Tony Jackman’s quartered potatoes cooked in an air fryer with bacon and rosemary. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
There are memes going around saying air fryers are only good for cooking potatoes. This is wildly far from the truth, as my now scores of air fryer recipes for all sorts of things will attest.
But I’ll give the claims some credence, in that potatoes are one of the most effective and popular air fryer dishes. In so many ways.
Here’s a new way: paring spuds with bacon. This is a divine match. And I sneakily added in some fresh rosemary too, because this herb goes so well with potatoes and is an interesting aromatic for bacon too – if bacon needs any help in pleasing the human palate.
I used a little extra virgin olive oil in this dish too – I rarely use cooking oil spray now that I’ve got the hang of using an air fryer. A modest amount of actual oil does the job much better, as it coats the potatoes more thoroughly.
Tony’s air fryer potatoes with bacon and rosemary
(Serves 2-4 as a side portion)
Ingredients
4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 rashers of streaky bacon, diced
4 rosemary sprigs
Salt and black pepper
Method
Peel the potatoes and quarter them.
Pick the rosemary needles off their stems and add them to a bowl. Pour in the olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Dice the bacon rashers and add.
Add the potatoes and toss and stir so that everything is coated with the oil.
Preheat the air fryer to 180°C.
When hot, spoon everything from the bowl into the air fryer basket.
Cook for 15 minutes at 180°C, shaking the basket quickly every few minutes and shutting the drawer again.
Turn the temperature up to 200°C and air-fry for 10 minutes more.
Shake the basket well, and cook for 10 minutes more at 200°C.
Finally, shake the basket again and give them one last 5-minute session, still at 200°C.
They need to be crisp and golden when done. Insert a skewer into a potato and check whether it is tender to the middle. If not, cook for a few minutes more.
Eat a potato and decide whether you’re happy that they have enough salt, and adjust if necessary. DM
Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023.
Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.
This dish is photographed in a bowl by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.