Frikandel is Dutch and Belgian street food in its purest form: a long, skinless sausage of finely minced meat with a dark, lightly crisp surface and a soft, well-seasoned centre. In the Netherlands, you will find it ready to go in every snack bar, where it goes straight into the deep fryer and lands in a paper tray alongside chips and a dollop of sauce. Here, it is still an underrated find in the freezer aisle.
Advertisement: The page displays ads and contains advertising links (affiliate links). See our advertisers here.
The good news is that you do not need a litre of hot oil to get the right result. The airfryer gives you the same dark, crispy surface without deep-frying fumes in the kitchen, and without you having to stand over a pot. Here you will find the method, the classic sides and the mistakes that most often cost you the crispiness.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
Why I love frikandel in the airfryer
A frikandel is already shaped, seasoned and pre-cooked by the time it is in the freezer bag. Your only job is to give it enough heat to reach all the way through, and a surface that cracks easily. That is exactly the task the airfryer is built for: hot air at high speed circulating around the whole sausage, so it browns evenly all the way round instead of only on the surfaces touching the pan.
At the same time, you avoid the biggest downside of deep-frying at home. No pot to heat up, no fat to filter afterwards and no cooking smell lingering in the curtains the next day. In return, it takes patience: a frikandel straight from frozen needs proper time, and that is where most people go wrong.
The difference between deep-frying and the airfryer
In the deep fryer, the sausage meets hot oil on all sides at once, and the surface sets within a few minutes. In the airfryer, the air works more slowly, because air conducts heat less efficiently than oil. In return, the result is less greasy. The difference is biggest at the start, when the frikandel can look pale and dull. The colour comes, but it comes late in the process.
My kitchen test: frikandel
I have run the frikandels in my Cosori Dual Blaze at 180 °C, and that is the temperature that hits the best balance between colour and juiciness. If you turn the heat up higher, the surface goes dark long before the centre is hot. With 10 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking, the whole dish comes together in 40 minutes from freezer to plate.
I always check with a meat thermometer inserted lengthwise through the centre, and I only serve once the core temperature reads 75 °C. If chips are on the side, I run them in a separate batch at 200 °C. They need harder heat than the sausage to turn crispy, and this is one of the few times it does not pay to fill the whole basket at once.
Turn the frikandel once partway through, and let it sit freely with air all the way round. That is the entire difference between dark and crispy versus pale and soft.
Tips and tricks from the author: Morten Jensen
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
The most common mistake is an overcrowded basket. If the frikandels sit close together or on top of each other, they steam each other soft, and you end up with a grey-brown surface instead of a dark one. Give them space, and run two batches instead. The second mistake is impatience: many people pull them out after fifteen minutes because they look done on the outside, but a frikandel straight from frozen is thick in the middle and needs the full cooking time to reach 75 °C inside. The third is a cold roll. The sausage gives off steam the second it lands, and a cold roll soaks it straight up. Warm the roll briefly in the airfryer at the end, so it stays dry.
How to serve frikandel
Frikandel is rarely eaten on its own. It is the sides that turn it into a meal, and the classic Dutch combinations still hold up:
- Frikandel speciaal with curry ketchup, mayonnaise and finely chopped raw onion on top
- With crispy chips and a dollop of mayonnaise on the side
- In a soft hot dog roll as a broodje frikandel, ideally with a stripe of mustard
- With pickled gherkins or a sharp coleslaw that cuts through the richness
- With remoulade or sweet chilli sauce, if you are out of curry ketchup
Storage and reheating
Cooked frikandels keep for two to three days in a sealed container in the fridge, but the crispiness disappears within the first hour. If you need to reheat them, leave the microwave alone: it makes the surface soft and rubbery. Instead, give them a few minutes in the airfryer at 180 °C, until they are heated through. Raw frikandels stay in the freezer until use, they should not be thawed first, and they must not be refrozen once they have been thawed.
Frikandel in the airfryer takes more patience than technique. Keep the temperature down, give the basket room, and take its temperature at the end, and you will get the dark, crispy sausage the Dutch queue up for.
Frequently asked questions
No. Frikandels go straight from the freezer to the basket. Thawing makes the surface wet, so the sausage turns pale instead of crispy.
180 °C gives both a dark surface and a hot centre. If you are cooking chips too, run them in a separate batch at 200 °C.
Measure the core temperature lengthwise through the centre. It should read 75 °C before the frikandel is ready. The colour on the outside is not enough on its own.
Recipe
Frikandel in the Airfryer
Cooking Guide
Keep the screen on and follow the recipe step by step while you cook.
Step 1:
Avoid the screen turning off while you cook.
Step 2:
Start the guide and follow the recipe one step at a time.
Cost of the dish
Prices may vary depending on where you shop.
Our estimate is based on average food prices for the current year 2026.
Estimated price for the whole dish:
Airfryer size
All our recipes are tested in a Philips Airfryer 2000 Series NA230/00 – 6.2 L
Does the recipe fit my Airfryer?
If you’re unsure, you can always reduce by one serving in the recipe, or click the 0.5x button.
You can also Ask the AI Chef
It’s easy! Just press the Ask the AI Chef button you see at the bottom.
Recommended equipment
- 1 Air fryer
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 2 Bowl - Small bowls for sauces and onion
- 1 Meat thermometer
Shopping list
Ingredients
How to make it
Preparation
- Peel the 1 pcs onion and chop it very finely. Put it in a small bowl so it’s ready for serving.
- Stir 4 tbsp curry ketchup smooth in a small bowl, and have 4 tbsp mayonnaise ready in another. In a proper frikandel speciaal, the two sauces sit side by side on the plate and are never mixed together.
Cooking in the Airfryer
- Preheat the airfryer to 200 °C for 3 minutes.
- Spread the 600 g frozen chips in an even layer in the basket and cook for 18 minutes at 200 °C.
- Shake the basket after 8 and 14 minutes so the chips turn out evenly crispy all over.
- Remove the chips, sprinkle them with 1 tsp salt straight away and keep them warm under a piece of foil.
- Turn the airfryer down to 180 °C and place the 8 frozen frikandels in the basket in a single layer with a little space between them. They don’t need thawing first — they go straight from the freezer to the basket.
- Cook the frikandels for 12 minutes at 180 °C, until the surface is deep golden and crispy.
- Turn the frikandels after 6 minutes so they crisp up evenly on both sides.
- Check with a meat thermometer that the core temperature is at least 75 °C at the thickest point. If they’re not completely heated through, give them another 2 minutes at 180 °C.
Serving
- Place the frikandels on plates or in 4 pcs hot dog rolls, add a stripe of curry ketchup and a stripe of mayonnaise, and top with the finely chopped onion. Serve immediately while crispy.
Our notes for the recipe
Arrange the frikandels in a single layer with space between them — if they’re packed too tightly, they’ll steam instead of crisping up, and the skin will turn chewy. Never thaw them first. For extra crispy results, turn the heat up to 200 °C for the last 2 minutes and keep an eye on them. Variation:
Frikandel speciaal is the classic version with curry ketchup, mayonnaise and chopped onion. Swap the curry ketchup for satay sauce and you’ve got a frikandel oorlog. Want a more Danish twist? Skip the onion and serve with remoulade and crispy fried onions. Serving:
Serve the frikandels with chips on the side, or tuck them into a long hot dog roll as a broodje frikandel — pick one or the other so the meal doesn’t get too heavy. Warm the rolls for 1 minute at 180 °C in the airfryer just before serving. Portion size:
If your airfryer is on the smaller side, you can cook this in two batches. Skip the chips and the dish is ready in about 22 minutes total.
Your notes for the recipe
Nutrition per serving (Guideline)
Important about shelf life and nutrition
Nutrition per serving (guideline): Calculations are based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Shelf life (guideline): Shelf life data is provided, as far as possible, by public institutions, including national food authorities. Our information is therefore only indicative, and it is your responsibility to obtain and calculate accurate information about shelf life and nutrition for all recipes on airfryerkogebogen.dk
Easily share the recipe with others:
Via email or on Facebook
Open the recipe on your phone
Scan the QR code with your phone and get the recipe directly on your mobile while you cook.
Author
Airfryerkogebogen.dk
