Calamari is a very popular appetizer but not so much a leftover. The air fryer changes everything. You can get that same fresh, crispy bite from leftover calamari if you learn how to reheat calamari in an air fryer.

Use these tips to learn how to reheat calamari in an air fryer so those leftover calamari rings don’t have to go to waste. Deep frying fresh calamari is the best way to serve up a delicious appetizer or snack. Calamari is the Italian word for breaded squid rings.

Of course, squid rings doesn’t sound as appetizing as cooked calamari. Crispy calamari is served fresh with lemon wedges and a marinara sauce, though some people have a favorite dipping sauce besides marinara.

Either way, the texture of the calamari is what brings people back. Deep-fried calamari has a crispy outer layer of panko breadcrumbs mixed with different seasonings like black pepper, old bay seasoning, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, or red pepper flakes.

Cooking calamari at home means you get to decide how to pepper calamari the way you like it. You can even control how much you make. However, making fresh calamari usually means using multiple calamari tubes, which means leftover fried calamari.

Not to mention, not everyone has a deep fryer at home. But leftover calamari is not as delicious. In fact, it has a chewier, soggy texture that no one enjoys. The air fryer basket saves both problems.

We can use an air fryer to make an air fryer calamari recipe. Then, we can use the air fryer to reheat any leftovers. Using the same cooking method we used the first time is the best way to get the best results with the leftovers.

Break out that airtight container; we now have a safe and simple way to learn how to reheat calamari in an air fryer.

How to Reheat Calamari in an Air Fryer

We can follow any homemade calamari recipe we want. Some recipes will use panko bread crumbs; others will use all purpose flour and an egg mixture or even gluten-free flour. The best method to use is the one you like most.

That’s the great thing about cooking at home: we have full control over what we make and the cooking techniques we use. The classic way to make calamari is with hot oil in a deep fryer.

That’s how you get that golden brown, crispy, delicious bite from fresh squid. But the frying pan is not the only way to make calamari. Some people use an air fryer oven or countertop air fryer. Air fryer calamari is just as golden, crispy, and delicious.

You just need to find an air fryer recipe you enjoy the most. Seafood recipes really come down to the seasoning a lot of the time. So just use your preferred method to season calamari, and you can bet it will be delicious.

The problem comes when we make too much and then are left with a tough decision. Do we toss the leftovers because we know we can’t just pop them in the microwave, or do we find a great way to save them?

Reheating Fried Food

Did you know there is actual science behind why a microwave doesn’t reheat fried food well? These days, people will want to learn how to reheat calamari in an air fryer.

But there was a time when the only two options would be an oven or a microwave—the microwave works by cooking food from the inside out. Basically, electromagnetic waves are absorbed into the water, sugar, and fat molecules in food.

This creates a vibration in the molecules, and that vibration causes heat. But what happens to water when it is heated rapidly? It turns to steam. That steam is what does most of the heavy lifting in a microwave.

Unfortunately, steam in fried food just means a soggy disaster. The steam adds even more moisture to the breaded coating, making it soggy. This means we cut the cooking time down considerably in a microwave, but there is no way to control the moisture levels in the food.

We need a way to introduce high heat, but from the outside, that’s when the oven comes into play. Ovens are capable of reheating calamari, but have you ever tried reheating fried food in an oven?

The directions always say it is a short period; spoiler alert, it’s never a brief period. The oven heat needs to penetrate the breading and heat up the inside, and it takes more time than it did to fry the calamari in the first place.

Calamari Air Fried

Air frying is a tasty way to enjoy that delicious calamari a second time without throwing it away. Air fryers work by circulating hot air around the food in the air fryer basket at a rapid pace. This fast pace also makes cooking time shorter.

The cooking process differs entirely from frying, though it still uses a small amount of oil. We definitely will be using less oil than we would if we tried to deep-fry the calamari at home. Luckily, learning how to air fry calamari is very simple.

You just need to bread the calamari, toss it in an air fryer, and cook it for a short period of time. The cooking time will be low, but we still should work in small batches. The problem with small batches is that we can get carried away.

There’s usually isn’t anything wrong with making more than we need, in fact, some call that meal prepping. Of course, no one is meal-prepping fried food because it’s so hard to reheat.

Luckily, the air fryer is not a deep fryer; it is easier to use and even easier to clean. We just need to learn how to reheat calamari in an air fryer so we can enjoy those leftover squid rings.

Reheat Air Fryer Calamari

This process is very simple and requires almost no effort on our part. The calamari is already cut, breaded, and cooked. We just need to reheat it in a way that keeps it crispy and delicious. The air fryer will get the job done thanks to how it cooks.

The steps are simple: toss the calamari in the air fryer basket, preferably in a single layer, so every last bit of breading can crisp up again. Cook the calamari at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes, and that’s it.

The cook time is cut down, the crispiness is back, and some say they enjoy air fryer reheated calamari even better than freshly fried calamari. Never again do we have to let a great appetizer go to waste. 

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