Thick-cut steak in an air fryer
From frozen — the short answer
230°C (446°F) for 18–26 min
- For
- about 30mm at the thickest point, 4 pieces, From frozen
- In
- Multicooker with air fry
- Published for
- Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK
- Preheat
- Yes, before the food goes in
- Part way
- turn the pieces over at about 9 min
- Check
- Cooked through to the centre with no cold band
- Safety
- 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. Full rule below.
A 3cm steak, which is where this appliance stops being a compromise.
Manufacturer figures with no state given — 1 from a named machine, listed further down this page.
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
230°C (446°F) for 18–26 min
Published range for four sirloin steaks, 3cm thick, from the block headed Frozen Beef. The row prints 225–300g and does not say whether that is each steak or all four, so no weight is recorded.
- Assuming
- about 30mm at the thickest point, 4 pieces, From frozen
- In
- Multicooker with air fry
- Published for
- Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK
- Preheat
- Yes, before the food goes in
- Result
- Well done
Preparation
Frozen. The row prints no preparation.
While it cooks
At about 9–13 minutes: Turn the pieces over
The row's instruction is to flip two or three times while cooking, rather than once at the half.
How to tell it is done
- Cooked through to the centre with no cold band
- A crust on both faces
Where these figures came from — from frozen
- Applies to
- Specific to this model
- Why this rating
- A published row from the manufacturer's grill chart, with the named temperature level converted to degrees using the table in the same manufacturer's instruction booklet. Both documents were read; neither figure is inferred.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- Published by the manufacturer for this appliance. It is evidence about this machine and is not general advice.
- This is a contact grill plate rather than a perforated basket. Heat reaches the food by conduction from the plate as well as by airflow, which is a different mechanism from air frying and transfers poorly to a basket machine.
- This block of the chart states an internal temperature of 75°C for frozen beef, where the fresh beef block states 63°C. A frozen steak taken to 75°C is well done, and there is no version of this row that produces a rare steak.
Sources (1)
Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK — Inspiration Guide and cooking charts (PDF)
SharkNinja Europe Limited — Manufacturer cooking chart (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The temperature, time and quantity for thick cut 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 735/0124, published alongside the instruction booklet as a second document.
Fresh
No time or temperature for this, and not by accident
Fresh and marinated are each a real question for thick-cut steak. 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 from frozen 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.
Bought chilled or defrosted, it is this same question: it is cooked as fresh, so there is no separate figure to look for.
What we do hold for thick-cut steak: from frozen. That is a different question, not a starting point for these.
Marinated
No time or temperature for this
No published figure is held for this state either. The reason is given once, under fresh.
Manufacturer figures with no state given
This is a published figure for one named machine. The manufacturer does not say whether this is fresh 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: 250°C for 9–12 min
Published range for six filet mignon steaks of 170–230g each, 3cm thick. The chart's T-bone row is a different figure and is not held here.
What usually goes wrong
A grey band under the crust. Moving air browns more slowly than a pan, so the outer layer of a steak spends longer above its ideal temperature — with a 3cm cut there is enough centre left for that not to matter, which is exactly what a 2cm cut lacks.
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.
Beef in fast-moving hot air
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. 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.
- Why published timings differIf another chart says something else, this is usually why — and which one to believe.
Easily confused with
- Steak — A different cooking problem with a different answer.