Our 22 favorite air fryer breakfast recipes

We have a weakness for apple fritters. Avoiding them at the bakery every week is hard enough, but after discovering how easy they are to make in the air fryer — thanks to this recipe from Wine a Little Cook a Lot — they’ve become a regular part of our very unbalanced breakfasts.

Holy moly, did you know you can make bagels in your air fryer? And with this 10-minute recipe from The Big Man’s World, you need only three ingredients: Greek yogurt, self-rising flour, and a brush of butter on top. (But feel free to top your bagels to your liking with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic, raisins, or everything seasoning!)

We still rely on our oven for normal-sized loaves of banana bread, but when we want a small batch or no leftovers, we break out the air fryer. This super-simple recipe from Scrummy Lane requires just one banana, one egg, a bit of milk, and some basic ingredients from your pantry.

Using refrigerated biscuit dough is a tempting shortcut (and it’s even easier with an air fryer) but from-scratch biscuits are worth the extra effort. And it’s just a bit of added work, as you only need four ingredients — flour, butter, buttermilk, and shortening — and about 15 minutes of prep time. Oh, and you probably also need this recipe from My Forking Life.

The key to a solid scone is a golden exterior with a soft, moist interior. Your air fryer might be the best way to achieve this balance, and Fork to Spoon has the recipe to prove it. (And if you need any more convincing, it’s a blueberry scone recipe with eight variations!)

We have breakfast burritos on a regular basis, but they tend to get too crispy when finishing them in the air fryer. Instead, we prefer to make something that’s supposed to have a completely crunchy exterior: egg rolls. And these egg rolls from Lil’ Luna truly live up to their name, as they’re filled with scrambled eggs and bacon.

If you prefer to have potatoes as part of your morning meal, try these crispy breakfast spuds from What Molly Made. Simply slice your tubers into cubes, season them, and fry for 20 minutes, shaking the basket halfway through. No need to soak the potatoes ahead of time — they’ll crisp up just fine!

Okay, we’re not about to suggest you make waffles from scratch in your air fryer (although that is indeed possible with the right mold), but instead, you should tag-team this dish with two appliances. Make the waffles in your waffle iron and the chicken in the air fryer…or, if you don’t have the former appliance, you can use the air fryer to perfectly crisp up some frozen waffles. Regardless of which path you choose, Kim Schob has the recipe covered.

In a pinch, you can put store-bought cinnamon rolls from a tube in your air fryer. If you have an hour to spare, try this homemade version from Healthful Blondie. You only need to proof it once, it can be made in a single bowl without an electric mixer, and the results are fluffy and delicious.

Cooking French toast in the air fryer already seems like sorcery, so why not take it a step further and make this recipe for French toast sticks from Feel Good Foodie? It’s not just one of our favorite air fryer recipes, but one of our kids’ favorites, too.

Fried eggs have the word “fried” right in the name, so why wouldn’t it be possible to use your air fryer for this breakfast staple? (Even if you prefer your eggs another way, all is possible in the air fryer.) But don’t just crack an egg in the basket and wing it — break out your mini pie tins or baking dishes and check out these tips from Summer Yule.

No pan? No problem, as this frittata from Effortless Foodie is made entirely in your air fryer. And that goes for all the ingredients — tomato, spinach, and spring onions — too. Simply chop, mix, pour, and fry to perfection.

Hard-boiling an egg in the air fryer sounds like a hairbrained scheme, but it works — and it may even work better than the conventional method. As Feel Good Foodie will tell you, air frying hard boiled eggs requires no waiting for water to boil…because there’s no water involved in the actual cooking. You simply place the eggs in the fryer, heat them until they’re done, and toss them in an ice bath for easy peeling.

Frozen hash browns are fantastic in the air fryer, but nothing beats the from-scratch version. This recipe from Just An Air Fryer is a cinch and calls for just four ingredients: potatoes, oil, salt, and pepper.

Here’s something sweet: raspberry jelly, inside a donut, made entirely in your air fryer! But the best part of this unbelievably simple recipe from AirFried.com? It calls for only four ingredients. Just put some refrigerated biscuit dough rounds in your air fryer, spray, cook, dunk in butter, toss in sugar, and pipe in your favorite jelly.

This is more of a public service announcement to let air fryer owners know that you can, in fact, cook bacon in your air fryer. Just heat it at 350 F for 7-12 minutes, based on the thickness. Or, for something a little fancier, try this maple and brown sugar bacon from Fork to Spoon.

Silicone muffin cups are our latest kitchen obsession. When we cook muffins and cupcakes in the oven, they ensure nothing sticks to the metal pan (saving us some scrubbing), but they also allow us to use our air fryer to make both of these treats. Intrigued? Be sure to bookmark this air fryer recipe from Also The Crumbs Please, as it includes some general guidelines and also instructions for plain vanilla, blueberry, banana, and chocolate chip muffin varieties. 

You’re going to flip for these fluffy, no-flip chocolate chip pancakes from Upstate Ramblings. It’s even easier than making pancakes the traditional way, as the air fryer does all the work. Just grab some 4-inch or 6-inch circular aluminum pans (based on what your particular model of fryer can accommodate) and get cooking.

Our favorite place to cook a steak is on our outdoor grill. But the grill’s location makes steak and eggs a tricky task, and that’s why we fire up our air fryer instead. With these tips from Skinnytaste, some attentiveness, and a little bit of trial of error, you too can learn to fry your steak to perfection.

Light, flaky, and glamorously golden, these strawberry turnovers from Savory Thoughts are also incredibly simple…and not just because they’re made in your air fryer. If you have strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla extract, the only other ingredient you’ll need is a package of pastry sheets.

While seeking a healthier version of turkey sausage patties for breakfast sandwiches, we stumbled upon this air fryer-friendly gem from Wholesomelicious. It’s light in calories, packed with protein, and features a touch of maple syrup. We use the recipe for family breakfasts, for meal prepping and freezing, and sometimes just to make crumbled turkey sausage. Bookmark it!

We want this list to show that nearly every breakfast item from A to Z can be made in your air fryer, so it’s fitting that we started with apple fritters and are ending with zucchini fritters. Despite the similar name, these two dishes are quite different. The former are sugary and fluffy, while the latter are savory and actually sort of healthy, as the only ingredients (according to this recipe from The Gracious Wife) are zucchini, eggs, flour, baking powder, parmesan cheese, chives, salt & pepper, and sour cream for serving.