How to cook Garlic Baguette in air fryer

If an air fryer can't cook a garlic baguette to a texture of your choosing, then what is the point of this appliance? Well, it can cook a baguette to a light or crunchy texture.

Garlic baguettes can be cooked in an air fryer in under 12 minutes for a standard size, store-bought chilled baguette. Bearing in mind, the garlic baguette will need to be cut in half at least, to make it fit in a smaller size air fryer basket. I air fried this garlic baguette at 300°F / 150°C; time to 12 mins, flipping half way.

To determine how to cook your own garlic baguette in an air fryer, would first involve taking the oven cooking instructions, while deducting 2 minutes off the lowest suggested oven cooking time - often shown displayed something like 12-14 minutes.

I am air frying a chilled garlic baguette as oppose to a 'cook from frozen' garlic baguette which will naturally need a little longer cook time.

More importantly, check to see if your baguette actually fits in your air fryer basket, and if it doesn't, the pre-cut slices will make it easy on you to split the baguette 50/50.

Cutting the garlic baguette isn't an issue and can be useful for sitting the garlic baguette next to say an Italian ready meal cooking along side the baguette.

With two halves sitting side by side in the air fryer basket, set the temperature to as little as 300°F / 150°C, with a total cooking time of 12 minutes.

I don't want to toast the bread into a rock hard texture as I like it light and crispy, of which the low temperature will ensure I don't over cook the baguette.

Continue to open the air fryer basket in an effort to see if its over browning, or in fact its not browning enough... if indeed that is the texture you prefer.

You can air fry just about any type of garlic bread, including those with cheese to melt on top, and even a garlic based flatbread. And if that isn't enough, the same garlic bread can be returned to the air fryer to reheat the garlic bread for later or the next day.

Prepare

Here I am demonstrating on how to cook a common fresh store-bought garlic baguette, which will need taking out of its packaging so you can push it into your air fryer basket early on in the preparation stage, to determine if the baguette will in fact fit.

STEP 1:

Take baguette out of packaging - You can't do much until you've taken the garlic baguette out of its packaging, so go ahead being careful not to break it

STEP 2:

Determine air fryer compatibility - With the baguette now accessible to you, determine if the length of the garlic banquette will fit into your air fryer basket

STEP 3:

Split into 2 equal halves - My garlic baguette just about fits corner to corner, thus I've chosen to split it in half as most of you will need to

STEP 4:

Sit both halves on parchment paper - Catch melted garlic butter on cut to size parchment paper, lining the bottom of the basket

Parchment paper is needed to catch spilled melted butter which is sure to come out of the baguette a little here and there.

Air fry Garlic Baguette to a light crispy texture

While I don't like a hard crusty cooked garlic baguette - as it hurts the roof of my mouth - as always I will aim for a very light crispy texture, with little to no change in colour. In addition, you could consider sprinkling the baguette with water to maintain a soft texture - although a low temperature will help to achieve little change.

STEP 1:

Close air fryer basket - Close air fryer basket so you can set the time and temperature on the dial

STEP 2:

Set temp. to 300°F / 150°C; time to 12 mins. - I've set the temperature to a low setting, in an effort to lightly crisp over the baguette; rather than browning it which can change the colour and therefore spoil the flavour

STEP 3:

Optional flip midway - With 12 minutes to cook the garlic baguette, I feel its a good idea to flip the baguette midway through air frying at the 6 minute mark; with the butter melted into the bread by now, little is expected to spill out

STEP 4:

Remove; serve immediately - Don't waste any time once the garlic baguette is cooked, as a cooled down baguette will be ruined

While the internal temperature registered in my baguette at a safe but hot 170°F, you will know when the garlic baguette is fully cooked when the butter has fully absorbed into the bread. Don't pull the baguette out of the air fryer until the butter has fully melted.

Wrap in foil if over browning

Little can go wrong when cooking a store-bought garlic baguette in an air fryer, and even following the directions I've provided, things can get a ahead of you.

While I like my garlic baguette light and crispy due to how an hard crust hurts the roof of my mouth, and can give me an aching jaw - I will air fry a garlic baguette to a light crisp every time - with the possibility of air frying the baguette to a soft bread texture.

How I can guarantee a soft texture, and so can you, is to wrap your garlic baguette in aluminium foil which can't necessary stop a hard toasty crust; it can at least delay the browning process enough until the garlic baguette has finished cooking.

Rather than use parchment paper as I've demonstrated in my 'how to' directions above; why not sit the garlic baguette on foil, in anticipation of using the same foil lining, to wrap around the baguette if the time comes.

Browning your fresh store-bought garlic baguette can ruin the flavour overall, and thus made worse with a super crusty crust.

Additional bonus of wrapping a garlic bread in foil would be helpful for reheating your garlic French stick for up to 6-7 minutes, without introducing more browning.

Summary

While I've air fried a standard size garlic baguette measuring approximately 10 inches in length, this is a substantial size length of bread that won't fit into many air fryer baskets - thus its something to consider when air frying at home.

How to cook a garlic baguette in a much smaller air fryer basket, would involve cutting the baguette in half, which I did in this demonstrating so I'm on the same page as most of you who won't be utilizing a larger basket.

If you like you can think about cutting the garlic baguette into three thirds, which is sure to fit in all small air fryers.

I've taking the oven cooking instructions on the back of the packaging as a way to determine how long and at what temperature I should cook the baguette in the air fryer.

While the oven cooking instructions suggested 14-16 minutes from chilled - which mine was but could be frozen - it gave a temperature of 400°F/200°C. I simply reduced to time from the lowest cooking time of 14 minutes to an air frying time of 12 minutes in total.

I then air fried the garlic baguette at a reduced temperature of 300°F / 150°C, to ensure the bread doesn't cook to fast in the air fryer.

Overall, the texture was just what I was looking for, with a soft crispy texture, where the cut ends had a nice crumbly feel to them.

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