air fryer info

I enjoy hot dogs from time to time, but I’m pretty disappointed with a lot of them I’ve bought when dining out (especially from gas stations). Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to cook delicious, plump, and fresh hot dogs at home?

In this simple guide, you’ll learn how to cook hot dogs in an air fryer with excellent results.

I’ve made wonderful traditional dogs, chili cheese dogs, and more with even better taste than many restaurants or convenience stores but at 1/2 the cost!

Read on to learn how I did it.

Infographic – Air fryer hot dogs quick guide

Quick summary: Cooking hot dogs in an air fryer

Cooking fresh, warm, and tasty hot dogs yourself is easy. However, it’s helpful to know some things ahead of time to avoid headache or messing up your food.

You can also cook great sausage dogs, too! Read on to learn all the details.

How & why to preheat your air fryer

Top: Preheating an air fryer with digital controls. These often have a preheat mode button (some may use less than 5 minutes and adjust their time automatically). Bottom: For standard models, you can preheat the fryer by adjusting it to the 350 degree temperature and setting the cooking timer for 5 minutes.

Just like with regular ovens, air fryer makers recommend warming up the fryer to the cooking temperature before you add food. But why is that?

You should preheat your air fryer for several reasons:

• The electric heating element gets hot and ready to use
• Inside surfaces that touch & cook food are hot and ready to work properly
• Preheating avoids a warming delay that would happen if you started cooking from room temperature

Air fryer brands recommend doing this as it gets your air fryer ready to start cooking right away – it’s preheated (already heated) and ready to go. There’s no need to try to figure out cooking times as you would starting from a cold fryer.

It’s similar to how you warm up a car in cold winters before driving.

Preheating means proper cooking

For food that’s heated properly and cooks well you’ll need to let your air fryer warm up. Doing this allows your meals to cook consistently and reliably.

It’s true that air fryers are small and don’t take as long as larger traditional ovens do. However, they still need a few minutes before they’re ready.

How to preheat your air fryer

I recorded preheating times needed to get my air fryers ready before cooking frozen cheese sticks. I found out that they actually reach the cooking temperature before 5 minutes. However, the air fryer self needs the extra time (4-5 minutes total) to get completely ready. The internal surfaces will be hot and ready to cook the food as soon as it touches it.

Preheating is really easy! However, the way you go about doing it depends on the type & model of air fryer you own.

One of two ways are used:

• Digital controls/push button models: These often have a preheat button. When used, the unit will heat itself for the time required then turn off. You can also set the temperature and cooking time manually to do the same thing. (Note: Some models may use a bit less time to preheat with automatic settings, which is fine)
• Air fryers with dial controls can be set to the cooking temperature then set for 5 mins cooking time. When the timer is done you’re ready to add food and start the cooking process.

In either case, 5 minutes is usually a great preheat time to use. For the preheating temperature, set it to 350°F as we’ll use that for cooking.

Getting your hot dogs ready to cook

It’s a breeze getting your uncooked hot dogs ready for excellent cooking. For best results, put them in your air fryer’s cooking basket (food container) with a bit of space between. This helps them get more exposure to the hot cooking air inside while it works. See my note further below about shaking or turning them during cooking.

Yes, I’ll admit that hot dogs are one of the easiest foods to cook. But if you want great taste and want to avoid overcooking or undercooking them, there are few things to know:

1. When loading the air fryer basket with the hot dogs, don’t put too many. There shouldn’t be so many that they cover each other a lot.
2. Shake the basket container until the hot dogs “even out” or use tongs or your fingers. That is, shake or arrange them until they spread out a bit inside. This helps them cook better as they get more even exposure to the hot air that cooks them (This is really important if you’re cooking a lot of food in an air fryer).
3. Place the fryer basket back inside the air fryer.

When cooking with an air fryer, it’s important to understand that the food cooks by being exposed to very hot cooking air blowing down on it from the top. Ideally, the food will have as much of itself as possible exposed and uncovered.

Covered sides on your hot dogs (or what’s facing down) will usually be cooked slightly less. That’s why I and the air fryer manufacturers recommend shaking or turning food 1/2 of the way through the cooking time.

How long should I cook hot dogs?

I measured cooking times for hot dogs until they were well-done and tasted like they should Both the larger air fryer (a 3.7 quart Cosori unit) and the smaller one, a 1.2 qt Dash personal air fryer were used. Both needed 5 minutes for plump, well-cooked dogs with an internal temperature above 165°F as recommended.

To get a really accurate idea about how much time 2 common sizes of air fryers need for hot dogs, I carefully measured the cooking times for a Cosori 3.7 qt model (more of a family size air fryer) and a 1.2 qt Dash Compact personal air fryer (perfect for individuals or couples).

These were common refrigerator-temperature (cold, not frozen) franks, by the way.

Here’s what I found when testing the cooking times & watching the hot dogs:

• 0-1 mins: Starting to warm up.
• 1-2 mins: Interior of hot dog franks are no longer chilled; slightly warmer.
• 2 1/2 mins: Starting to plump and somewhat cooked; Some parts may be a bit darker. Time to shake or rotate.
• 3-4 mins: Turning a normal red color, plump, and very close to being ready to eat & tasting good.
• 5 mins: Plump, juicy, and tasty. Internal temperature is 165°F or above. Time to eat!

Unlike microwaved hot dogs (blah!) you’ll get juicy, naturally cooked hot dog meat that’s not about to explode. It’s actually a lot easier to use an air fryer as long as you’re careful with the timer.

Closeup of a properly cooked hot dog after using an air fryer. The hot dog should be a darker red, plump, and soft. The taste is great when cooked well!

Don’t forget to shake them!

After about 2 or 2 1/2 minutes it’s best to shake or turn your franks. That’s because you’ll need to expose the areas which had less cooking heat previously and turn other areas to receive less heat.

While it’s not “necessary”, I strongly recommend shaking or turning the hot dogs at about 2 or 2 1/2 minutes during the cooking process. In my experience, air fryers do a great job but they can’t cover 100% of the food’s surfaces without your help.

It only takes a few seconds and will make sure your food gets enough hot air to give you the best results possible.

Tip: Want to be 100% sure? Use a digital food thermometer to check how well your foods are cooked. I use one regularly for many foods I cook with my air fryers. My current handy digital thermometer is the easy-to-use and inexpensive ThermoPro TP03A digital kitchen temperature probe from Amazon.

Melting cheese for chili cheese dogs with an air fryer

Got cheese? Let’s be honest, gas station (or other) cheeses options for hot dogs are TERRIBLE! Real cheese should taste like…well, real cheese! To get fantastic cheese dogs or chili cheese dogs, you can use ANY of your favorite choices with your air fryer. Even though real sliced block cheese is harder to melt, it’s a snap to do this way.

Not all chili cheese dogs are the same! There’s a reason I almost never get cheese dogs when we go out to eat – usually they’re awful!

However, my homemade air fryer cheese dogs were excellent!

The great news is that you can use any cheese options that work best for you and your budget:

• Grated cheese in the bag
• Sandwich slices
• Hand-sliced block cheese (my favorite!)

Of the three, block cheese is a bit harder to use as it’s harder to melt. However, the great news that I’ve figured out the easiest way to do it.

How to best melt your cheese & for how long

As it turns out, home-cooked chili cheese dogs are GREAT! I was so happy to FINALLY enjoy cheap, delicious cheese dogs I made myself. It’s fast too, as it only takes about 60 seconds even for block cheese slices which are harder to melt. Shown: Delicious, fresh hand-sliced Colby, and Monterey Jack pieces melted perfectly.

You’ll want to do the following:

• Cook the hot dogs first, as shown in the earlier sections
• Place the hot dogs in their buns, fresh out of the bag (or refrigerated is ok too)
• Cover the hot dogs evenly with grated/shredded, sandwich sliced, or hand-sliced cheese as desired
• Melt at 350°F for 60 seconds

The result will be cheese that’s properly melted, won’t be burned, and will remain soft and gooey for a few minutes before eating. However, I strongly recommend you add toppings and eat as soon as possible!

Adding chili and other toppings

Eat with only cheese or add mustard, ketchup, or whatever suits your fancy. For seriously delicious chili cheese dogs, add hot dog chili from a can, onions if you like, and enjoy! It’s fantastic!

After carefully measuring melted cheese time & temperatures (and using 350°F, making it easier) I got my perfectly melted cheese dogs.

To create fantastic chili cheese dogs, I simply added hot dog chili from a can at room temperature and then fresh-cut onions. The result was excellent!

While you can heat up your chili, mine was fine at room temperature. If you’d like to heat your chili a bit, place it in the air fryer once you’ve added the topics and use the warm setting for 2-3 minutes, or 30-60 seconds at 350°F.

What about sausage dogs and bratwurst?

Great news! Cooking bratwurst or other sausage dogs is exactly the same – and just as easy – as regular hot dogs. 5 minutes at 350 degrees and you’re done! For a wonderful traditional taste, add sauerkraut and onions as desired.

The great news is that your favorite sausages like bratwurst and traditional smoked types are cooked exactly the same in an air fryer!

Just like regular franks, cook for 5 minutes at 350 degrees and you’re ready. Don’t forget to turn them over at 2 to 2 1/2 minutes time, although it’s really not as important for sausages. (They cook slightly differently due to the different skin).

Garnish with sauerkraut, onions, and anything you like as desired. They’re great!

Final touches and it’s time to eat!

Examples of the delicious hot dogs I cooked in my air fryers and garnished to taste. Whatever your favorites are, they’re warm, fresh, and tasty once you cook them. Just add the perfect garnish like sauerkraut, ketchup & mustard, onions, or so much more! (Note: I highly recommend wavy potato chips – they’re an excellent side for hot dogs. They taste great and are inexpensive, too!)

Once you’re done cooking your franks, my advice is to add your favorite toppings while they’re hot and serve right away. There’s simply no substitute for fresh & warm hot dogs. (Reheating with a microwave will give you poor taste and won’t be nearly as good!)

The good news is that after cooking them, there won’t be much to clean up.

What to expect

While other foods you can cook in air fryers such as mozzarella sticks, burritos, chicken wings, and especially hamburgers can result in a greasy mess at the bottom of the air fryer basket, hot dogs are different.

In my experience, aside from sausages, there’s almost no residue. Note that sausages do leave a bit more as they contain more fats, but overall it’s still only a very small amount.

Clean up & last notes

The great news is that hot dogs leave very little residue in your air fryer! While sausages leave more as they have more fat, as you can see above there’s not much to clean after cooking franks. It will only take a handful of seconds to clean up later.

Unlike other foods I’ve cooked (mainly frozen hamburger patties), there’s not much at all left over to clean up. Just a bit of residue from water and a very small amount of fats in the hot dogs.

Bratwurst and other types of sausages or sausage dogs do leave a bit more. Don’t ignore it, however, as all greases and food residues will develop a smell from bacterial growth after a few days if not cleaned.

Washing your air fryer after cooking

Washing out the fryer basket is really easy.

Just add a drop of dishwashing detergent after filling it with warm water. Any droplets of oil or greasy water residue will wash out without any real effort.

Add a small amount of dishwashing detergent and then use a soft sponge to avoid damaging the nonstick coating inside the cooking basket as most air fryers have that protective coating. 

Wash briefly by hand, rinse out with water, and then leave to air dry. You’re done!

More air fryer cooking guides

Want even more fantastic food that saves money, too? There’s almost no end to the wonderful food options you can cook with your air fryer.

Learn more from my other helpful posts where I show you more:

• Air fryer cooking for frozen mozzarella sticks
• Frozen hamburger patty air fryer cooking how-to guide
• How To Make Frozen Wings In An Air Fryer
• Cooking fantastic tater tots in an air fryer
• How to cook frozen burritos easily with your air fryer

If you’re hoping to find out how to cook frozen burritos in an air fryer you’ve come to the right place!

As it turns out, it’s a bit trickier than cooking them in an oven. The great news is that they taste much better cooked in an air fryer vs a microwave. 

I’ve done the hard work: Lots of trial and error, and wasted a lot of burritos to find the best way. In my easy-to-follow guide I’ll show you how to make great burritos you’ll love.

Infographic – Fast frozen burrito air fryer cooking tips

Basics first: Simple tips for cooking frozen burritos in an air fryer

It’s actually quite easy to cook your own great-tasting burritos at home. There are some things you’ll need to know, however, before cooking your first time.

Here’s a quick summary of the basic steps you’ll need.

Watch out! Don’t follow advice on the package

Typical cooking instructions for using a traditional oven on my frozen burrito package. The problem is that while it’s fine for those kinds of ovens, air fryers are different. You’ll get terrible results doing it that way when using your air fryer!

Most frozen foods including frozen burritos, chimichangas, and much more included both microwave and conventional oven cooking instructions. I’m here to warn you: Don’t use those instructions for your air fryer when cooking your burritos!

You’ll get terrible results & you’ll really miss out on what you could have if done right. The reason is that while air fryers work very similar to an oven, in practice they don’t cook the same way.

2 things will happen if you cook your burritos at a high temperature (like 350°F shown above) like you would in a regular oven:

• The tortillas will dry out and become hard and crunchy
• Burrito contents (especially with meats or cheeses) will overcook, leak out badly, and cause a mess

That being said, let’s move on to the right way to do it.

How & why to preheat your air fryer

Top: Preheat settings for an air fryer with digital controls. These usually have a preheat mode button but you may need to adjust them manually anyway. Bottom: For models with dial controls, turn the cooking temperature to about 180°F and set the timer to 3 minutes (or 5 minutes if yours has a preset for that).

Air fryer makers recommend warming up the fryer to the cooking temperature before you add food. But why is that?

I can tell you from my personal hands-on experience there are several good reasons why:

• The electric heating element (much like an oven) gets warmed and ready to use
• Inside surfaces that touch & cook food are hot and ready to work properly. Food will start cooking when it touches them
• Preheating avoids a warming delay that would happen if you started cooking from room temperature

In other words, you’ll get your air fryer ready to begin cooking right away – it’s preheated (already hot) and ready to use. You won’t have to worry about trying to adjust cooking time for a cold fryer.

Just like how you and I may warm up a car before driving during the winter it’s the same principle.

Preheating means good cooking

There’s not really a way around it most of the time – especially with frozen foods. In fact, those can be harder to cook than room temperature foods since they need more time to thaw.

For food that’s heated properly and cooks well, you’ll need to let your air fryer warm up. Doing this allows your meals to cook consistently and reliably.

Even though they’re small and don’t take nearly as much time as a regular oven to warm up, it’s still worth doing.

How to preheat your air fryer

Shown: I’ve tested preheating times for several air fryers to find out what REALLY happens when preheating them. I found out that it depends on the temperature range. For cooking frozen burritos a lower temperature is best, which means it only takes about 3 minutes for most to warm up before cooking. However, for other foods, a higher temperature is needed. It takes up to 5 minutes for preheating the fryer.

Preheating is really easy! While it does depend on the particular model brand of fryer you own, the good news is that it works the same for nearly all of them.

You’ll do it one of two ways:

• Digital controls/push button models: These often have a preheat button. If yours has a “warming” or preheat button for 180 or 170 degrees and 3-5 minutes, use that preset button. Otherwise, adjust the preheat time for 180°F and 3 minutes or more (5 minutes is fine, too)
• Air fryers with dial controls can be set to the cooking temperature then set for 3 mins cooking time. When the timer is finished it’s ready for you to add the food and get started cooking

Use at least 3 minutes time at 180°F to preheat your air fryer. (Note: 5 minutes or more is fine too. It’s just longer than is necessary)

Getting your burritos ready to cook

Getting your burritos ready set up to cook takes only a few moments. To get the best results, fill the fryer container (basket) with the burritos making sure they’re not stacked on top of each other. It’s ok if they touch but you don’t want them covered up much as that prevents the hot cooking air from reaching them.

Time to get your burritos ready to cook! It’s easy, though, so don’t stress…and it only takes a short moment too.

(Note: The same tips apply to other foods as well, like hamburger patties, Hot Pockets, and so forth)

1. Put the burritos inside the basket so that they don’t cover each other. This is to avoid keeping the air fryer’s hot air from being able to reach them well (especially important for foods like fries, tots, etc.)
2. If you’re trying to cook as many burritos at once as possible, try laying them inside at different angles and slightly touching each other
3. In some cases it might be helpful to put them inside at 90 degree angles if there’s limited space or on their sides
4. If necessary and space is tight, it’s ok if they touch each other a bit – just don’t completely cover burritos by adding more on top of them

When using an air fryer it’s important to avoid covering the burritos as much as possible. Food stacked on other pieces of food will cover surfaces and cause some areas to be undercooked.

That’s especially a bad idea for foods with a frozen interior like chimichangas and burritos that need heat for a long time to thaw & warm inside.

How long should I cook frozen burritos in an air fryer?

I measured cooking times while checking the burritos every 5-10 minutes until they were well-cooked and tasted great. I used my larger air fryer (a 3.7 quart Cosori unit) and a smaller one, a 1.2 qt Dash personal air fryer as they’re good examples for what many people will use. The larger one (cooking 4 burritos) was done in 25 minutes. The smaller, personal-sized air fryer had 2 burritos and was ready in about 20 minutes.

As not everyone has the same size air fryer I made sure to test cooking times using 2 sizes: A larger & popular Cosori 3.7 quart 1700W model (more suitable for families) and a smaller personal air fryer, the Dash 1.2 quart 1000W model.

Here’s a brief timeline of what happens when cooking frozen burritos:

• 0-10 mins: Thawing out, still very cold inside
• 10-15 mins or so: Outside becomes warm, inside has nearly completely thawed
• After 15 minutes: Inside continues warming/cooking
• After 20-25 minutes: The burritos are ready inside and great to eat!

Tip: You can be confident how well food is cooked by using a digital temperature gauge with a probe to check. In the case of burritos, a temperature inside of 100 degrees and above is recommended. I recommend a thermometer like the ThermoPro TP03A digital kitchen gauge as it works well and comes in very handy!

Once the timer is done you can check to see if your burritos are fully cooked and ready.

To do so, one of the best ways is to use a digital food thermometer as shown above. For best taste and to make sure the inside temperature is good. When checking it you should measure above 100 degrees.

I’ve found that’s best for great taste. At below that they’re edible, but not nearly as tasty or enjoyable.

When fully cooked, your burritos will be like this:

• Warm, relatively soft outside (shouldn’t be too hard or crunchy)
• Melted, hot interior that tastes good

You may notice some grease or oil leaking out. That’s normal depending on the kind of burritos you’ve bought.

In the examples above I cooked beef & bean burritos which can leak a bit after cooking. I’ve had several where the soft tortilla had a bit of oil showing after time passed.

Example of an overcooked/high-temperature air fryer burrito

Here’s the result of cooking burritos in an air fryer at a higher temperature like 350° instead of a lower temperature. The inside can leak excessively and the outside tortilla will become hard and crunchy – not good to eat! These aren’t good burritos and are why I recommend using a lower temperature although it may take a bit longer.

As I mentioned before, here’s an example of why you don’t cook burritos at a higher temperature like 350°F. I found out the inside would begin to leak badly since it was overcooking.

Not only that but the outside became hard and unpleasant to eat. Not good!

Last touches and we’re done. Time to eat!

Once ready, it’s time to eat! The great news is that cooked frozen burritos are safe to eat immediately as they’re not too hot.

I recommend serving immediately for best taste, as if left too long they may tend to become saturated with grease from the cooked cheese or meat inside.

How to best reheat cold burritos

One thing I’ve found is that you won’t want to warm up your fantastic air fryer cooking in a microwave. It simply doesn’t taste anywhere close to how it did when fresh!

For best results, restore them to a delicious, fresh state by reheating them in a warm air fryer at 180°F for about 3 to 5 minutes. 

Clean up & last notes

Check out what’s left over after I cooked my burritos. While not typical of all burritos you’ll buy, those with foods containing fats or oils like cheese, meats, and others might leak into the frying basket while cooking. That’s normal.

I did find that my beef & bean burritos left a small amount of oil & grease behind when I was done. That’s nothing to be concerned about, as it’s normal.

The great news is that clean up is really easy!

To clean up your air fryer basket after cooking, just add a drop of dishwashing detergent after filling it with warm water.

Clean the inside with a soft washcloth or sponge as you don’t want to damage the nonstick coating with an abrasive cleaner. It only takes a few seconds and you’re done.

Allow the parts to air dry or dry with a towel if you prefer.

(Note: Most air fryer baskets are dishwasher safe so you could use that too).

More air fryer cooking guides

But wait, there are even more fantastic foods you can cook with your air fryer! Check out my other guides based on hands-on testing, measurements, and most of all….taste!

• How To Cook Frozen Hamburgers In An Air Fryer
• How To Make Frozen Wings In An Air Fryer
• How To Cook Tater Tots In An Air Fryer Like A Pro
• How To Cook Frozen Mozzarella Sticks In An Air Fryer