Fish cakes in an air fryer
Fresh — the short answer
200°C (392°F) for 12–15 min
- For
- 150g per piece, 2 pieces
- In
- Dual-basket air fryer
- Published for
- Ninja Foodi Dual Zone AF300UK
- Preheat
- Not needed
- Part way
- shake the basket at about 6 min
- Check
- The crumb is evenly golden
Fresh fish cakes get twelve to fifteen minutes at 200°C in one manufacturer's charts for two machines; its chart for a third names no state.
Manufacturer figures with no state given — 1 from a named machine, listed further down this page.
Questions people ask about fish cakes — 2 answered further down this page.
Fresh
The quick answer
200°C (392°F) for 12–15 min
Published range for two fish cakes of 150g each.
- Assuming
- 150g per piece, 2 pieces
- In
- Dual-basket air fryer
- Published for
- Ninja Foodi Dual Zone AF300UK
- Preheat
- Not needed
- Result
- Heated through
Preparation
Brushed with oil, as the row prints. It prints no amount of oil and no other preparation.
While it cooks
At about 6–8 minutes: Shake the basket
The chart tells the owner to shake or toss the food often, and recommends shaking at least twice during the cooking cycle. It prints that beside the whole chart, not against this row, and gives no moments for it.
How to tell it is done
- The crumb is evenly golden
- Steam rises from the centre when one is broken open
Other figures for this state
Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone AF400UK — dual-basket air fryer: 200°C for 12 min
A single published time for two fish cakes of 145g each, not a range.
Where these figures came from — fresh
- Applies to
- Specific to this model
- Why this rating
- A published row from the manufacturer's own Quick Start Guide for this machine, under a block whose heading names the state. It is held as the chart prints it: its amount, its preparation and its oil where it gives them, and nothing where it does not.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-10
What this does not cover
- Published by the manufacturer for this model. It is evidence about this appliance and is not general advice.
- This machine has two drawers. The chart prints one amount for the row and does not say which drawer it is for, or whether it is for one drawer or both.
- The chart heads this block Fresh Fish & Seafood, and the row is held as fresh on that heading. The word is the block's and not the row's own.
Sources (1)
Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer AF300UK — Quick Start Guide and cooking charts
SharkNinja Operating LLC — Manufacturer cooking chart (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The state, amount, temperature and time for fish cakes.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-10-10 from euronics.a.bigcontent.io
Retrieved from a retailer's document store, Euronics, which mirrors the manufacturer's booklet. Argos's manual library holds an earlier revision of the same guide, 200515_Mv1, which differs in a few printed amounts; the later revision is the one held here.
Leftover (reheating)
Before anything else
From national food-safety authorities, not from us. These take precedence over any cooking time below.
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 |
The quick answer
170°C (338°F) for 6–9 min
Thickness. A fish cake is thick for its footprint and the middle lags a long way behind the crumb.
- Assuming
- 145g per piece, about 25mm at the thickest point, 2 pieces, From the fridge
- In
- Basket air fryer
- Whose figure
- AirfryerHQ's own, not one manufacturer's chart
- Loaded
- Single layer, pieces not touching
- Preheat
- Not needed
- Result
- Heated through
Preparation
Spaced apart in one layer, not turned until they are hot enough to hold together.
How to load the basket
Single layer, pieces not touching. The reference condition. Air reaches every surface, and times are the shortest the food will achieve.
How to tell it is done
- The crumb is crisp again
- Steaming right through the middle when one is broken open
Change the result
Each of these moves the outcome in a known direction, and most cost you something. The trade is stated so you can decide whether you want it.
- To be sure it is safe rather than just warm
- Go by the food and not the clock. It has to be steaming hot the whole way through, and the middle of a dense portion lags a long way behind its surface in an air fryer.
Where these figures came from — leftover (reheating)
- Applies to
- Specific to this type of appliance
- Why this rating
- Mid-band and towards the longer end on time, because mashed potato conducts heat badly. The time is AirfryerHQ's estimate.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- THE TIME GIVEN HERE IS NOT SOURCED. Four manufacturers publish a reheating temperature and not one of them names a food, a quantity or a time for a named dish. The temperature here is theirs; the time is AirfryerHQ's estimate and has not been measured.
- Reheating is governed by the food-safety rule above rather than by this figure. Steaming hot throughout is the requirement; the time is a guide to getting there.
Sources (4)
Tower T17023 2.2 Litre Air Fryer — Safety and Instruction Manual (PDF)
RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: That this manufacturer's published reheating instruction is 150°C for up to ten minutes, with no food named.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 745/2194.
Cookworks 5L Digital Air Fryer KDF-596D — Care & Instruction Manual (PDF)
Argos Limited (Cookworks) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: That this manufacturer's published reheating instruction is 180°C for up to ten minutes, with no food named.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 148/6623.
Cosori Dual Blaze 6.4L Smart Air Fryer CAF-P583S-KUK — User Manual (PDF)
Arovast Corporation (Cosori) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: That this manufacturer's Reheat function defaults to 175°C for five minutes.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 818/0159.
AirfryerHQ analysis of published manufacturer cooking charts
AirfryerHQ — Calculated or inferred by AirfryerHQ (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The reading that no manufacturer publishes a reheat time for a named food, and that the time given here is therefore AirfryerHQ's own estimate.
AirfryerHQ's interpretation of what it says
Citation checked — the document exists and is described correctly
Chilled
Cooked as fresh: use the fresh figures above. Raw food sold chilled is the fresh state under another name, and the charts those figures come from start from fridge-cold.
From frozen
No time or temperature for this, and not by accident
From frozen is a real question for fish cakes. AirfryerHQ holds no published figure for it: not one of the manufacturer manuals read for this catalogue gives a chart row for this food in this state.
We are not going to produce one by adjusting the fresh figure above. 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.
What still governs, figure or no figure
These rules come from national food-safety authorities and apply whether or not anybody has published a cooking time. They are the part of this question we can answer.
Requirement — Food safety (microbiological)
Food cooked from frozen must reach the same core temperature as the same food cooked fresh — the frozen centre is the last thing to get there.
Target: 70°C in the thickest part.
How to tell, without a thermometer
- No ice or cold spot at the centre when the thickest piece is cut open
- Steaming hot throughout, tested in the middle rather than the edge
If it has not got there: Reduce the temperature by 10–20°C and give it longer. A lower set point lets the centre catch up before the surface passes the point of no return, and it is the single most useful adjustment for cooking from frozen.
Important: If the packaging says the product must be thawed before cooking, follow it. That instruction exists because the manufacturer has tested cooking it from frozen and it did not reach temperature reliably.
What we do hold for fish cakes: fresh, leftover (reheating). Those are a different question, not a starting point for this one.
Manufacturer figures with no state given
This is a published figure for one named machine. The manufacturer does not say whether this is chilled or frozen. So it is kept apart from the figures above, and not used as the answer for any of them.
Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK: 200°C for 10–12 min
Published range for four fish cakes weighing 580g between them.
Questions people ask about fish cakes
- Why is the middle of my fish cake still cold?
- Mashed potato carries heat slowly and a fish cake is thick for its width, so the crumb reaches its limit before the centre is hot. The answer is cooler for longer, not hotter. Thick cakes straight from the fridge need the upper end of whichever row you follow.A general cooking principle, not a measurement.
- When can I turn a fish cake without breaking it?
- Late. The mixture that binds it is weak until it is hot through, so a cake turned in the first half of the cook breaks. The rows here that ask for a shake are for a drawer of several; with one or two, leave them until the crumb has set and turn each one with a flat tool.From the figures on this page.
What usually goes wrong
A dark crumb around a cool middle. Mashed potato conducts heat badly and a fish cake is thick for its footprint, so the crumb reaches its limit before the centre is hot — lower and longer is the fix, not hotter.
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.
Fish cakes in fast-moving hot air
The crumb behaves like every other factory-applied coating: it already contains oil from the par-fry and crisps in dry moving air with nothing added. The inside is mashed potato and cooked fish — a dense, wet, low-conductivity mixture that heats slowly from the outside in, which is why a fish cake is the convenience food most likely to come out with a perfect crust and a cool centre. Handling is the other failure: the binding is weak until it is hot, so turning one too early breaks it.
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.
- Cooking from frozenUsually cooler and longer than the same food fresh, and never worked out from the fresh figure.
- 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.
Easily confused with
- Breaded scampi — A different cooking problem with a different answer.
- Fish fingers — A different cooking problem with a different answer.