How to cook Black Pudding in air fryer
Air fryers can cook all breakfast food items with black pudding being no exception, although black pudding does like to crumble more when it isn't shallow pan fried.
How to air fry Black Pudding slices will require use of parchment or foil to line the air fryer basket, which is guaranteed to catch the crumbling slices. Set the temperature to 400°F/200°C, with a total cooking time of 8 minutes - flipping every 2 minutes. You will need a spoon to flip the delicate slices later into cooking.
COOK IN 3 EASY STEPS:
I like nothing more than a couple of slices of black pudding on their own or where they really belong on a full English which must include bacon and sausage with both as it happens, acceptable to cook in an air fryer with black pudding.
Now I will say black pudding when flash fried in a frying pan produces a crispy layer which helps to hold it all together.
What you will find when air frying black pudding is it will heavily crumble, of which I can't emphasis the need to cook black pudding slices on top of parchment paper or foil - both of which will do well to catch the crumbs.
I cook two black pudding slices for 8 minutes in total while flipping them over in 2 minute increments; the longer the time went on I can tell you it got more difficult to flip.
Consider using a spoon or two rather than tongs which are unlikely to work in this scenario.
You can think about coating your black pudding slices in oil to cook them closely to pan fried slices, where I feel they still taste just as nice in an air fryer with no oil at all.
You can think about heating up a little oil on parchment paper or foil, then add the black pudding slices as if you were cooking them in a frying pan. I believe this could reduce the issue of crumbling and thus make it easy on you.
In all, I think cooking black pudding with sausages and bacon along side will allow you to cook black pudding cut into halves; thus you probably can avoid flipping them all together. But remember, you'd need to wedge the black pudding in between sausages to keep them standing upright.
What about the taste and texture? Well, I found the taste of these air fried black pudding slices to be spicier than I'm used to, where it really came through and was very intense; while the texture was naturally softer when compared to crispy pan fried slices.
Step 1: Prepare Black Pudding Slices
![Four images demonstrating air black pudding preperation](https://www.aiirfryer.com/images/cook-black-pudding-prep.jpg)
Preparing black pudding when bought in-store will have very little preparation, with a primarily focus on bringing the slices up to room temperature. With 15 minutes in, you can use this time to preheat your air fryer for 5-10 minutes. In addition, rubbing oil into the black pudding can help - which I haven't done this time around.
- STEP 1: Allow to sit out of Refrigerator for 20 Minutes - Take your black pudding packaging out of the refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes
- STEP 2: Preheat Air Fryer for 5 minutes - Preheat the air fryer for 5-10 minutes at 400°F/200°C, as we want to begin cooking the black pudding slices as quickly as possible; just as you would normally pan fry black pudding as oppose to air fry
- STEP 3: Line Air Fryer Basket with Parchment Paper - Optional, but I've chosen to line the air fryer basket with parchment paper; this will be needed for catching black pudding crumbs, which produces more the further along it cooks
- STEP 4: Position Black Pudding with Space Between Each - Not completely necessary, but be sure to space out your black pudding slices to ensure the sides can get crispy - which they won't if pressed up against each other
Step 2: Cook at 400°F/200°C for 8 Minutes
![Six images demonstating steps to air fry black pudding slices](https://www.aiirfryer.com/images/cook-black-pudding-time-temp.jpg)
Don't worry too much about cooking black pudding in an air fryer, as you can cook at a high temp with a short time; cook at a low temp for an extended time; and cooking the black pudding anywhere in between. Hardest part of cooking black pudding in an air fryer is it will crumble the more it cooks, and it will be hard to flip over multiple times.
- STEP 1: Set timer to 8 minutes; set temperature to 400°F/200°C - With the air fryer preheated for 5-10 minutes at 400°F/200°C; press start on your air fryer and allow to cook for a full 2 minutes
- STEP 2: Cook 2 Minutes, gently flip over - Now with 2 minutes gone of the 8 minutes - so 6 minutes to go - flip the black pudding over which should be easier enough at this stage, with little to no crumbling
- STEP 3: Cook 4 Minutes, flip over second time - With 4 minutes gone which marks the half-way mark, gently flip all black pudding slices again while bearing in mind they will begin to get a little delicate at this stage
- STEP 4: Cook 6 Minutes, flip over third time - Once again we will flip at 6 minutes in which I've found the black pudding slices are near impossible to flip without breaking up; thus I've scooped the slices onto a spoon to help me flip them over
- STEP 5: Cook 8 Minutes, flip over fourth time - Times up and like mine I think you'll agree they don't look as appealing as they did when they were originally added to the air fryer - but they are fully cooked, crumbly and now extremely delicate
- STEP 6: Check Black Pudding is hot inside - Be sure to make sure they're fully cooked by eating a little black pudding, and if they ain't all that hot don't worry about it because a warm temperature is still suitable for black pudding
Step 3: Remove & Serve
![Stacked images demonstrating removing, serving black pudding slices](https://www.aiirfryer.com/images/cook-black-pudding-remove-serve.jpg)
I've cooked these two black pudding slices as basic as possible with no planned meal to go along with them. What you serve with your black pudding will likely be food items to make up a full English breakfast; like eggs, sausage and bacon, of which the sausage and bacon can be cooked along side the black pudding in the air fryer.
- STEP 1: Gently Pull Out Black Pudding sat on Parchment Paper - With the black pudding slices and crumbs sitting on the parchment paper; slide any crumbs back onto the parchment paper and slide it all out of the air fryer basket tilted to the side
- STEP 2: Place on Heat Resistant surface - Heat resistance surface can be placing the parchment paper directly onto your dinner plate; whereas I've quickly placed mine on the near by draining board
- STEP 3: Serve Black Pudding - I' haven't made a dinner consisting of black pudding this time, which I've only air fried to show you how its done.
What you can do better
![Black pudding slices in air fryer, on parchment paper](https://www.aiirfryer.com/images/cook-black-pudding-better.jpg)
Certainly I think heating up a tablespoon of vegetable oil poured onto foil or parchment paper lining the air fryer basket, can help to not only crispy up the black pudding slices, it would actually imitate pan frying black pudding thus making it less crumbly.
Parchment paper is essential for cooking black pudding on because as you can see in the pictures; black pudding likes to crumble which the parchment paper has done well to catch it all. And we must be sure to brush all crumbs that have escaped the paper to put back on the parchment - before it falls into the outer container below.
Do use parchment/foil paper to catch black pudding crumbs dropping into the outer container, where usually grease and old food crumbs lay below.
Alternative to parchment paper will be air frying black pudding slices on foil paper of course, of which any oil used will heat up nicely on it.
Where you intend to make a unique air fried breakfast meal which includes black pudding, why not use a foil tray where all sausages, bacon and tomato juice and fat can be contained within this deep foil tray.
I don't believe I could of done much else to prevent the black pudding crumbing because I think that depends how its made and where its bought.
To buy and air fry a black pudding sausage to cut up into slices or bite size chunks, would probably be easier to cook with little to no crumbling.