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This Awesome Air Fryer Crackling recipe is really some of the best crackling I’ve made so far! For those that follow me closely, you know that I love a good crackling and make foods like pork belly and roast pork all the time. When I first started out and was still becoming fat adapted, crackling was something I made often to fill me up and to satisfy my cravings for something crunchy and salty.
I’ve always done my crackling in the oven, but after making my Air Fryer Pork Belly and seeing what a great crackling you can get with an air fryer, I decided to try making just the crackling in there and I wasn’t disappointed! This Awesome Air Fryer Crackling is much puffier, lighter and similar to the store bought pork rinds that I crush for crumbing, than any I’ve made before. It definitely has become my favourite way to do crackling!
I take off the skin on a pork roast when we make our Mexican Pulled Pork, which can then be wrapped and stored in the freezer or used immediately for this Awesome Air Fryer Crackling. You can also buy pork skin/rind from butchers and most major supermarkets. Just make sure to ask if you don’t see it, usually at the butcher they store the pork rind in the freezer along with things like offal since there’s less demand for it.
The step of drying out the crackling is an important one and helps to get the best crackling, but if you’re in a rush you can make your Awesome Air Fryer Crackling straight away without drying it out first, but oiling and salting would be a good idea. It will still work and taste great! Remember that pork rind always comes in varied weights and a lot of the fat renders off which also further reduces the high calories. Remember this when counting macros, these macros below are based off the piece of pork rind I used and the before and after weight of that piece. You can lose as much of a third of the weight of your Awesome Air Fryer Crackling once cooked.
If you like this recipe, please give us a 5 star rating! We’d also love to see comments and please tag us in your crackling photos! Want more awesome air fryer recipes like this? Check out some of our others below!
5. Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce
Awesome Air Fryer Crackling
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 300 g whole pork skin/rind
Instructions
- Spread out your piece of pork rind/skin on a plate or similar, skin side up. Place in the fridge to dry out at least 24 hours.
- Place the piece of pork crackling on a rack in the air fryer and cook at max (230C) for approximately 4 minutes until pliable.
- Using kitchen scissors or similar, cut your pork rind/skin into strips or desired shapes. Place back in the air fryer spread out and cook again for approximately 5 minutes.
- Remove any pieces that are already crackled and place on paper towel to drain. Cook another 2 minutes and again remove any finished pieces to paper towel. Continue with the process until all crackling is finished.
Notes
Nutrition
Air fryer crackling recipe sounds great, but where does the oil and salt come in? Also, can drying be accomplished more quickly in air fryer dehydration mode?
Hi Terry! The oil and salt is only needed as a quick hack if you haven’t had time to dry your pork rind out beforehand, otherwise the crackling works great without it. If you have a look at the air fryer pork belly recipe, you can oil and salt the pork rind the same way as in that recipe to get crackling without drying first. My air fryer doesn’t have a dehydration mode so I’m not sure on that one, but would be interested to hear your results if you try! Hope this information helps and thanks for your comment! 🙂