Lidl Breaded Cod Fillets and Iceland Hash Brown Waffles (Both frozen)
With the faster cooking times of an air fryer over a conventional oven, the on-label instructions may not be relevant to an air fryer.
Cooking Instructions
The printed helpful cooking instructions typically specify a conventional oven and, occasionally, a fan oven. If the air fryer instructions are missing, how should the frozen food of Breaded Cod Fillets and Iceland hash brown waffles be cooked?
Quicker Cooking
The air fryers, mainly when not overcrowded, cook more quickly than even a fan oven. You can also save money on the cooking cost by reducing the temperature to cook the food thoroughly. Less energy is wasted in an air fryer than in a conventional oven, and more goes into the food.
Cooking Times
Without any air fryer cooking times on the packaging, it can be worrying that the food will be cooked properly. Follow our timings as a guide, and check the food is piping hot before serving. You can always cook it for a bit longer if it’s not hot enough when you test it. All air fryers, just like ovens, cook at slightly different temperatures. Be sure to add time/temperature or cook for less time/temperature if your air fryer differs from ours.
On Label Vs Actual Air fryer times
Lidl Breaded Cod Fillets
Lidl Breaded Cod Fillets (per 2) take approximately 25 minutes at 200°C in a conventional oven.
We have tested this and found the optimal time for a piping hot fish with a crispy crumb breaded coating them in the air fryer is:
180°C / 360°F for 16 minutes.
The Iceland Hash Brown Waffles packaging states the fan oven cooking time is 15 minutes at 200°C from frozen.
An air fryer can reduce the time and temperature (and hence the electricity needed) to 180°C for 10 minutes. This gives you crispy hash brown waffles that are fluffy in the middle and crunchy outside.
Cooking both for a meal at the same time
A sufficiently sizeable single-basket air fryer can cook two Lidl breaded cod fillets and four Iceland hash brown waffles and finish simultaneously. The 5.7L capacity of the air fryer means that the air can easily circulate and, importantly, underneath the food in the basket.
Timing
To get two different foods to finish at the same time, it just takes a bit of maths.
For our Frozen breaded fish, the actual air fryer cooking total time is 16 minutes.
The total time for the air fryer to cook the hash brown waffles is 10 minutes.
Instructions
Preheat the air fryer to 180°C and add the fish; set the timer for 6 minutes. Ignore any shake or turn food warnings.
At the end of the 6 minutes, turn the fish over and add the hash brown waffles.
Set the air fryer to 10 minutes at the same 180°C. Ignore the shake or turn food advice; the fish is already turned, and the waffles don’t need it. (The waffles are primarily empty spaces that allow the air to circulate)
At the end of the final timer, the total cooking time of the fish will be 16 minutes at 180°C, and the waffle hash browns get a perfect 10 minutes at the same 180°C.
Plate up and serve, enjoy.
Mushy peas are optional with fish.
Calories
There is no added fat for cooking this meal in the air fryer to the calories on the packaging stand.
A single Frozen Lidl Breaded Cod Fillet is 248kcal/1041kJ
A single Iceland hash brown waffle is 132 kcal/551 kJ
Cooking time
Two Frozen Lidl Breaded Cod Fillet is in the air fryer for 16 minutes at 180°C.
Four Iceland Hash Brown Waffles is 10 minutes at 180°C in the air fryer.
Tips:
Avoid overlapping or overcrowding the food in the air fryer. A good circulation of air will cook more efficiently and quickly. If the food overlaps or touches other food, it may increase the cooking time.
Ensure the food is fully cooked before serving.
