Hey! It’s been a while, but we have moved cross country (Vegas, baby!) and I’ve been spending time downsizing both physical possessions and hobbies to make life in a smaller apartment in a new city work best. I’ve been purging items that I haven’t used and ensured what we have is what we use and need. In that vein, it might be odd that I’ve added a new (and somewhat large) kitchen tool to our lives, but that’s what I did.
I recently had a chance to try out the new Magic Chef Air Fryer and it’s fair to say I put it to good use immediately in the first 24 hours.
One of the first things we made with our Magic Chef air fryer was my yummy rainbow roasted veggie sandwiches that I posted about in December, and in the vein of delicious mix-and-match-free-for-all-mostly-veggie dishes, I figured that making air fryer southwestern bowls would be a great test of all that the Magic Chef air fryer can do.
We really love these bowls because much like the roasted veggie sandwiches there really isn’t a “wrong” way to make them. You can pick your favorite vegetables and add a protein (or not! we don’t always add meat) and basically go. Sometimes we eat them with quinoa. Sometimes we spiralize sweet potatoes. It’s basically a dish that you can customize to what you have on hand and what you prefer. Keep that in mind with my list of ingredients, but whatever you do DON’T SKIP THE CREME FRAICHE. Trust me. Just don’t. I’ve tried substituting with just sour cream; I’ve even made it with sour cream instead of greek yogurt. It’s not the same; don’t do it. I’m only telling you this because I love and appreciate you. 😉
Servings |
humans with leftovers
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- 1 lb shrimp seasoned with your preference of blackened/taco seasoning. This time around we used the Williams Sonoma Caribbean Mango Chile rub
- 2 Medium sweet potato cubed or spiralized (your preference)
- 1 Jalapeño diced
- 2 Bell Peppers sliced into strips. It depends on how we are feeling at the time, but we tend to use one yellow and one red.
- 1 White Onion sliced into strips
- 1 can black beans, rinsed We usually end up using about half the can
- cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1 avocado, sliced
- Cilantro chopped
- 7 oz Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt We've used other brands, but have the best results with Fage
- 1 Lime Juiced
- Black Pepper
Ingredients
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- Slice or spiralize sweet potato. Soak for 30 minutes for crispier results.
- Toss shrimp with preferred seasoning. Cook in airfryer 400* 6 - 8 minutes. Toss halfway through cooking. Set aside
- While the shrimp is cooking, rinse and drain black beans.
- Toss sweet potato with salt, pepper, and light oil. Cook sweet potato at 400 for 14 minutes, tossing halfway through. Cook in batches and don't overcrowd.
- Slice peppers, jalapeño, and onion. Toss lightly in oil. Cook at 400 15-20 minutes. Check periodically for desired doneness.
- Blend greek yogurt, Pepper, juice of one lime. If you are using a blender, you can add cilantro. If not, you can mix the juice, yogurt, and pepper and stir with a fork until smooth.
- In a bowl, layer sweet potato, beans, pepper mix, tomatoes, and shrimp. Top with sliced avocado, creme fraiche, and chopped cilantro.
- Enjoy!
This recipe came out really well and was definitely Penny approved. It reheats well for leftovers and is GREAT with egg over the top of it for breakfast.
Using an air fryer for the first time was definitely a new experience; I was really surprised by all the different things you can make in them. We made patty melts, German apple pancakes, a delicious crisped wrap version of the rainbow roasted veggie sandwiches.
Pros:
The air fryer itself is really easy to use. The dials are no-nonsense and straightforward. The nonstick coating in the basket allowed melted (and burnt) cheese to be washed off easily. Both pieces are dishwasher safe, but simple enough to effectively handwash.
The air fryer itself is really easy to use. The dials are no-nonsense and straightforward. The nonstick coating in the basket allowed melted (and burnt) cheese to be washed off easily.
I’m definitely impressed with the variety of things you can make in it and I’m looking forward to buying more baking pans for small cakes and cupcakes. I REALLY enjoyed crisping sandwiches and wraps in it. I could cook multiples at once and it was a lot easier and lighter than trying to get the perfect crisp in a butter-laden pan. The air fryer is definitely quicker, and more energy efficient than firing up the entire oven, too.
The Magic Chef Air Fryer is the perfect size for making lunch for the three of us and works well as a “one pan” solution for complex meals like these easy air fryer southwest veggie bowls. It’s become a staple tool in our house – even though I haven’t perfected my sweet potato fries yet.
Cons:
The dials are straightforward, BUT I would definitely say pay the extra $10 and go for the digital version. The temperature controls ARE straightforward, but aren’t labeled in 50* increments like your oven would be. While most items we made (and most recipes we looked up) call for 400*, I’m wary about not getting the temperature exactly correct because the dial is labeled, “180, 230, 280, 320, 360, 400.” I have also read other reviews mentioning the timer itself is not necessarily fool-proof. We didn’t encounter this, but we also tended to not use the dial as a timer; I set secondary timers on my phone for shorter amounts of time so I can check the food as it goes.
The Magic Chef Air Fryer IS large. In size, it’s between our massive crockpot and large rice cooker. But it is much lighter than either of those two kitchen tools. Finding a storage space could be tricky in tight quarters like our galley kitchen, but because it’s so light we have it “living” on top of our fridge and I’m not concerned about dropping it on myself when I go to retrieve it.
Worth it?
Totally. Because of the speed, efficiency, and flexibility of the air fryer, it is worth every inch of space it occupies. Our air fryer is used multiple times a week now that we’ve discovered how useful it is. There is a wealth of healthy, veggie-based air fryer recipes available online, and it’s really easy to adapt favorite recipes to the air fryer. As I said above, I would definitely spend the extra on the Magic Chef Digital Air Fryer, but the manual version is still a useful and multifaceted kitchen tool.
Omg, anything with shrimp, count me in! I’m so going to try this!