Jamie Oliver’s secret weapon for fast weeknight meals might already be on your kitchen worktop – how he uses it to make healthy dinners in 20 minutes flat
It's featured again in his new 20 Minute Meals recipe book
Jamie Oliver is back – this time with a new book (and an accompanying TV show!) with a simple aim: showing you how to cook balanced, tasty meals at home in 20 minutes flat.
And if you thought that the famed British chef's foray into the world of the best air fryers last year with his book Easy Air Fryer (£13 via Amazon) was a flash in the pan, then think again. He's been turning to his trusty air fryer in his new book to cut down cooking times, proving that one of these ultra-convenient appliances is the way to go in the long term if you're time-poor but committed to eating well.
Here's how he's been using his air fryer (and pressure cooker too!) to get his meals under that all-important 20 minute mark.
He's managed it in 15 and 30 minutes and now Jamie's turning his attention to the golden 20 minute mark with these 120 recipes to ease the pressure on dinnertimes.
The star recipe I've found so far in the new book is Jamie's 'Air Fryer Arancini' which, in Jamie's words, relies heavily on getting the cooking process going as quickly as possible. For this, there's no better appliance for Jamie to call on than that of his trusty air fryer. That's no surprise given how much faster they are to preheat, as well as cook in general, versus a standard oven.
The air fryer that Jamie used in his TV show, the Tefal Easy Fry Dual Air Fryer & Grill (£147.99 via Amazon), is one that we've tested here at Ideal Home. And one of the things our expert Home Economist liked most about it during her review was that it didn't even need a preheat setting to beat her oven on cooking times.
In the recipe, which also features helpings of courgette, the speedy cooking time is achieved thanks to the arancini spending just 15 minutes in the air fryer which is significantly less than the usual baking time in an oven.
As well as using an air fryer to cut down cooking times, Jamie also employs the use of a pressure cooker to whip up a bolognese in under twenty minutes. The pressurised element of something like an Instant Pot can often make people anxious to use them but just like an air fryer, they're a genius buy if you're all about cutting down on food prep time.
In the recipe Jamie uses his pressure cooker on high heat to cook his mince and veg in 10 minutes flat, leaving him plenty of time to get on with other parts of the meal unobstructed. When our reviewer Helen tried the Instant Pot Pro (which is rated as the best multicooker in our guide) she also used the high pressure setting to cook a lentil curry in quick time, proving how handy these appliances are for cutting down the actual time of cooking.
Cook your midweek meals up to 70% faster with this clever multicooker. It's kitted out with 10 different ways to cook including a slow cooker function.
If you want more inspiration on how to whip up tasty, healthy meals for the whole family this autumn then tune into Jamie's 20 Minute Meals on Mondays at 8pm on Channel 4. He'll be cooking recipes from his new book in one unedited shot to make sure they're actually timely for you to make at home!
