I’d bought Paxo Chicken & Bacon Stuffing Mix, the pack makes 12 balls and weighs 170g. I wanted to use the air fryer to cook this. In the past I’ve just “made do” with microwave stuffing, which tastes fine, but there’s no crispy top – and I like the crispy top.

I decided to use a small/1lb loaf tin to make the stuffing as that looked like it’d be the right size.

Ingredients:

• Paxo Chicken & Bacon Stuffing Mix, 170g, I used just half the pack the first time
• Wallaroo Dried Apricots

I made up just HALF the Paxo chicken and bacon stuffing mix with boiling water and a knob of butter (well, margarine!). I also had a pack of Wallaroo dried apricots, so cut those up small and added them into the wet stuffing.

I left the stuffing to sit for 10 minutes, so the breadcrumbs could absorb the water. I then gave it all a stir to judge whether it needed a splash more water or not.

I lined the 1lb loaf tin with some baking paper – to reduce washing up + to lift it out of the pan.

I smoothed the top down, then scraped the top with a fork so the top wasn’t completely flat.

I placed the loaf tin in the air fryer, directly onto the metal trivet. I set the air fryer temperature to 160C and cooked the stuffing mix for 10 minutes. It was light brown on top and looked fine, but the underside was still soft. I cooked it for a further 5 minutes, still in the loaf tin.

I removed the stuffing mix and baking paper from the air fryer and turned it out of the loaf tin, upside down onto a small piece of baking paper.

I then returned the stuffing mix, upside down, still wrapped in the original baking paper (loaf tin discarded), directly onto the trivet. I cooked this at 160C for a further 5 minutes.

Verdict: That was Great.

We’re all individuals and have our preferences for when something’s the right colour, so you might have to play around with the timings a little yourself. But 10+5+5 minutes I found worked. The stuffing was moist, yet had a nice crispy top. I added a spot of gravy!

Stuffing Leftovers

What I’d made was more than I needed, so I put the leftovers into a takeaway box in the fridge.

I ate the remainder as a “snack” with some gravy later that night. I reheated this in the microwave for 2 minutes.

This is a lovely stuffing mix (which is good as I bought eight packets!), but adding the apricots really lifted it. I’ve a couple of dozen of the packs of apricots, so will use those again. Air fryer Paxo stuffing mix, with the added apricots, will be part of my Xmas Dinner this year.