Frozen fries and pizza rolls will never be the same
For better and for worse, frozen foods have played a significant role in the American diet for a century. Exactly 100 years ago, Clarence Birdseye invented a quick-freezing method that preserved the quality and nutritional content of most foods, and in so doing birthed a revolution. The last century brought a veritable arms race of frozen food innovation — the TV dinner was invented in 1953, the modern marvel that we know today as Totino’s Pizza Rolls arrived in the 1980s, and with 1990 came the advent of the Toaster Strudel. That parade of innovation continues today, thanks to the diminutive countertop convection ovens that have earned a place in the majority of American kitchens.
I speak, of course, of the air fryer. Though it was invented all the way back in 2010, it did not really become popular until 2017. The countertop appliance is essentially just a mini convection oven, but one that came with a uniquely compelling promise: with just a tablespoon or so of oil, home cooks could produce French fries, chicken fingers, and other typically fried foods that tasted like they just came out of a deep fryer but didn’t come bogged down with all that grease or any health implications that might come along with consuming it.
In our eternally diet-conscious culture, that was an especially enticing proposition, and the ascent of the air fryer has been dizzying: A 2023 analysis conducted by Nestle found that around 60 percent of American households now own one. Few have benefited more from its ascension than the frozen foods industry. As the air fryer became more popular, people learned that it was particularly good at making snacks like frozen taquitos, fries, and Pizza Rolls crispier and more delicious than a regular old oven. Who among us hasn’t pulled a tray of Bagel Bites out of the oven and been disappointed by their limp, soggy texture?
Starting in 2020, when folks were stuck indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic, frozen food sales increased across the board. The air fryer’s popularity experienced equally substantial growth during that time, which in turn created a perfect storm for frozen food innovation. People are always looking for easier — and cheaper — ways to get dinner on the table, and the frozen food industry quickly embraced the air fryer as a way to make its products more appealing to frozen food skeptics. By 2024, one analysis found a 90 percent increase in products including instructions for air fryer preparation.
found that 90 percent of foods in the grocery store now include instructions for air fryer preparation, and a number of brands like La Choy and Gorton’s have introduced lines specifically designed for air fryer cooking. Even non-frozen foods — like Kettle, which now sells a line of air fried potato chips — are getting in on air fryer madness. “We’ve got an air fryer,” boasts the chip company’s slogan, touting 30 percent lower fat than the usual Kettle chips.
The air fryer is, of course, not the first appliance to revolutionize the frozen food industry. In the 1960s, toaster ovens became commonplace in American kitchens. In 1986, the Campbell’s Soup Company invented a specialized plastic tray that meant, for the first time, consumers could put their TV dinners in the microwave. Like those appliances, which are still staples in most American kitchens, the air fryer is poised to find a similar place on the counter for the long term, and that’s due in large part to the way in which it just makes frozen food better.
“The industry has really responded to folks cooking at home more and adapting to the air fryer,” says Mary Emma Young, vice president of communications at the American Frozen Food Institute. “I think it does help change the perception that some folks might have about frozen foods. Now you’re seeing all these products that can go in the air fryer, and you’re getting, in some cases, restaurant-quality results.”
And like the toaster oven and microwave before it, the air fryer is poised to truly become a staple of the American kitchen in the long run. I’ve owned an air fryer for nearly a decade, and I use it for everything from baking perfectly flaky salmon filets to, yes, heating up frozen chicken nuggets and Pizza Rolls. It has, at least when it comes to frozen food, totally replaced my microwave. I’m always looking for an excuse to use it instead of heating up my terrible apartment oven — especially when it’s this hot outside.
Subin Yang is a South Korean illustrator currently based in NYC. She graduated with a BFA in illustration from Pacific Northwest College of Art and makes images using colorful blocky shapes and loose line work inspired by themes of home, culture, and identity.
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