprouts than the soggy steam-in-bag method most people learned.

Time

14 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen corn on the cob cooks in 14 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one flip — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no foil. The convection air dries off the surface frost and lightly chars the kernel tips, then butter at the end melts onto a hot cob in a way it never does after boiling. Far better than the watery boiled-cob default for frozen corn.

Time

5 min

Temp

360 °F

Brands

6

Frozen waffles cook in 5 minutes at 360 °F (182 °C) with one flip — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no oil. The convection chamber browns both faces evenly and the crust ends up crisper than any toaster slot can manage, with a tender centre that still has the steam-puff when you cut in. Butter and maple syrup melt into a hot waffle in a way they never do into a cool one — this is the upgrade over the toaster.

Time

5 min

Temp

340 °F

Brands

6

Frozen soft pretzels reheat in 5 minutes at 340 °F (171 °C) with one flip — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no oven preheat. The convection chamber crisps the mahogany Bavarian crust to a shine while keeping the interior chewy and warm, and brushing with water before salting is the difference between coarse salt that stays put and coarse salt that ends up at the bottom of the basket. Far better and 15 minutes faster than the standard oven instruction printed on every brand's box.

Time

9 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen french bread pizza cooks in 9 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with no flip — far better than the 28-minute oven instruction printed on every Stouffer's box. The convection chamber crisps the dense baguette base in a way the oven never quite manages, while the cheese ends up evenly browned with the pepperoni properly cupped and rendered. One of the highest-return frozen-meal upgrades in any air fryer.

Time

7 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen jalapeño poppers cook in 7 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one flip at the 4-minute mark — straight from the freezer, single layer, ½-inch gaps between each popper. The air fryer cuts the oven time on most boxes roughly in half and delivers the same deep-golden breading with a warm cream-cheese-and-jalapeño centre. The single most important step is fork-pricking each popper on its flatter side before loading: it vents steam pressure that would otherwise split the seam at 5 minutes, dropping the rupture rate from 30–40 % to under 10 %. Lightly breaded, cheese-heavy variants like TJ's Stuffed Jalapeños need 360 °F to protect the thinner shell; bacon-wrapped styles add one minute. Farm Rich Original is the benchmark at 380 °F / 7 min; the brand rows below cover the common variants. Serve with ranch or blue-cheese dip straight from the basket.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen spring rolls cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single flip at 4 minutes — straight from the freezer, single layer, seam-side up, with an optional light oil mist for a shatter-crisp wrapper finish. The air fryer delivers the mahogany-and-gold colour and audible crunch in about a third of the oven time on the box, with far less cleanup than deep-frying. Wrapper thickness shifts the cook by ±1 minute: thin-wrapper products like TJ's Vegetable Spring Rolls and Annie Chun's are done at 7 minutes; thicker-wrapper products like Pagoda Pork & Vegetable and Costco Bibigo need 9 minutes. This entry covers pre-fried frozen spring rolls; fresh or refrigerator-case mini spring rolls cook on a different profile — see the mini-spring-rolls entry. Serve with sweet-chili sauce or soy-ginger dip.

Time

7 min

Temp

350 °F

Brands

5

Frozen pre-cooked sausage patties cook in 7 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C) with a single flip at 4 — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no preheat, single layer with ½-inch gaps, and no added oil for pork variants (the patties self-baste from rendered fat). The cook follows a two-stage profile: minutes 0–4 are the fat-render stage where surface fat melts and bubbles into the basket; minutes 4–7 are the crisp stage where the defatted surface browns under direct convection. This delivers a mahogany-edge crisp on both faces in about a third of stovetop pan time with far less mess. Maple-glazed variants (Jimmy Dean Maple, Tennessee Pride Maple) drop to 330 °F at the flip to protect the sugar coating from scorching. Turkey-sausage patties (Jimmy Dean Turkey, Jennie-O) need a light oil-mist on top before loading and an extra minute at 360 °F because lean meat doesn't self-baste. The single most critical step is not opening the basket before 4 minutes — early opening stalls the render and leaves patties pale and greasy.

Time

11 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen beef burger patties cook in 11 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single flip at 6 — straight from the freezer, no thaw, single layer with ½-inch gaps, and no oil for beef variants. The key counter-intuitive truth about air-frying frozen burgers: they cook better from frozen than from thawed because thawed surface brine steams the bottom face pale instead of letting it sear. The convection chamber delivers a hard mahogany sear on both faces in about half the stovetop time, with no smoke and splatter. Plant-based variants (Beyond, Impossible) drop to 360 °F and add 1 minute — the plant-protein structure scorches grey-mealy at 380 °F before the centre reaches a safe temperature. Wagyu blends like the Costco Kirkland patty drop 1 minute to 10 to preserve the juicy bite from the higher fat content. Internal temperature targets are non-negotiable: 160 °F for beef and Beyond; 165 °F for Impossible and poultry — probe horizontally into the side at the 10-minute mark. Add cheese in the final 2 minutes after the flip; ambient heat drapes the slice without scorching.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen corn dogs cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single flip at 4 — straight from the freezer, no preheat, no oil, in a single layer standing stick-up. The hot-dog fat self-bastes the cornmeal batter from within, so no added oil is needed. The key rule is load orientation: full-size corn dogs must stand upright against the basket wall — stick-down places the wooden tip on the hot grate and it scorches within 60 seconds. The air fryer crisps the batter to a golden-bronze in about half the conventional-oven time with no deep-fryer oil bath. Honey-coated variants (Foster Farms Honey Crunchy) and jalapeño-cheese variants (State Fair Cheesy Jalapeño) each need 9 minutes; mini cocktail corn dogs drop to 5 minutes with a flip at 3. Internal temperature target is 165 °F, probed horizontally through the batter into the hot-dog core.

Time

12 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

6

Frozen pierogies cook in 12 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single flip at 6 minutes — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no preheat, in a single layer with ½-inch gaps and a light oil mist on top after loading. The dough wrapper is flour-and-water with no internal fat, so the oil spray is essential for the golden-brown finish the air fryer delivers on both faces. Fork-prick each pierogi once on the flatter side before cooking to cut the filling-rupture rate from roughly 25% to under 5%. The result is crispier than pan-frying and skips the pot of boiling water entirely. Mrs. T's Mini Pierogies use a shorter 8-minute profile (flip at 4); potato-and-onion fillings add a minute (13 min); sauerkraut fillings drop a minute (11 min); meat fillings add a minute and raise the internal target to 165 °F. Most US-grocery pierogies use pre-cooked fillings — the ~145 °F target is a warmth check, not a food-safety threshold, except for meat fillings.

Time

9 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

6

Frozen falafel cooks in 9 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single flip at 5 minutes — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no preheat, single layer with ½-inch gaps, and a light neutral-oil mist on top before loading. The par-fried shell needs supplemental surface fat to re-crisp evenly under convection. For stuffed variants, prick each piece once on the equator with a fork tine before loading to prevent steam ruptures. Convection delivers a golden-brown contact crust on both faces in roughly half the time of deep-frying, with none of the oil to manage. Trader Joe's smaller 12g balls drop to 7 min with a flip at 4. Mini cocktail-size falafel (Whole Foods 365 mini-bites, Sabra Cocktail) need only 6 min with a flip at 3. Falafel patties extend to 10 min with a flip at 5. All US-grocery frozen falafel is pre-cooked at the factory — the air-fryer step re-warms and re-crisps; the ~145 °F centre target is a warming check, not a food-safety cook step.

Time

10 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen potstickers cook in 10 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a single shake at 5 — straight from the freezer, no thaw, no preheat, single-layer with ½-inch gaps, and a light neutral-oil mist on top before loading. The air fryer delivers a blistered golden-brown wrapper in about a third of the time the package's pan-fry-then-steam method calls for, with no splatter to clean up. Bibigo Mandu and Wei-Chuan Pork Dumplings both follow the 10-minute profile. Ling Ling Potstickers run slightly thinner and are done at 9 minutes with a shake at 4. Trader Joe's Pork Gyoza, with the thinnest wrapper of any mainstream US-grocery frozen dumpling, finishes at 8 minutes with a shake at 4. CJ Foods Mini Wontons (cocktail-size 6g pieces) need their own 6-minute profile with a shake at 3 — not a scaled-down version of the full-size one. Every US-grocery frozen potsticker, mandu, and gyoza uses pre-cooked filling, so the air-fryer step is reheating and crisping rather than cooking to a safe temperature; a centre probe of about 145 °F confirms the filling is hot through. Serve with dipping sauce (3 Tbsp soy sauce + 1 Tbsp rice vinegar + 1 tsp chili oil + 1 Tbsp sliced scallion + ½ tsp grated ginger) in a side dish — never poured on before serving.

Time

28 min

Temp

340 °F

Brands

5

Frozen lasagna cooks in 28 minutes at 340 °F (171 °C) with no flip. Load the single-serve tray straight from the freezer, foil lid up, and cook covered for the first 23 minutes — the foil traps steam and brings the centre safely to 165 °F before the top hits direct convection. Remove the foil for the final 5 minutes to brown the top to a bubbling, golden-cheese finish that neither the microwave nor the oven matches at this time and energy cost. Stouffer's 9.5-oz single-serve is the baseline. Lean Cuisine Five Cheese and Amy's Organic Cheese (both 10.25 oz, cheese-only, no meat mass) drop to 25 minutes with foil-on-20-off-5 timing. Marie Callender's Three-Meat 15-oz extends to 30 minutes with foil-on-25-off-5 timing due to its denser meat layer. The Stouffer's 38-oz family-size tray is too large for any standard basket — transfer a 9–10 oz portion to a ramekin and cook 25 minutes. Pull at 165 °F internal, rest 3 minutes, then serve.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen egg rolls cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one tong-flip at 4 minutes, coming out with a blistered, golden wrapper and hot filling — far closer to takeout than the oven manages. Load them ribbed-seam-down, give the tops a brief neutral-oil mist, and go straight from the freezer bag to the basket. Every US grocery brand ships the filling pre-cooked, so the cook is purely a re-warm and crisp; for meat-filled rolls, verify 165 °F if you want to be sure. Bibigo Mini Egg Rolls are small enough to shake rather than tong-flip, and their smaller geometry crisps in just 6 minutes. The brand table below lists per-product time adjustments.

Time

8 min

Temp

320 °F

Brands

4

Steam-style frozen dumplings — XLB (soup dumplings), shumai, and har-gow — cook in 8 minutes at 320 °F (160 °C) with no flip. The technique turns on one non-negotiable: 2 Tbsp water in a perforated parchment cup placed in the basket before the dumplings go in. Convection heats that water to steam within 90 seconds, surrounding the dumplings with humid 200–220 °F air that warms thin wrappers to soft-translucent without bursting them. No oil, no preheat, no flip. Orient XLB pleated-seam-up; shumai and har-gow sit flat naturally. All US grocery frozen dumpling SKUs are factory-fully-cooked, so the target is a reheat to about 145 °F — translucent wrapper and visible filling are the doneness cues, not browning. Shumai and har-gow drop to 300 °F and 6–7 minutes because their geometry and wrapper type steam faster. This profile is for steam-style SKUs only; pan-fry-style dumplings (potstickers, mandu, gyoza) belong on the frozen potstickers profile at 380 °F with oil spray.

Time

6 min

Temp

350 °F

Brands

5

Frozen bagels from the supermarket freezer aisle — Lender's, Sara Lee, TJ's Mini Bagels, Western Bagel NYC-Style, and Bantam Bagels pre-stuffed — all come out well in the air fryer at 350 °F (177 °C), faster and with a better toasted surface than a toaster oven. The standard profile is 6 minutes with one flip at 3, halves loaded cut-side up from frozen. The flash-vaporising surface moisture creates a blistered crisp the oven can't match. Mini and pre-stuffed variants need shorter times; denser NYC-style dough needs one extra minute. See the brand rows below for per-product settings. For fresh bakery-style bagels (Thomas', Einstein Bros), see the fresh bagels entry.

Time

25 min

Temp

350 °F

Brands

5

Frozen chicken cordon bleu — breaded chicken breast wrapped around ham and Swiss cheese — cooks at 350 °F (177 °C) for 25 minutes with no flip, placed seam-side down directly from the freezer. The lower temperature is deliberate: it gives the dense stuffing pocket time to reach 145 °F before the breading scorches, while the circulating air still produces a crisper crust than a conventional oven in about 10 fewer minutes. Barber Foods is the benchmark 5-oz two-piece SKU; Tyson, Aldi Kirkwood, Schwan's, and Cuisine Solutions all share the same geometry and the same 25-minute profile. The one technique detail that matters most: seam-side down, no flip, no thaw — the frozen state is what keeps the seam sealed and the cheese inside.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen samosas cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one tong-flip at the midpoint — faster and crisper than the 18–22 minutes a conventional oven takes. The key moves are cooking straight from frozen, placing pieces pleat-side up, and flipping individually rather than shaking the basket. Most US grocery brands (Trader Joe's, Deep, Kawan) share the same 8-minute profile; Sukhi's needs an extra minute because of its denser filling. All major frozen samosa SKUs are factory fully cooked — the air fryer step is warming and crisping, not cooking through. If meat-filled samosas are not labelled "fully cooked," verify the filling reaches 165 °F.

Time

6 min

Temp

360 °F

Brands

5

Frozen coconut shrimp cook in 6 minutes at 360 °F (182 °C) with a single tong-flip at the 3-minute mark — faster and crispier than the oven, with a texture the oven can't match. The lower temperature compared to panko-breaded shrimp (400 °F) is intentional: sweetened coconut flakes scorch at 380 °F or above, so the extra 40 degrees would ruin the batch. Cook straight from frozen in a single layer with ½-inch gaps between pieces, use tongs rather than a basket shake to protect the breading, and skip the oil spray entirely since the factory coating already carries enough fat. Trader Joe's 8-oz and Costco Kirkland 24-oz are the two most common brands and both follow the same 360 °F / 6-minute profile. Whole Foods 365 runs slightly thicker breading and benefits from 7 minutes with a flip at 3.5. Jumbo shrimp need 8 minutes with a flip at 4.

Time

25 min

Temp

350 °F

Brands

5

Frozen pot pies cook in 25 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C) with no flip — faster than the 35–45 minutes the oven needs, and with a crisper crust. The two keys are transferring the pie from its foil tray to a ceramic or glass ramekin (the foil tray is the main reason air-fryer pot pies disappoint) and using a foil tent for the first 18 minutes so the filling warms through before the crust browns. Always probe the filling to 165 °F; the gravy mass heats more slowly than the surrounding crust and can look done while still being cold in the middle. Brand timing varies mainly by portion size — the 7-oz Banquet finishes at 20 minutes, Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and Amy's at 22, and the 10-oz Marie Callender's and Stouffer's at the full 25.

Time

8 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

5

Frozen popcorn chicken cooks in 8 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one basket shake at the halfway mark — no thaw, no oil, no preheat. The bite-size cube shape tumbles during the shake so all six faces crisp evenly, which is why a shake works here where a tong-flip is needed for flat-oval nuggets (see the chicken-nuggets entry). Major brands — Tyson, Banquet, Foster Farms — all follow the same 400 °F / 8-minute profile. Buffalo- and BBQ-sauce-coated variants drop to 380 °F to keep the sauce from scorching, and Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken needs an extra minute plus a sauce-toss at the end. Keep sauces on the side for dipping; never coat the pieces before cooking.

Time

22 min

Temp

350 °F

Brands

5

Frozen mac and cheese cooks in 22 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C) with a two-stage technique: foil-tented for the first 16 minutes to warm through without scorching, then uncovered for the final 6 minutes to brown the cheese top. The key prep step is transferring the frozen block from its foil tray into an oven-safe ramekin so convection heat reaches it evenly from all sides. The result is closer to a baked casserole than anything a microwave produces — creamy sauce, tender pasta, and a properly browned cheese cap. Unlike reheating leftover mac and cheese (which needs less time at 340 °F), cooking from frozen requires the full 22 minutes to bring the dense cheese-sauce mass up to a safe 165 °F at the centre. Brand timing varies mainly by portion size; see the brand rows below.

Time

15 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen tamales cook in 15 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) in the air fryer — far faster and better-textured than 30–45 minutes of stovetop steaming, and none of the rubbery, unevenly-hot results you get from a microwave. The key rule is to keep the corn husk on throughout: unlike a burrito's flour tortilla or an empanada's pastry shell, the corn husk is not structural — it's a steam pocket that holds moisture inside the masa while the convection heat warms the filling to a safe 165 °F. Tamales made for a Christmas-Eve tamalada and individually frozen keep this same approach; they just need one extra minute because homemade portions run slightly larger. Flip once at the halfway mark and probe the centre before pulling.

Time

11 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Hot Pockets cook in 11 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one flip at 5.5 minutes — leave the crisper sleeve off, use no oil, and go straight from the freezer. The result is a crisp, buttered pastry shell with hot filling throughout, a clear improvement over the microwave's soggy-crust outcome. Unlike pizza rolls (bite-size, 400 °F / 6 min) or burritos (flour tortilla, 380 °F / 14 min), Hot Pockets are a sealed pastry pocket sized as a single meal. Probe the filling centre at 165 °F if you have a thermometer, especially for the egg-based breakfast varieties. The brand row below covers the main variants and their per-product timing adjustments.

Time

12 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

6

Frozen breaded chicken tenders cook in 12 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one flip at 6 minutes — single layer, no oil, no thaw, no preheat. The air fryer produces a consistently deep-golden crisp that the oven rarely matches in the same time. Probe to ≥165 °F internally at the pull mark; visual colour alone is not sufficient for frozen poultry. This page covers the straight-from-bag frozen cook; see Chicken Tenders for fresh home-breaded tenders, leftover chicken tenders for leftover takeout, and frozen chicken nuggets for the smaller bite-size format. Brand timing varies: Perdue and Just BARE finish one minute early at 11 min (lighter breading), Kirkland Tempura needs one minute extra at 13 min (larger tenders), and Tyson Any'tizers need only 10 min because they are fully pre-cooked at the factory.

Time

12 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

7

Frozen broccoli florets cook in 12 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one basket shake at 6 minutes — producing crispy, charred-edged florets with bright-green, fork-tender centres that a conventional oven can rarely match from frozen. The key difference from pre-fried frozen foods is that broccoli genuinely needs oil: toss the bag contents with 1 Tbsp oil and seasoning before loading, spread in a single layer, and cook straight from frozen. Expect about 30 % volume reduction. Smaller petite-cut brands (C&W, Green Giant) shave a minute off; the Kirkland 4-lb bag uses the same profile but must be portioned to basket capacity. For fresh broccoli see Broccoli Florets, which runs at 380 °F for 8 minutes.

Time

12 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

6

Frozen breaded fish fillets cook in 12 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one flip at 6 minutes — faster than the 17–19 minutes called for on most oven instructions, with crispier results. Load 2–4 fillets directly from the bag in a single layer, skip the oil for pre-oiled brands, and use an instant-read thermometer to confirm 145 °F at the thickest point. Most brands use pollock or cod with a seasoned breadcrumb coating; Van de Kamp's uses beer batter, which takes 1 extra minute and produces a distinctly malty crust. These are a step up from fish sticks in portion size and fillet integrity — see the fish-sticks entry for the thinner strip format. Per-brand times differ mainly by breading density and fillet size, so check the brand table below.

Time

22 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen pre-stuffed-and-breaded chicken breasts — Barber Foods Cordon Bleu, Barber Foods Kiev, Schwan's Broccoli-Cheese, Kirkland Signature Mediterranean, and Trader Joe's Florentine being the most common — cook in 22 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one flip at 11 minutes, about 8–13 minutes faster than a conventional oven. Load pieces seam-side down directly from the freezer, no thaw, no oil, no preheat. The key safety step that separates this from other frozen chicken: always probe both the chicken meat and the filling centre — the stuffing pocket holds heat differently from the solid breast and needs its own 165 °F reading. Compared with Stuffed Chicken Breast (fresh, butterfly-and-stuff from scratch), these come pre-assembled and cook from frozen in one unattended stretch.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

5

Frozen breakfast sandwiches — Jimmy Dean English Muffin or Croissant, Kirkland Signature McMuffin-format, Bob Evans Biscuit, Tim Hortons Sausage — cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one flip at 4 minutes. The air fryer beats the oven (20–25 minutes) and avoids the rubbery-egg result of the microwave. Load straight from the freezer, tent English-muffin and biscuit variants with foil for the first half, unwrap the Kirkland wax-paper before loading, and always dual-probe the sausage puck (165 °F) and egg puck (160 °F) before pulling — melted cheese is not a safe doneness indicator. Croissant and biscuit shells need one extra minute (9 minutes, flip at 4.5). See also the breakfast-burrito entry for a fresh-built tortilla alternative.

Time

6 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen sweet peas cook in 6 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one shake at 3 minutes, turning out golden-edged and tender where stovetop simmering just gives you pale, bland peas. The key steps are tossing with a teaspoon of oil before loading and holding the temperature at 380 °F — higher heat shrivels the skins before the centres warm through. Birds Eye Steamfresh (10 oz) and Green Giant (12 oz) run the full 6 minutes; Trader Joe's Petit Pois (16 oz) finish a minute earlier at 5 minutes because the smaller peas cook faster. For related fresh-pod vegetables see the sugar snap peas page; for larger frozen vegetables see frozen broccoli florets or frozen Brussels sprouts.

Time

14 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen sweet potato fries cook in 14 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one shake at 7 minutes — faster and crisper than the oven, with a golden-amber shell and bright-orange interior. Sweet potato fries need 20 °F more than frozen white-potato fries (see frozen french fries at 380 °F / 12 min) because the higher natural-sugar content requires that temperature to brown properly without scorching, and the denser starch takes a bit longer to cook through. A light oil mist before cooking is not optional here: without it the fries steam pale. Single-layer loading matters more than with white-potato fries for the same reason — crowded fries trap steam and the sugar surface never crisps.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen edamame in the pod cooks in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one shake at 4 minutes — a notably better result than the microwave bag instructions. The keys are cooking from frozen (do not thaw), a light oil mist on the pods before they go in, and a generous shake at the halfway mark. The convection air produces golden-amber browning on 40–50% of the pods with a bright-green, tender bean inside. Salt immediately after pulling while the pods are still hot so the crystals grip the shell. Birds Eye (12 oz), Trader Joe's (16 oz), Kirkland Signature (3 lb), and Seapoint Farms Organic (14 oz) all run the same 380 °F / 8 min / shake-at-4 profile — differences are bag size and batch count, not temperature or time. Shelled mukimame (no pod wall, smaller geometry) cuts to 380 °F / 6 min / shake at 3.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Bagel Bites cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with no flip, no shake, and no oil spray. Load them straight from the freezer cheese-side up in a single layer, skip the preheat, and pull at 8 minutes. The result is a crisp golden base with fully melted, lightly blistered cheese and curled-crisp pepperoni edges — noticeably better than the 12-minute oven method, which struggles to crisp the base, and far better than the 90-second microwave, which softens everything. The critical rules are temperature (380 °F, not 400 °F), orientation (cheese-side up, always), and stillness (no shaking after the cheese begins to melt). All four Bagel Bites varieties — Cheese & Pepperoni, Three Cheese, Supreme Pizza, and Cheesy Garlic — use the identical cook profile; only the topping changes.

Time

10 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen mini tacos cook in 10 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one basket shake at the 5-minute mark — no preheat, no oil spray, straight from the freezer. The air fryer deepens the pre-fried corn shell to a golden-amber crunch and brings the seasoned beef or chicken filling to 165 °F in the time it takes to set out the toppings. All four major brands — Tyson Any'tizers (32-count, 14 oz), Jose Ole Beef and Cheese (30-count, 14 oz), Kirkland Signature (3-lb Costco pack), and Delimex (30-count, 14 oz) — use the identical 400 °F / 10-minute / shake-at-5 profile. The filling varies slightly (beef only, beef and cheese, beef with jalapeño), but the cook does not change. For a large bag or a party batch, run sequential 20–24-count rounds and keep earlier batches warm in a 200 °F oven while the next batch finishes.

Time

12 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen cauliflower florets cook in 12 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with one firm shake at the 6-minute mark. The key step is tossing the still-frozen florets with 1 Tbsp oil, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, and ¼ tsp garlic powder in a mixing bowl before loading the basket — cauliflower's high water content means the oil is what gives you golden-brown, caramelized florets instead of steamed mush. Spread in a single layer, shake at 6 minutes, and pull at 12. Finish in the serving bowl with lemon juice, Parmesan, chili flakes, or fresh parsley. The result is deeply golden florets with charred bud tips and a tender centre — closer to oven-roasted results in less than half the time. Four common brands all hit 400 °F with a shake at 6 minutes; Trader Joe's organic florets run 1 minute shorter due to their slightly smaller cut, Kirkland's jumbo florets run 1 minute longer, and Green Giant Riced Cauliflower uses a lower 380 °F for 10 minutes with a parchment liner to stop rice grains falling through the basket.

Time

12 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen fried rice cooks in 12 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with two shakes and a mid-cook sesame-oil mist — noticeably better than microwave results, with separated grains and some toasted-grain character. The liner is essential: rice grains pour straight through a bare basket grate. Unlike fried rice (leftover takeout reheated at 360 °F for about 4 minutes), this is a cook-from-frozen profile at a slightly higher temp and longer time. The four brand variants below all use the same 380 °F / 12-minute baseline; flavour profiles differ but the cook does not.

Time

30 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen stuffed peppers cook in 30 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with no flip, a foil tent for the first 20 minutes, and a parchment-paper liner to catch drips. Stand 2 peppers upright in a 5-qt basket, drape foil loosely over the cheese caps, and cook 20 minutes. Remove the foil, then finish uncovered for 10 more minutes until the cheese is deep golden brown. No preheat, no oil spray, no flipping needed. Probe the centre of the filling — it must hit 165 °F before you pull. Rest 3 minutes in the basket so the cheese sets and the filling redistributes heat. The foil tent is the key technique: it shields the surface from the top element during the slow heat-through phase, then the uncovered final 10 minutes gives the cheese the direct heat it needs to caramelise properly. Brand cook times vary by portion size — Birds Eye 9-oz single-serve finishes in 22 minutes (foil on for 14), Kirkland 11-oz Mexican-style in 28 minutes (foil on for 18), and Hungry-Man 14-oz XXL in 32 minutes (foil on for 22). All use the same 380 °F temperature and the same tent-then-uncover sequence.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen quesadillas cook in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one flip at 4 minutes — no thaw, no oil, no preheat needed. The air fryer re-crisps the pre-cooked flour tortilla on both faces while melting the cheese filling through; the result is noticeably crisper than the oven method and avoids the rubbery shell the microwave produces. Meat-filled varieties (chicken, beef) should hit 165 °F at the centre. The four common brands all share the same 380 °F / 8-min profile; differences are in filling and seasoning level, not cook time. See the brand rows below for per-product notes.

Time

6 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen garlic bread cooks in 6 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) — roughly half the time of a conventional oven — with no flip and no added oil. Load it straight from the freezer, buttered-side-up on a parchment-lined basket, and the convection heat re-melts the factory butter into a bubbling amber coating while crisping the underside. The lower temperature (380 °F rather than 400 °F) is intentional: garlic butter scorches fast, and the extra margin keeps the top golden rather than bitter. Cheese-topped varieties (Trader Joe's, Cole's Cheese Garlic Bread) need a loose foil tent for the first half of the cook. Compared with reheating leftover restaurant garlic bread — which runs at 350 °F for about 4 minutes — frozen pre-buttered loaves benefit from the slightly higher heat and longer time to cook through from frozen.

Time

10 min

Temp

400 °F

Brands

4

Frozen fish sticks cook in 10 minutes at 400 °F (204 °C) with a single flip at 5 minutes — straight from the freezer, no thaw and no oil spray (the breading is pre-fried at the factory). The air fryer crisps the breading harder and more evenly than an oven sheet-pan because heat reaches all sides of each stick, so the underside that always steams soft on a baking tray stays crunchy in the basket. 4 brand variants, all close to the 400 °F / 10 min / flip-at-5 benchmark: Gorton's Crunchy Breaded Fish Sticks (the freezer-aisle benchmark), Van de Kamp's Crispy Fish Sticks, Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks, and Trader Joe's Wild-Alaskan Pollock Sticks. 4 warnings (cook from frozen — thawed sticks shed their breading; ignore the back-of-bag 425 °F oven setting, which over-cooks in a basket; single-layer with a finger-width between each — stacking steams the breading soft; and don't over-cook the thin lean fish, which dries to a tough texture past 10–11 minutes). Distinct from frozen breaded fish fillets — fish sticks are the thin rectangular kid-strip format (about ½-inch wide by 3-inch long), where frozen breaded fish fillets covers the larger 4–5 oz full-fillet format that needs longer to warm through. Cross-linked to its fresh sister at Frozen Fish Sticks. High-SERP capture for the frozen-fish-sticks-air-fryer query — a year-round family-dinner and Friday-fish staple, with a February–April spike through the Lenten Friday-no-meat season.

Time

6 min

Temp

380 °F

Brands

4

Frozen French toast sticks cook in 6 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a flip at 3 minutes — straight from the freezer, no thaw and no oil (they come pre-battered). The air fryer crisps the cinnamon-sugar coating while keeping the centre soft and custardy, far better than a microwave (which makes them limp) or a toaster (which can't fit them). 4 brand variants, all close to the 380 °F / 6 min / flip-at-3 benchmark: Eggo French Toaster Sticks (the breakfast-aisle benchmark), Farm Rich French Toast Sticks, Pearl Milling Company (formerly Aunt Jemima) French Toast Sticks, and Great Value / store-brand sticks. 4 warnings (cook from frozen — thawed sticks go soggy and shed the coating; do not add syrup before cooking — it burns and steams them soft, so dip after the pull; single-layer with space and flip at 3 — stacking steams them pale; and don't over-cook — the thin pre-cooked sticks dry out and the sugar scorches past 7 minutes). Cross-linked to its fresh sister at French Toast Sticks, and a quick-breakfast companion to French Toast. High-SERP capture for the frozen-French-toast-sticks-air-fryer query — a year-round kid-breakfast and quick-morning staple.