Steak in an air fryer
Fresh — the short answer
180°C (356°F) for 10–15 min
- For
- 400g in total, about 25mm at the thickest point, 2 pieces, From the fridge
- In
- Basket air fryer, single layer, pieces not touching
- Preheat
- Not needed
- Part way
- turn the pieces over at about 5 min
- Check
- The surface has browned rather than greyed
- Safety
- Plug an air fryer directly into a wall socket. Do not run one from an extension lead. Full rule below.
Air frying is a compromise for steak, and it is worth knowing which way the compromise runs.
Fresh
The quick answer
180°C (356°F) for 10–15 min
Published range for 100–600g with about half a spoon of oil. Doneness preference moves the answer across this range as much as weight does.
- Assuming
- 400g in total, about 25mm at the thickest point, 2 pieces, From the fridge
- In
- Basket air fryer
- Loaded
- Single layer, pieces not touching
- Preheat
- Not needed
- Result
- Just cooked
Preparation
Pat very dry, rub with about half a spoon of oil as the chart specifies, and season.
About 8ml of oil.
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.
While it cooks
At about 5–8 minutes: Turn the pieces over
Only the upper surface is in the airflow; the underside browns by conduction alone.
How to tell it is done
- The surface has browned rather than greyed
- The steak springs back slowly under a finger for medium
Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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.
- Rarer
- Take it out at the bottom of the range and rest it longer. A whole cut of beef is safe rare — the cook-through requirement applies to mince, not to this.
In a different appliance
Dual-basket air fryer: 200°C for 9–14 min
Published range for a 340g sirloin an inch thick. The chart gives four different steak cuts at four different times, which is unusually granular.
Combination microwave with air fry: 220°C for 16–18 min
Published range for 2–4 steaks of half an inch thickness, totalling 340–670g, on Air Fry 3.
Multicooker with air fry: 250°C for 9–12 min
How you want it. The chart gives sirloin, ribeye and rump the identical 9-12 minutes at 2cm, which is why they share one record here rather than having three.
Basket air fryer: 180°C for 8–12 min
Quantity within the published 100-400g band, and how far through you want it.
Basket air fryer: 180°C for 12 min
A single published preset default of twelve minutes at 180°C, with no quantity or thickness stated.
Basket air fryer: 180°C for 6–10 min
Quantity within the published 100-500g band, and how far through you want it. The shortest published steak figure in the catalogue.
Where these figures came from — fresh
- Applies to
- Specific to this model
- Why this rating
- A published range with a quantity band and an oil quantity. Note that no safety rule governs this record: a whole cut of beef is not a food that must be cooked through, and the catalogue does not pretend otherwise.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- Published by the manufacturer for this model. It is evidence about this appliance and is not general advice.
Sources (1)
Tower T17067 4L Digital Air Fryer — Safety and Instruction Manual (PDF)
RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: Steak at 180°C for 10–15 minutes, for 100–600g, with about half a spoon of oil.
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 947/6769. The document carries no revision code.
From frozen
Before anything else
From national food-safety authorities, not from us. These take precedence over any cooking time below.
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.
The quick answer
180°C (356°F) for 7–14 min
Quantity within the published 100-500g band, and how far through you want it. The double spread reflects both.
- Assuming
- 300g in total, about 20mm at the thickest point, 2 pieces, From frozen
- In
- Basket air fryer
- Loaded
- Single layer, pieces not touching
- Preheat
- Not needed
- Result
- Just cooked
Preparation
Straight from the freezer, separated. Season once the surface has thawed enough to hold it.
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
- No cold band at the centre when cut
- The surface has browned rather than greyed
Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Where these figures came from — from frozen
- Applies to
- Specific to this model
- Why this rating
- A published row with a min-max quantity band from the manufacturer's own cooking guide. No preheat appears anywhere in this appliance's air-fry table, which is notable because the same document requires fifteen minutes for its grill mode.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- Published by the manufacturer for this model. It is evidence about this appliance and is not general advice.
Sources (1)
Tefal Easy Fry Classic EY501827 4.2L Air Fryer & Grill — Instruction Manual (PDF)
Groupe SEB (Tefal) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The temperature, time and quantity for steak.
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 945/0170.
Chilled
No time or temperature for this, and not by accident
Steak is sold and cooked chilled, so the question is a real one. 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 we do hold for steak: fresh, from frozen. Those are a different question, not a starting point for this one.
Defrosted
No time or temperature for this, and not by accident
Steak is sold and cooked defrosted, so the question is a real one. 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.
Same reason as above: a figure adjusted from one we do hold would be indistinguishable from one somebody measured.
What we do hold for steak: fresh, from frozen. Those are a different question, not a starting point for this one.
What usually goes wrong
Grey and evenly cooked rather than crusted outside and pink inside. Moving hot air browns more slowly than metal contact, so the centre keeps gaining temperature during the time the surface takes to colour.
Running the appliance safely
These apply to every food and every air fryer, so they are here once rather than repeated under each state above. They come from Electrical Safety First, from UK product-safety notices and from the manufacturers’ own manuals.
- Plug an air fryer directly into a wall socket. Do not run one from an extension lead.
- An unusual smell, an unusual noise, or scorch marks on the plug mean stop using it and contact the manufacturer.
- Do not overfill. Food touching the heating element is a fire risk, not a cooking problem.
- White smoke from fatty food is usually normal. Black smoke means unplug it immediately.
- Do not leave an air fryer running unattended.
- Leave clear space above and around the appliance, and never cover the air intake or the outlet.
- Aim for a golden yellow colour or lighter on starchy foods such as chips and roast potatoes, rather than a darker brown.
- Buy from a reputable retailer rather than a third-party marketplace seller.
- Clean the drawer, the plate and the element after use. Accumulated grease is what smokes, and then what burns.
- Register the appliance with its manufacturer. It is how a recall reaches you.
- Do not rely on the appliance's own thermal protection. A UK recall was issued because it did not operate.
Each links to its own page, with what it means in practice, what to do if it has already happened, and the source it comes from. Every safety rule AirfryerHQ holds.
Why beef behaves this way
A steak in an air fryer is a compromise: moving hot air browns a surface well but not as fast or as hard as a pan, so the centre gains temperature during the time the crust takes to form. Thickness therefore decides whether air frying is the right tool at all — thick cuts do well, thin ones overcook before they colour.
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. This measures yours — and it is the single change that fixes most dry steak.
- 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.
- Why published timings differIf another chart says something else, this is usually why — and which one to believe.
- How air frying actually worksIt is a small convection oven with a very fast fan, and every useful thing about it follows from those two facts.
- What air fryers are good at, and what they are bad atAn honest list, with the conditions attached. Most claims about air fryers are true for one or two portions and false for a family meal.
- Why air fryers dry food out, and what to do about itThe mechanism that makes the outside crisp is the mechanism that makes the inside dry. They are not separable, only manageable.