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AirfryerHQ

Vegan burgers in an air fryer

Chilled — the short answer

250°C (482°F) for 7–9 min

For
125g per piece, about 20mm at the thickest point, 4 pieces, From the fridge
In
Multicooker with air fry, single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Yes, before the food goes in
Part way
turn the pieces over at about 4 min
Check
A dark crust where the patty met the plate
Safety
Plug an air fryer directly into a wall socket. Do not run one from an extension lead. Full rule below.
Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.

Seven to nine minutes fresh — the same as a beef burger, and for different reasons.

Chilled

The quick answer

250°C (482°F) for 7–9 min

Patty thickness, for four published 125g burgers. The same figure the same chart gives a beef burger of the same weight, which is worth noticing.

Assuming
125g per piece, about 20mm at the thickest point, 4 pieces, From the fridge
In
Multicooker with air fry
Loaded
Single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Yes, before the food goes in
Result
Heated through
Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.

Preparation

Seasoned and laid flat on a hot plate, not pressed down.

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

  1. At about 4–5 minutes: Turn the pieces over

    The published instruction says to flip halfway if desired. Only the face on the plate takes a crust, and a plant-based patty browns less readily than beef.

How to tell it is done

  • A dark crust where the patty met the plate
  • Firm right through with no soft, cool centre

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.

More colour
Brush the surface lightly with oil before it goes on. There is less fat here to brown with.

Where these figures came from — chilled

Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.
Applies to
Specific to this model
Why this rating
A published row with a stated quantity and thickness, charted in its own block rather than borrowed from the beef row — which is the useful part: the manufacturer treated these as their own food and arrived at the same number anyway.
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.
  • Plant-based burgers differ enormously between brands in fat, binder and water. The packet is a better source where it gives one.
Sources (1)

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.

Published combinations delivering equivalent lethality. AirfryerHQ does not calculate values between these — only the pairs the authority published are shown.
TemperatureHeld forMeasured at
70°C2 minthe centre of the food
75°C30 secthe centre of the food

The quick answer

160°C (320°F) for 3–6 min

Patty thickness.

Assuming
125g per piece, about 20mm at the thickest point, 2 pieces, From the fridge
In
Basket air fryer
Loaded
Single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Not needed
Result
Heated through
PreliminaryA starting point rather than a settled answer. Treat the numbers as a first attempt and check the food itself.

Preparation

Patty alone, bun kept out, in one layer.

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

  1. At about 2–3 minutes: Turn the pieces over

    A flat patty against the basket heats from one side only.

How to tell it is done

  • Steaming hot right through the middle, not just at the edges
  • The surface has dried rather than sweating

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)

PreliminaryA starting point rather than a settled answer. Treat the numbers as a first attempt and check the food itself.
Applies to
Specific to this type of appliance
Why this rating
Low in the published band. There is no fat continuing to render, so extra time only dries it. The time is AirfryerHQ's estimate.
Last reviewed
2026-08-13

What this does not cover

  • THE TIME ON THIS RECORD IS NOT SOURCED. Five manufacturers publish a reheating temperature and not one names a food, a quantity or a time for a named dish. The temperature sits inside their band; 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)

  • Tefal Easy Fry Max EY245B40 5L Air Fryer — Instruction Manual (PDF)

    Groupe SEB (Tefal) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)

    Relied on for: That this manufacturer's published reheating instruction is 160°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 328/8568.

  • 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 publishes 150°C for up to ten minutes for reheating.

    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 publishes 180°C for up to ten minutes for reheating.

    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.

  • AirfryerHQ Sprint 5 analysis of published guidance across twenty-one manuals

    AirfryerHQ — Calculated or inferred by AirfryerHQ (United Kingdom)

    Relied on for: The reading that six published reheating positions across five manufacturers span 150-180°C, that three cap the time at ten minutes, and that none names a food — so the time on this record is AirfryerHQ's estimate.

    AirfryerHQ's interpretation of what it says

    Citation checked — the document exists and is described correctly

From frozen

No time or temperature for this, and not by accident

Vegan burgers is sold and cooked from frozen, 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 chilled 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 vegan burgers: chilled, leftover (reheating). Those are a different question, not a starting point for this one.

What usually goes wrong

Dry and dense, from treating extra time as a safety margin. There is no connective tissue to break down and no fat to render, so every minute past the published window only removes water.

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.

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 vegan meat alternatives behaves this way

These products are protein isolates, starches and fats bound with methylcellulose or a similar hydrocolloid, and the binder is what governs their behaviour. It sets on heating and holds the shape, which is why they need no resting and tolerate a shorter cook than the meat equivalent — the published frozen vegan sausage time is eight minutes against nine to twelve for a frozen pork one. There is no fat to render and no connective tissue to break down, so extra time buys nothing at all and simply dries them; and because the added fat is usually coconut or rapeseed rather than animal fat, it liquefies at a lower temperature and leaves earlier.

More on vegan meat alternatives

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 vegan burgers.
  • 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

  • Beef burger — A different cooking problem with a different answer.