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Redmoon Converters
🍳 Cooking & Baking

Oven to Air Fryer Converter

Convert any oven recipe to air-fryer settings (and back) using the standard -25°F / -20% time rule with food-specific overrides for chicken, fries, fish and baked goods.

Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Checked against what this tool computes on

Air fryer settings
— for —
Rule: —
FoodAir fryer °FTime vs ovenTip
Chicken wings380°F0.7×Pat dry, single layer, flip halfway.
Fries / chips400°F0.75×Shake basket every 5 min.
Chicken pieces bone-in360°F0.8×Skin side up first half.
Fish / shrimp380°F0.7×Light oil spray, don't overcrowd.
Baked goods320°F0.85×Tent foil if browning too fast.
Vegetables380°F0.75×Toss in oil + salt, shake basket.
Frozen meals−25°F from box0.8×Check at 60% of original time.
Bacon350°F0.7×Drain fat between batches.
Steak / chops400°F0.7×Rest 5 min after; sear in pan optional.
Quick reference

Air fryers are small convection ovens. Standard rule: subtract 25°F from oven temperature and multiply cook time by 0.8. In Celsius that is a 14°C reduction (25 × 5/9), which is what this tool applies — you will see 15°C quoted elsewhere as a rounded figure. The intense circulating heat cooks food faster and crisps surfaces more aggressively than a static oven.

Food-specific overrides above are tuned from manufacturer guides (Ninja, Cosori, Philips). Always check internal temperature for proteins and pull frozen items at ~60% of stated time on first use to calibrate your model.

How it works

Each food type stores two numbers: a temperature offset in Fahrenheit and a time multiplier. Going oven to air fryer subtracts the offset and multiplies the time; going air fryer to oven adds it and divides instead. The default General setting is the familiar rule of minus 25°F and 0.8 times the time. If you switch the unit to Celsius the offset is converted with ×5/9, so 25°F becomes a 14°C reduction. The rule actually applied is printed under the result.

Food type is the input that matters most, because it replaces both numbers. Wings and fish use minus 20°F and 0.7; fries minus 25°F and 0.75; bone-in chicken pieces and frozen ready-meals minus 25°F and 0.8; baked goods a gentle minus 25°F and 0.85; roasted vegetables minus 20°F and 0.75; bacon a steep minus 50°F and 0.7; and steak keeps the full oven temperature with only the time cut to 0.7.

This is a fixed arithmetic rule, so it knows nothing about the variable that matters most in practice: how full the basket is. Crowding the drawer blocks the airflow the whole conversion depends on, and results also shift with preheating, basket size and model — manufacturers differ by more than 25°F. The tool never adjusts the shake or flip schedule either. Treat the first run of any recipe as a calibration batch and check proteins with a probe thermometer.

Frequently asked questions

What air fryer setting replaces a 400°F oven for 30 minutes?

375°F for 24 minutes on the General rule, which drops 25°F and multiplies time by 0.8. Choosing a specific food type changes both figures: fries would give 375°F for 23 minutes, and chicken wings 380°F for 21 minutes.

Do I need to lower the temperature for steak?

No, and the steak preset reflects that with a zero degree offset. Surface browning needs the heat, so only the time is reduced, to 0.7 of the oven figure. The preset note also reminds you to rest the meat for five minutes.

Why does bacon get such a big temperature drop?

Bacon uses the largest offset of any preset, 50°F, because rendered fat dripping onto a hot element is what makes an air fryer smoke. Cooking cooler keeps the grease below its smoke point, and the note advises emptying the tray between batches.

How do I convert an air fryer recipe back to a conventional oven?

Switch the direction selector to Air fryer to Oven. The offset is then added rather than subtracted and the time is divided by the multiplier, so a General conversion becomes plus 25°F with the time multiplied by 1.25.

Can I bake a cake in an air fryer?

The baked goods preset assumes so, using minus 25°F and the gentlest time cut of any option at 0.85. Its note warns that the surface can brown before the centre sets, so tent the top with foil if that starts to happen.

A small convection oven, converted the same way

An air fryer is a compact convection oven with an aggressive fan, so the conversion is the fan-oven adjustment scaled up: drop the temperature by around 20 °F and cut the time to roughly 75–80% of the conventional figure, which is the factor applied here.

The small chamber is what makes it more aggressive than a full-size fan oven — less air volume, closer element, faster recovery when the basket goes in.

Basket capacity is the real limit

The conversion assumes the food is in a single layer with air moving around it, and that assumption is what actually decides whether the result works. Overload the basket and the fryer becomes a steamer: moisture cannot escape, surfaces do not dry, and nothing browns however long it runs.

This is why scaling a recipe up in an air fryer usually means cooking in batches rather than extending the time. Shaking or turning partway through is not optional for the same reason — the contact face against the basket does not crisp.

Anything wet-battered is outside what the conversion covers. A batter that relies on immersion in oil to set will run through the basket instead.

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