Steak in an air fryer

An air fryer is a small convection oven, so steak cooks at 200 °C rather than 220 °C and takes 8–14 min instead of 12–20. That is roughly the usual 20 °C drop and a fifth off the time.

Side by side

The temperature that actually decides it

Times above are for planning. Whether steak is done is decided by the internal temperature and nothing else — appliance wattage varies by roughly a factor of two across the category, and thickness changes the time more than any setting does. A probe thermometer in the thickest part is the only reliable answer.

What goes wrong

• An air fryer cannot sear. It browns, which is not the same thing — there is no conductive contact with hot metal, so you get colour without a crust.
• Whole-muscle steak is safe rarer than mince because bacteria sit on the surface, which reaches far above 63 °C. USDA lists 63 °C with a 3-minute rest as the safe minimum.
• Take it out 3 °C below target. Carryover cooking does the rest during the rest.

Air fryer wattage and basket size vary widely, so treat the first batch as a calibration run and write down what worked. These figures are compiled guidance, not a published standard.