Crowd-pleasing starters, sharing plates, and bite-sized snacks. Most of these come together in under 30 minutes and are designed to disappear fast at the table.
Creamy Camembert bacon dip takes 25 minutes in one pan: crisp 100 g of chopped bacon, soften a diced onion in the fat, melt a whole 250 g Camembert wheel under a lid, then stir in a splash of heavy cream until silky. Toss it with hot spaghetti like a Camembert carbonara, or spoon it over toast. Serves 4.
Crispy furikake salmon bites turn a cup of leftover rice and a cup of diced salmon into golden air-fried rice balls: mix with furikake until sticky, roll into 4 cm balls, coat in egg and breadcrumbs and air-fry at 180 °C for 15 minutes. A protein-packed snack or bento filler made from leftovers. Makes about 10 bites; serves 3.
Crack salmon sushi cups are baked muffin-tin sushi: dice 350 g of salmon, glaze it with soy, honey, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger, pile it over pressed sushi rice in nori-lined cups and bake 15 minutes at 180 °C. Crispy nori edges, sticky glaze, party-ready in about half an hour. Makes a muffin tin’s worth — serves 4.
Air fry these rice paper garlic cheese pockets at 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes. Soften each rice paper sheet in an egg-and-soy-sauce bath, spoon in a filling of 200 g feta, 100 g cheddar, 4 crushed garlic cloves and 1 egg, then fold into a triangle and air fry. The garlic mellows as it cooks for a rich, punchy hit, while the outside turns paper-thin crisp around a gooey, molten-cheese centre.
Air fry doubled rice paper rolls of seasoned ground chicken at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes for a shatter-crisp shell and juicy center. Wrap the mirin-spiked chicken filling in two sheets of softened rice paper, roll in black and white sesame seeds, then snip into bite-sized pieces. They eat like little hot sushi rolls with chicken, the crackly sesame crust giving way to a tender filling you dunk in teriyaki.
Crispy Turkish-style fan-cut zucchini in about 30 minutes: scrape grooves with a fork, fan-cut so the slices stay joined, salt for 10 minutes, dredge in herbed flour and a parmesan-egg coat, then pan-fry in olive oil and butter 5 minutes per side. Serve hot under a cold garlic-dill yogurt sauce. Serves 2.
Thin ham slices stand in for pastry here: four small cuts around each slice let it fold into a foil muffin liner without tearing, forming a cup that holds drained canned corn, a small piece of butter and a heap of shredded mozzarella. Draining the corn well matters, so the cups don't turn watery as they bake. The butter melts down through the kernels, keeping the filling rich rather than dry. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is golden on top and melty in the middle; the foil liners make each cup easy to lift out.
These little pizza bites bake in a muffin tin from a blended cheese batter that swaps wheat flour for tapioca starch, so they come out chewy, bready, and naturally gluten-free. Blending is the key step: run the cheddar, eggs, and cottage cheese until the batter is smooth and glossy, because leftover lumps bake up grainy. Fill each oiled cup about two-thirds full, spoon a teaspoon of pizza sauce on top, and finish with mini pepperoni. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for about 20 minutes; the bites are done when the tops are golden and puffed. No mini pepperoni? Chopped ham or olives work just as well.
Think of these as garlic bread pinwheels made from tortillas instead of dough: three tortillas spread with garlic-herb butter, layered with mozzarella, rolled into one tight log and sliced into rounds that bake standing upright at 200°C (400°F). Stacking all three before rolling gives each slice a proper spiral, so the butter and cheese run through every layer instead of sitting on top. Softened butter matters here; cold butter tears the tortillas as you spread. They are done after 12–15 minutes, when the cheese bubbles and the exposed edges turn deep golden and crisp. No garlic powder in the cupboard? Grate in an extra clove of fresh garlic instead.
These crisp little pinwheels take one tortilla, cream cheese, everything-bagel seasoning and a brush of butter, and the trick is spreading the cheese right to the edges so the roll seals itself and holds together when sliced. Cut the log into 4 cm (1½ in) rounds, set them on parchment and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes. They are ready when the exposed edges turn golden and crisp; the centres stay soft and creamy. The butter on top carries the seasoning and helps the tops brown.
This is a blooming onion done in the air fryer, so the petals turn golden and crunchy without a pot of hot oil. The trick to the cuts is a jar lid: sit the peeled onion on it and the lid stops your knife short of the root, so the flower fans open instead of falling apart. A 10-minute soak in ice water tames the raw bite and loosens the petals for the seasoned flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs. It cooks at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes and is done when the petals have opened wide and the crumbs are deep golden at the tips.
This air-fryer dip turns three sliced onions into a jammy, golden base under a cap of garlicky melted cheese. Butter, salt, chilli oil and a splash of broth go in with the onions first; the liquid stops them scorching at 180°C (350°F) and lets them soften instead of crisping over 25 minutes. Shredded mozzarella mixed with mayonnaise and pressed garlic goes on for the final 10 minutes, and the mayonnaise keeps the cheese creamy rather than rubbery as it melts. It is done when the edges bubble and a spoon lifts long strands. Vegetable stock works fine in place of meat broth. Serve it warm on toast.
These Indian onion fritters get their shatter-crisp shell from corn and rice flour instead of the usual chickpea batter, and the air fryer stands in for a pot of hot oil. Slice the onions, one regular and one red, into thin half moons and give them an ice-water soak; the chill takes the harshness out of the raw onion and keeps the slices firm. Garam masala, cilantro, and pickled jalapeño season the batter. Twelve minutes at 200°C (400°F) does it. They're ready when the edges turn deep golden and stray onion tips look lacy. Prefer the traditional route? Swap besan for the corn flour, cup for cup.
These bunless burgers swap the bread for thick onion rounds stacked with circles of cheese, each parcel wrapped in bacon and baked at 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes, and the flour dusting on the bacon is what makes them work. It dries the surface so the strip grips the stack and bakes into a crisp shell instead of going limp. A rack over the baking tray matters too: fat drips away and hot air reaches the underside, so the bacon crisps all round rather than stewing. Pull them out when the bacon is deep golden with no pale, soft patches.
These oven-baked onion chips skip the batter entirely: thin onion rings cook right into a bed of melted mozzarella that sets into crisp, cheesy shards. Grating the mozzarella straight onto the parchment first lets it fuse into one golden sheet under the parmesan, paprika, and garlic powder. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes, then leave the tray alone for 10 minutes. That rest is what firms the soft cheese into chips that snap instead of bend. Grate the cheese yourself, since pre-shredded blends coated in starch can stay rubbery. A quick yogurt dip with olive oil, wine vinegar, and dried mint cuts the richness.
A whole camembert stuffed with garlic, honey and dried herbs, then wrapped in a woven bacon mat and baked until the outside crisps and the centre turns molten. The weave is what makes it work: pressing the strips flat with a rolling pin between two sheets of parchment locks them together, so the wrap holds tight and the melting cheese stays put. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for about 25 minutes, until the bacon is deep golden on all sides. Serve it hot, while the middle still flows.
These oven-baked rings hide a garlicky cheddar-beef filling inside a sturdy onion ring, with a bacon wrap that holds the whole thing together while it cooks. The trick is structural: press the seasoned beef into a large outer onion ring, then nest a smaller ring inside so the filling cannot bulge out in the oven. Baking on a wire rack at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes lets the bacon fat drip away, so the underside crisps instead of stewing. They are done when the bacon looks golden and lightly rendered all the way around. Serve them as a knife-and-fork appetizer or a burger stand-in.
Sweet-and-spicy bacon strips, rolled in brown sugar and pork rub, then baked on a wire rack at 180°C (350°F) so the fat drips away while the sugar melts into a crackly candy glaze. Bacon baked flat on a tray stews in its own grease; the rack is what keeps the coating dry enough to caramelize. Sriracha and chopped pickled jalapeño go on before baking, so their heat and vinegar cook right into the shell. After about 20 minutes the strips still feel slightly soft; give them a minute to cool and the coating sets hard and glassy. For a milder batch, leave off the sriracha and jalapeño.
Here is a snack that treats frozen onion rings as ready-made pizza bases: crisp breaded rings under melted mozzarella and pepperoni, straight from a 180°C (350°F) oven in 20 minutes. Spread the rings in a single layer on a parchment-lined tray so hot air can crisp the breading instead of steaming it under the cheese. Grate the mozzarella yourself; it melts smoother and stretches better than pre-shredded. Check the timing on your onion ring bag, and if the rings need more than 20 minutes, bake them alone for a few minutes before adding the toppings. They are done when the cheese is bubbling across the tray.
A sheet of thinly sliced potatoes baked over shredded mozzarella turns into a flexible, golden wrap you can fill and roll. The melted cheese glues the overlapping slices into one piece, so the sheet bends instead of breaking. Hold the peeled potatoes in ice water while you work; it stops them browning before they reach the oven. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes, until the top is deep gold and the cheese bubbles at the edges. Roll while everything is still warm, because cooled potato stiffens and cracks. Cream cheese, smoked salmon and cucumber make a classic filling, though ham or sautéed mushrooms work just as well.
A hot, spoonable dip of sweet onions folded through three melted cheeses, and the trick is how the onions are cut. Shaving them into paper-thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler means they soften and sweeten in the same 20 minutes the gouda, cheddar and maasdam need under foil in the air fryer at 200°C (400°F). A splash of milk keeps the cheese loose rather than stringy. Give everything a good stir once melted, then 10 more minutes uncovered until the top turns golden. Crisp the bacon between paper towels in the microwave and crumble it over just before serving.
This burek-style cheese spiral swaps phyllo for rice paper, which crisps in the air fryer with no butter brushing between layers. Dipping the sheets in beaten egg rather than plain water is the key move: the egg softens the paper just enough to roll and helps it blister into a crackly golden shell. Crumbled feta is bound with an egg and shredded mozzarella so the filling stays put as the spiral cooks. Overlap two or three softened sheets into one long base, roll the filling into a log, coil it, and scatter sesame seeds over the top. Fifteen minutes at 180°C (350°F) takes it to golden and crisp.