Nearly every recipe in circulation was written for a conventional oven. Put those numbers into an air fryer unchanged and you get the same result every time: dark outside, underdone in the middle.
The fix is two adjustments. Drop the temperature by 25°F (15°C) and cut the cooking time by about a fifth. A dish that bakes at 400°F for 25 minutes goes in at 375°F for 20.
Enter your recipe settings to get the converted values
Recipe Details
Converted Settings
Cooking Tips
Why These Settings?
Why both numbers have to change
They correct different problems, which is why changing only one produces a specific, recognisable failure.
Food sitting in a still oven carries a thin film of cooler, damp air on its surface. That film insulates. An air fryer's fan strips it away faster than it can re-form, so the surface sits much closer to the real cavity temperature — the same dial setting simply hits harder. The temperature drop compensates for that.
The time cut is a different effect. Faster heat transfer at the surface means a steeper gradient into the food, so the centre arrives sooner.
Reduce the time but not the temperature and the outside burns. Reduce the temperature but not the time and everything comes out uniformly overdone. If you have had one of those results, you now know which half you missed.
The chart
| Oven | Air fryer | Oven time | Air fryer time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300°F / 150°C | 275°F / 135°C | 15 min | 12 min |
| 325°F / 165°C | 300°F / 150°C | 20 min | 16 min |
| 350°F / 180°C | 325°F / 165°C | 25 min | 20 min |
| 375°F / 190°C | 350°F / 180°C | 30 min | 24 min |
| 400°F / 205°C | 375°F / 190°C | 35 min | 28 min |
| 425°F / 220°C | 400°F / 205°C | 40 min | 32 min |
| 450°F / 230°C | 425°F / 220°C | 50 min | 40 min |
Read the halves independently. A recipe calling for 425°F and 30 minutes becomes 400°F and 24.
Where the rule stops working
Most conversion sites give you the rule and stop. The rule has limits, and knowing them saves more dinners than the rule itself does.
- Cookies and cakes need 50°F (30°C) off, not 25°F. Batter is thin, wet and sits directly under the fan, so the surface sets before the middle has finished rising. This is the single most common air fryer baking failure.
- Below 325°F, reduce by 15–20°F instead. The surface effect the rule compensates for is weak at low heat, so a full drop leaves food underdone.
- A basket more than two-thirds full needs 15–20% added back — or splitting, which is usually better. Air cannot circulate between packed pieces and the food steams.
- Wet batter cannot be converted at all. It runs off and drips through before it sets.
- Anything over about 4 lb (1.8 kg) will not fit with clearance. Use the oven.
The methodology page sets out all seven exceptions and where the figures come from.
Common foods, already converted
| Food | Oven | Air fryer |
|---|---|---|
| Frozen fries | 425°F, 22 min | 400°F, 17 min |
| Chicken wings | 400°F, 40 min | 375°F, 22 min |
| Chicken breast | 400°F, 22 min | 375°F, 18 min |
| Bacon | 400°F, 18 min | 375°F, 14 min |
| Salmon fillet | 400°F, 15 min | 375°F, 12 min |
| Baked potato | 400°F, 55 min | 375°F, 44 min |
Other conversions
Coming from something other than a conventional oven changes the arithmetic. A convection oven already has a fan, so it only needs 10°F off rather than 25. A microwave has no cooking temperature at all. Going the other way, air fryer to oven adds 25°F and a quarter of the time.
If you would rather not work through a recipe line by line, paste the whole thing here and every temperature and time in it gets rewritten at once.
Questions we get asked
Does the conversion work in reverse?
Yes, but not symmetrically. Oven to air fryer multiplies time by 0.8; air fryer to oven multiplies by 1.25. Using 20% in both directions means a recipe converted there and back does not return to its original numbers.
Is an air fryer just a small convection oven?
Essentially, yes — same heating element, same fan. The differences are fan speed, which is two to three times higher, and cavity volume, which is a fraction. Those two things are the entire reason the convection conversion is small and the conventional one is large.
Do I need to preheat?
Three minutes for anything that needs to crisp. Skip it for slow bakes and covered dishes.
Why does my food cook unevenly?
Almost always the basket, not the settings. Capacity affects results more than temperature does.
Does wattage matter?
For timing, yes. Under 1,400W, add roughly 10%. It never changes the temperature.