Air Fryer Conversion Calculator (Oven to Air Fryer Temperature & Time)
Convert oven temperature and cooking time into air fryer settings instantly. Enter your oven recipe's numbers and get an air fryer temperature and time estimate, plus a quick-reference chart for popular foods.
Quick-Reference Chart for Popular Foods
| Food | Temperature | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Frozen French fries | 400°F (200°C) | 15-18 min |
| Chicken breast (boneless) | 375°F (190°C) | 18-20 min |
| Chicken wings | 380°F (195°C) | 20-24 min |
| Salmon fillet | 390°F (200°C) | 10-12 min |
| Mixed vegetables (roasted) | 375°F (190°C) | 10-15 min |
| Bacon | 350°F (175°C) | 8-10 min |
| Frozen personal pizza | 375°F (190°C) | 8-10 min |
| Chocolate chip cookies | 320°F (160°C) | 8-10 min |
Actual results vary with the amount and thickness of food and with your specific air fryer model. Use these figures as a starting point.
What Is Oven-to-Air-Fryer Conversion?
Most recipe books and oven-focused recipe sites list cooking instructions like "375°F for 20 minutes," written with a conventional oven in mind. An air fryer, however, has a much smaller cooking chamber and far stronger convection airflow, so using the exact same settings often over-browns the surface or finishes cooking sooner than expected. This tool takes the oven temperature and cooking time from your recipe and instantly converts them into recommended air fryer settings.
The conversion is based on a rule of thumb repeated across many appliance makers and recipe sites: air fryer temperature is roughly 90% of the oven temperature, and air fryer time is roughly 80% of the oven time. Because the ideal setting still depends on the thickness and quantity of food and on differences between air fryer models, treat the calculated result as a starting point and check on your food as it cooks, adjusting as needed.
How to Use This Tool
- Choose your temperature unit Select whether you want to work in Celsius (°C) or Fahrenheit (°F), matching your recipe.
- Enter the oven temperature Type in the oven temperature exactly as written in your recipe.
- Enter the oven cooking time Type in the recipe's cooking time in minutes.
- Check the converted result The recommended air fryer temperature and time appear automatically.
Tips for getting more out of it
- One of the perks of an air fryer is that it usually doesn't need preheating. That said, if you want a deep, even browning, preheating for a few minutes first will give you a more consistent result.
- Overcrowding the basket blocks the hot air from circulating and leads to uneven cooking. Fill it to roughly 70% capacity and avoid overlapping pieces of food.
- Check on your food once it has reached about 80% of the calculated time, then continue cooking in short bursts until it looks done. This makes it much harder to overcook.
- If the packaging on a frozen food already lists air fryer instructions, follow those numbers instead of the converted oven settings.
When This Tool Comes In Handy
Recreating an oven recipe in an air fryer
Get an instant temperature and time estimate when you want to make a favorite oven recipe in your air fryer instead.
Cooking frozen food with oven-only instructions
Useful when a frozen food's packaging only lists oven directions and gives no air fryer settings at all.
Making fried favorites with less oil
Convert a deep-fried recipe's oven-equivalent temperature and time into air fryer settings for a lighter, lower-oil version.
Getting a feel for a new air fryer
Helpful when you've just bought an air fryer and want to translate your existing oven cooking instincts into the new appliance.
Glossary
- Air fryer
- A countertop appliance that forces hot air to circulate rapidly around food, producing a crisp, fried-like texture with little or no oil.
- Convection heating
- A cooking method that uses a fan to circulate hot air around food. It transfers heat faster than a standard oven, so food cooks quicker even at the same setting.
- Preheating
- Warming the cooking chamber to the target temperature before adding food. Air fryers can be used without preheating, but preheating gives a more consistent, even result.
- Basket-style air fryer
- The most common air fryer design, where food sits in a removable basket that lets hot air reach it from nearly every direction.
- Celsius / Fahrenheit
- The two temperature scales used in cooking. Most countries, including Japan, use Celsius (°C), while the United States uses Fahrenheit (°F), so the unit in a recipe often reflects where it was published.
Frequently Asked Questions
Side Note — Why the Air Fryer Took Off Worldwide
The air fryer first became a mainstream kitchen appliance in Europe during the 2010s before spreading to the Americas and Asia. Beyond letting people recreate a fried texture with little or no oil, its small cooking chamber and short preheat time keep electricity use lower than a full-size oven — a combination that lined up well with growing interest in energy-efficient cooking.
The underlying technology isn't new. Circulating hot air with a fan to cook food is essentially the same principle used in a convection oven. What the air fryer really did was shrink that mechanism down and pair it with a food basket, turning it into a compact appliance that fits easily on a countertop.
Because of this shared heating principle, cooks everywhere have run into the same question: can an oven recipe just be dropped into an air fryer as-is? Recipe sites and appliance makers around the world have each published their own rough conversion guidelines in response. The 90%-temperature, 80%-time ratio used by this calculator reflects the figures that show up most consistently across those sources.