How to cook frozen Mac & Cheese in air fryer

Simply air fry any frozen mac and cheese according to the oven cooking instructions, and let it go for the entire time until the cheese on top is golden and bubbly.

Air frying a dense frozen ready meal like Mac & Cheese requires a medium heat of 355°F/180°C; a higher heat will burn the meal before its heated properly. Set the time as instructed to for oven cooking on your packaging, reducing the time by 5 minutes to avoid overcooking the pasta.

Whilst a frozen mac and cheese meal would normally take up to 40-45 minutes in the oven, its only 35 minutes in an air fryer, and not a minute longer.

You can cook just about any ready meal in an air fryer, including frozen ready meals which come in plastic or foil trays. If your mac and cheese selection is in either, they continue to air fry with no concern about safety.

Frozen mac and cheese will not need defrosting, you just follow the oven cooking instructions, reducing the time by 5 minutes for air frying.

Don't play it safe by air frying mac and cheese for additional minutes 'to be sure its cooked through' because macaroni is pasta after all; thus overcooking even frozen pasta will lead to a soggy mess.

In this 'how-to' demonstration, I air fried a TESCO Hearty Food Co. Mac 'N' Cheese, weighing 400g.

Oven cooking from frozen instructions require cooking the mac and cheese at  200°C/180°C for 41 minutes (like that one minute matters). Instead, I rounded the time down to 35 minutes, and kept the temperature as instructed for the oven.

To prepare the frozen mac and cheese, I removed the plastic film lid which often tears off as its heat up, and replaced the lid with a custom foil lid which I ensured was firmly secure, be tucking it around the edges of the mac and cheese plastic container.

Do pierce your custom foil lid to allow hot air to enter and steam to escape.

Never attempt to lift the mac and cheese plastic tray out of the air fryer, because it would of soften under the heat. Instead, tip the air fryer basket to one side, and carefully slide the plastic tray out with use of a tea towel to protect your hands.

TOP TIP: You can remove your foil lid and cover the top of the frozen mac and cheese with grated Cheddar to melt  for the final 10 minutes. Grated cheese will protect the pasta from the direct heat, thus stopping the macaroni from burning.

Prepare frozen Mac & Cheese tray

Preparing the frozen mac and cheese to air fry requires a few quick and easy steps. It involves either removing the film lid to replace with your own foil lid - because the film lid with peel away as it cooks - or you can add cheese to melt with no lid required.

• STEP 1: Preheat air fryer: 5 minutes - Waste no time by getting the air fryer nice and hot, so you can get off to a fast start
• STEP 2: Peel off film lid - Don't pierce film lid as instructed to on the packaging, instead, you need to pull off the film lid all together

• STEP 3: Replace film lid with custom foil lid with holes - Replace plastic flimsy film lid with a cut-to-size sheet of foil, which must be folded around the edges to stop it lifting up
• STEP 4: Add Mac & Cheese tray to basket - Position frozen mac and cheese tray to your air fryer basket

NOTE: If you plan to air fry an additional food item with your frozen mac and cheese, line it with parchment paper to keep the basket clean.

How to air fry frozen Mac & Cheese Ready Meal

Air frying any frozen mac and cheese ready meal is straightforward; simply follow the oven cooking time and temperature, reducing the time only by 5 minutes.

• STEP 1: Set temp 355°F / 180°C; time to 35 minutes - Heat as instructed to on the packaging for oven cooking, reduce lowest estimated time by 5 minutes
• STEP 2: Cook for 25 minutes - Allow the frozen and mac and cheese to air fry for a full 25 minutes undisturbed

• STEP 3: Remove custom foil lid; continue to air fry until full time - With 10 minutes remaining, it would be a good time to add extra grated cheese on top to melt with no foil lid -  with the cheese turning golden and bubbly
• STEP 4: Slide out hot tray whilst leaning basket over to side - Slide the now soft mac and cheese tray out of the air fryer whilst the basket is tipped to one side

NOTE: Remove the film lid for the final 10 minutes to golden up the cheese that's part of the meal; adding your own extra grated cheese should cover any exposed pasta, which risks burning if left exposed to the heat.

Air fry along with Side Order

Air frying a mac and cheese ready meal whilst it remains in the air fryer-safe plastic tray, can be cooked on its own and eaten as is.

I wouldn't want to eat mac and cheese by itself so like me, you may have an additional side order of something ready to be cooked - and timed well for when the frozen mac and cheese is ready to be plated.

If your air fryer is large enough like mine, approximately 5.8 litres, I recommend you air fry jalapeno peppers bites.

In addition, any breaded chicken portions like fillets and southern-style chicken drumsticks or thighs go extremely well with mac and cheese, with the cheese sauce complimenting the chicken.

You can air fry additional bite size foods like this alongside your frozen ready meal, with the side order placed on one side or surrounding the mac and cheese ready meal tray.

Line your air fryer basket prior to positioning the frozen mac and cheese tray in the basket, of which the lining will catch access grease and fat leaking out of any side order you chose to go with... although it is optional of course.

Summary

How to cook a tray of frozen mac and cheese will involve copying the oven cooking instructions on the back of your packaging.

Only you just need to reduce the total cooking time by 5 minutes on most occasions.

Don't air fry a frozen ready meal, mac and cheese or not, with the original film lid that is covering the meal.

What you must do is remove the film lid and replace it with your own cut-to-size sheet of foil, which is air fryer-safe and will prevent your mac and cheese from drying out, with the pasta almost certain to burn and go crispy.

If you like, you can remove the custom foil lid with 10 minutes to go, and cover the top in grated cheese to melt for the final minutes.

Removing any ready meal plastic tray will be soft because its hot, thus its vitally important you think of a strategy to safely remove the now soft plastic tray when its down cooking.

What you can do is grab the plastic tray whilst its positioned in the air fryer basket, with a folded over tea towel; then simultaneously tip the basket whilst pulling the ready meal tray out to one side of the basket.

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