Courgette sticks in an air fryer
What the manufacturers publish
2 published figures, from 2 machines
They run from 180°C to 200°C, and from 12 to 15 minutes, each printed for one machine and its own quantity. The manufacturer does not say whether this is fresh or frozen. AirfryerHQ shows them as published and keeps them apart from the answers for each state, instead of guessing which state they were written for.
One manufacturer prints twelve minutes at 200°C for half-inch sticks and another fifteen at 180°C; cut thickness decides everything.
Manufacturer figures with no state given
Each of these is a published figure for one named machine. The manufacturer does not say whether this is fresh or frozen. So they are kept apart from the answers for each state below, and not used as the answer for any of them.
Cookworks 9L Dual Air Fryer: 200°C for 12 min
A single published figure for half-inch sticks.
Tefal Easy Fry Max EY245B40 5L Air Fryer: 180°C for 15 min
A single published figure of fifteen minutes for 400-700g, not a range — which is unusual for a food this variable. The table lists it as zucchini and gives no cut.
Fresh
No time or temperature for this, and not by accident
Fresh and leftover (reheating) are each a real question for courgette sticks. AirfryerHQ holds no published figure for any of them: not one of the manufacturer manuals read for this catalogue gives a chart row for this food in those states.
We are not going to produce one by adjusting the figures we hold for other states. A time arrived at that way would appear on this page looking exactly like a time somebody measured, and you would have no way to tell the difference.
Leftover (reheating)
No time or temperature for this
No published figure is held for this state either. The reason is given once, under fresh.
What still governs, figure or no figure
Requirement — Food safety (microbiological)
Cool cooked food and get it into the fridge within one to two hours, keep the fridge between 0 and 5°C, and eat leftovers within 48 hours.
How to tell, without a thermometer
- There is no sensory test for this rule, and that is the point: food held too long at the wrong temperature does not necessarily look, smell or taste different
If it has not got there: Throw it away. This is the one rule in this catalogue where the remedy is not 'cook it longer', because cooking does not reverse it.
Important: Cooked rice is the sharpest case: Bacillus cereus toxins form at room temperature and survive reheating. Rice left out for more than an hour goes in the bin.
Requirement — Food safety (microbiological)
Reheat leftovers until steaming hot all the way through, and only reheat them once.
Target: 70°C in the thickest part, or an equivalent from the table below.
How to tell, without a thermometer
- Steam rising from the centre, not just the edges
- The middle is hot to the touch, tested after removing it from the appliance
If it has not got there: Keep going, and break dense food up or spread it out so the heat can reach the middle. If it will not heat through evenly, a microwave to get the centre hot followed by the air fryer to crisp the surface is a better tool for the job than the air fryer alone.
Important: Cooked rice and pasta left at room temperature can develop Bacillus cereus toxins that reheating does not destroy. If cooked rice has been out of the fridge for more than an hour, discard it rather than reheating it.
| Temperature | Held for | Measured at |
|---|---|---|
| 70°C | 2 min | the centre of the food |
| 75°C | 30 sec | the centre of the food |
What usually goes wrong
Wet collapse. Courgette is over ninety per cent water with nothing structural holding it together once the cell walls fail, and in a crowded basket it boils. Salting and draining for twenty minutes first is the only reliable improvement and no chart mentions it.
Running the appliance safely
The rules for the machine are the same whatever is in it: plug it straight into a wall socket, leave clear space round it, do not overfill it, do not leave it running unattended, and unplug it at black smoke or an electrical smell. They are set out once, each with its source and what to do if it has already happened, and not repeated on every food. Every rule for running an air fryer safely.
Courgette in fast-moving hot air
Courgette is over ninety per cent water in a soft, thin-walled structure with no starch and almost no sugar. There is nothing to crisp and very little to brown, and as soon as the cell walls fail the whole piece releases its water. Cutting thicker helps more than cooking hotter: a thick baton can lose its surface water and brown slightly before the centre collapses, where a thin slice cannot. It is also the food most improved by not crowding the basket, because the released steam has to go somewhere.
Where to go from here
The pages that answer the questions this one tends to raise.
- Using a thermometer, and where to put itThe times above are for a piece that is not the one you are holding. A probe measures yours, which is what the safety rule on this page asks for.
- How food actually gets crispyWhy patting it dry, spacing it out and a little oil are all the same instruction — so you can apply it when a page runs out.
- Reheating leftoversA different question governed by a different rule — steaming hot throughout, and only once.
- Why published timings differIf another chart says something else, this is usually why — and which one to believe.
If it went wrong
What tends to go wrong with courgette sticks, each with the fastest thing to check first.
- Food is not crisping — Almost always moisture that cannot get out, and almost always because there is too much in the basket. One manufacturer says so directly.
- Steam pouring out of the air fryer — Water leaving food, which is what the appliance is for. It only matters because steam and smoke look similar and mean very different things.
Easily confused with
- Aubergine cubes — A different cooking problem with a different answer.
- Pepper chunks — A different cooking problem with a different answer.