If you just want 1-2 s'mores for a quick snack, the air fryer is ideal and no preheating is necessary. Find out the best time and temperature you should use along with key tips for making vegan s’mores.
This recipe was tested using the Instant Vortex Plus air fryer. For a guide on choosing an air fryer, check out 13 Things You Must Know BEFORE Buying an Air Fryer. Some favorite recipes using the air fryer are sweet potato fries and Hawaiian salmon.
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Pros and Cons of Air Fryer S'mores
Making s'mores in the air fryer is not the same as making them in them over an open flame or even the oven. Let's do a quick recap of the pros and cons to ensure you want to move forward with this method.
Open Flame Issues
- Results in toasted golden brown exterior.
- Subject to char and easily burns.
- Putting a hot marshmallow on top of cold chocolate doesn't really melt the chocolate.
- The marshmallow retains it shapes and cooks from the outside in.
- You generally can only make 1 at a time.
Air Fryer Issues
- Results in a light tan color. It doesn't really get dark, golden brown. It also develops a wrinkly, crackled texture. The vegan marshmallow doesn't crackle, but the surface develops a shiny crust.
- The marshmallow does not easily burn, but the graham cracker can.
- The chocolate melts with the marshmallow, but can easily get too hot and liquidy and burn your mouth.
- The marshmallow puffs out expands like the Marshmallow Man.
- You can make as many s'mores as your air fryer will fit in a single layer.
Despite these issues, I still find the air fryer to be the cleanest and easiest option for making s'mores at home.
Ingredients (with vegan options)
- Vegan option - Read the ingredient labels, but graham crackers are generally made without dairy products including the HoneyMaid brand. However, the sugar may be processed with bone char. In that case, you could make homemade graham crackers using evaporated cane sugar.
- Chocolate vegan option - Use non-dairy chocolate or vegan chocolate. Be sure to read the label to ensure there are no milk products. You may see cocoa butter in the ingredients, but it does not refer to animal butter.
- Marshmallows - You can also make your own marshmallows by whipping egg whites to soft peaks and drizzling in a hot syrup mixture of gelatin and sugar.
- Vegan option - Dandies, vegan, gelatin free marshmallows, have been on the market since 2010. I prefer them to regular marshmallows because they're less sweet.
- Biscoff Cookie option - These crunchy, caramelized cookies from Belgium are my preferred Biscoff cookies are made without dairy products, and in my opinion taste much better than store bought graham crackers.
See recipe card for quantities.
Air fry for 1 minute from a cold air fryer (not pre-heated). You'll notice it turns a light golden color but also and exposes the surface texture of the marshmallow.
The vegan marshmallow develops a shiny, crispy crust, while the regular marshmallow has a soft, crackled texture.
Once you put the 2nd cracker on top, no one can really see the blemished surfaces.
Top Tips
- You can fit up to 4 graham crackers in the a 6 qt air fryer comfortably, without touching each other. You need space for the marshmallow to puff and also room to maneuver them out of the air fryer.
- If you do cook 4 s'mores at a time, the time and temperature settings are the same. No adjustment needed to cook more s'mores.
- No preheating is necessary. You can put the the s'mores into a cold air fryer. If you have an air fryer that beeps at you when it's finished preheating, just ignore. Remove the s'mores once the 1 minute timer after preheating is completed.
- Conversely, you can also start with a hot air fryer that's already preheated. The time and temperature are the same whether you start with a hot or cold air fryer.
- You do not need to rotate or turn the s'mores halfway through cooking, even if the air fryer beeps at you (like the Instant Vortex does).
Vegan Notes for Vegan S'mores
- The primary difference for vegan s'mores is the vegan marshmallow, manufactured by Dandies. Vegan graham crackers and chocolate won't vary as much with their non-vegan versions.
- Pro: Their vegan marshmallow is not a sweet as a regular marshmallow, and for this reason I much prefer it.
- Con: The marshmallow develops a shiny, hardened thin crust when heated, so the second graham cracker won't really stick to it and may slide off.
Recipe
Air Fryer S'mores (with vegan option)
If you just want 1-2 s'mores for a quick snack, the air fryer is ideal and no preheating is necessary. Use vegan graham crackers and vegan marhsmallows for a vegan treat.
Servings 1
Calories 83kcal
Ingredients
- 2 ea graham crackers or Biscoff cookies
- 1 ea marshmallow (not mini) regular or vegan
- ½ oz good quality chocolate square or 1 Tb chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place 1 graham cracker in the air fryer basket.
- Lay chocolate on top of graham cracker.
- Balance marshmallow on top of chocolate. You can also cut the marshmallow in half if you prefer.
- Gently push the basket into the air fryer so it locks into place. Be careful not to shove the basket and make the chocolate and marshmallow fall off the cracker.
- Set temperature to 350 degrees F and time for 1 minute. Use the 'Air Fry' setting in case your air fryer has options.
- When the timer goes off, gently pull out the air fryer basket and check the brownness of the marshmallow. it should be slightly golden and puffed. (At this point, you could air fry further for more golden brownness, but you risk burning the graham cracker and causing the chocolate to melt too much.)
- Carefully remove the s'more from the hot air fryer. Top the s'more with the second cracker.
- Let cool for a minute before eating. When eating, note the chocolate may be melted and scalding hot, so bite carefully.
Notes
- You can fit up to 4 graham crackers in the a 6 qt air fryer comfortably, without touching each other. You need space for the marshmallow to puff and also room to maneuver them out of the air fryer.
- If you do cook 4 s'mores at a time, the time and temperature settings are the same. No adjustment needed to cook more s'mores.
- No preheating is necessary. You can put the the s'mores into a cold air fryer. If you have an air fryer that beeps at you when it's finished preheating, just ignore. Remove the s'mores once the 1 minute timer after preheating is completed.
- Conversely, you can also start with a hot air fryer that's already preheated. The time and temperature are the same whether you start with a hot or cold air fryer.
- You do not need to rotate or turn the s'mores halfway through cooking, even if the air fryer beeps at you (like the Instant Vortex does).
- The vegan marshmallows brand from Dandies develops a shiny, hardened thin crust when heated, so just note the 2nd graham cracker won't really stick to it and may slide off.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 83kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 14mg | Potassium: 44mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 9g | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 0.1mg
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