How to cook Pie & Chips together in air fryer

Air frying a pie and chips together can be achieved if your air fryer basket capacity allows it, while smaller appliances will force you to cook a smaller portion.

How to cook a meat or vegetable pie for one along with a portion of chips is all about timing, but perfect timing isn't necessary. Air fry the pie for 20 minutes positioned upside down and out of its foil tray. You will then pile in chips 6 minutes into air frying, with a minimum of 14 minutes full cooking time.

Its all about timing when occasionally cooking two food items together in an air fryer, and to be fair sometimes you can get it wrong.

With pie and chips though, timing can be rectified by removing the pie out of the air fryer basket, to allow stubborn chips to cook a little longer. While at the same time, the pie can be given extra minutes if need be - where you will add the chips back in the air fryer for a minute to reheat.

Gone are the days when we were forced bake a ready to cook pie in the oven while oven chips were scattered on the baking tray alongside the pie.

How awkward and unhealthy was it when we would deep fry chips and use the big oven at the same time.

Now of course all that is in the past because we can fit a personal meat or vegetable pie in our air fryer basket along with what must be a reasonable portion of chips.

Loading the basket with chips along with a pie will only make it difficult on yourself to remove the pie, and where you will toss over the chips several times throughout air frying.

Admittedly, this isn't the best way to cook chips in an air fryer but its a must to cook a quick and easy meal for one.

How you would go about air frying any pie and chips in your fridge, would be to begin air frying the pie only; hefty pies would normally take several minutes longer to cook then chips - where you would then add the chips 6-5 minutes into air frying the pie.

You can air fry a combination of frozen pie and chips, while choosing to air frying one frozen and one chilled.

On this day I air fried one Pukka Meat & Potato Pie, weighing 209g. Pie was decanted out of foil tray to air fry upside down for 6 minutes, which isn't demonstrated for the oven cooking - as this is simply how I cook all pies in the air fryer.

Prepare Pie & Chips

Interestingly, what I ended up doing here is air frying a fresh pie along with a small portion of frozen chips together. Rest assured, it will have no effect on the difficulty of air frying together or quality of the food if you do the same.

• STEP 1: Preheat air fryer for 5 Minutes - Get the air fryer nice and hot so the pie can quickly heat up internally
• STEP 2: Decanter Pie out of foil tray - Where the cooking instructions on your pie box suggest leaving the pie in the foil to cook; continue to decanter pie anyway to evenly cook - while at the same time harden - the underside

• STEP 3: Position Pie Upside Down in corner of basket - Place your foil now out of its foil tray - and while saving the tray for later - in the corner of your air fryer basket with the topside face down
• STEP 4: Close basket to begin - Close the air fryer to begin cooking, knowing it will be opened again when the chips will finally be added

NOTE: I've always air fried my meat pies upside down in a way to not only harden the underside - because that is the side I dig into a pie - I feel a pie remaining in its foil tray will take longer to cook.

How to air fry together

With pies needing several minutes head start you'll be adding a small portion of chips 6 minutes into cooking, so that way pie and chips air fry and finish cooking together.

• STEP 1: Set temperature to 180°C/375°F; time to 20 Minutes - Time and temperature represents 10°C/50°F off temp with 5 minutes off OVEN cooking time
• STEP 2: Air fry Pie for 6 Minutes alone; pop back in foil tray - You'll be removing the pie frequently to flip the chips, thus its vital you return the pie back in its original foil tray - as it will come in useful for grabbing with the pie in

• STEP 3: Add small portion of Chips with 14 Minutes to go - Don't over stuff the air fryer basket with chips as it will make things hard on you
• STEP 4: Remove Pie to frequently toss chips - Decanter pie every time you shake chips; to keep pie in place will make it harder on you to regularly toss chips

NOTE: My suggested temperature is based on the difference between the temp for the Pie and Chips; so I set the temperature somewhere in the middle.

Directions apply to all pies

While these cooking instructions can certainly apply to this pie only with this particular portion of chips, I feel its a safe time and temperature for all pie and chips.

Understandably, chips and fries belonging to McCain for example can take longer to cook, thus to allow the pie to sit while the chips are given a few more minutes of air fryer time - won't hurt the pie sitting out at room temperature for a bit.

Similarly, the chips can be left out of the air fryer while the pie is given a few more minutes; only the chips will need to be returned to the air fryer to be given a minute to bring them back alive.

Cooking temperature for this featured Pukka pie of 180°C/375°F will apply to all puff pasty and short crust vegetable and/or meat pies for one.

Pies I am referring to would come in a small foil tray from brands like Pukka and a range of supermarket branded pies.

Instructions don't apply to family size pies or pies big enough to feed two or three people.

Summary

Cooking a typical meat or vegetable pie made of short crust or puff pastry in an air fryer along with a portion of chips, couldn't be easier to do.

Air frying pie and chips together will require a 6 minute head start for the big and bulky pie, while the chips can be air fried for a little less time. With mine, I air fried the pie for a full twenty-minutes - while the chips needed just 14 minutes.

None of these cooking instructions matched the oven cooking directions, because as you may know, air frying is much faster than your oven.

Air fry any pie upside down and out of its foil tray for a short while to crisp up the crust, while at the same time; this air frying stage will harden the underside and thus providing a solid crust to cut in to.

How many chips you add to the basket with your pie is up to you, but be warned, a small portion will be better to manage.

Indeed there is a possibility of not timing the pie and chips very well, of which the pie or chips can be given extra minutes while either one sits on your awaiting warm dinner plate.

Share this article: