Zapiekanka is Poland’s answer to fast food, and it has been sold from food stalls and kiosk windows since the 1970s. The basic recipe is straightforward: half a baguette, pan-fried mushrooms, a thick layer of grated cheese and a stripe of ketchup across the top. Even so, there is something almost addictive about the combination of crisp bread, melted cheese and mushrooms with some bite.
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In the air fryer it turns out better than it ever did in my oven. The hot air hits the bread from every side, so the edges crisp up while the cheese has time to bubble without catching. The whole thing takes 28 minutes from raw ingredients to plate: 12 minutes of preparation and 16 minutes at 180 °C.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
Why I love zapiekanka in the air fryer
Zapiekanka is the kind of dish you make when the fridge needs clearing out, and it still feels like a little celebration. Most people have baguette, mushrooms and cheese in the house, and if you want it a notch more filling, you tuck a couple of slices of ham under the cheese. Children eat it without protest, and teenagers eat two.
The big win with the air fryer is the underside. In the oven the bread often stays warm and a little chewy underneath, because the heat comes mainly from above. In the air fryer basket the air circulates all the way around, so the baguette turns crisp on both sides while the cheese melts evenly.
The difference between an air fryer and an oven
An oven has to heat up before you can even start, and it dries the bread out if you forget it for a couple of minutes too long. The air fryer is ready almost straight away and typically handles the job 20-30 per cent faster than the oven. It sounds like a small thing, but on a weeknight it is the difference between dinner and a takeaway.
My kitchen test: zapiekanka
I have made zapiekanka in my Cosori Dual Blaze many times, and the recipe here is the version I have settled on: 180 °C for 16 minutes, with 12 minutes of preparation beforehand. Two baguette halves fit nicely in each basket, so dinner for four can be done in one go.
Along the way I tried turning the heat up to save time. It does not work — the cheese darkens at the edges long before the bread has taken on its crisp crust, and the mushrooms never get the chance to release their moisture properly. 180 °C is the point where all three things finish at the same time. The ketchup only goes on afterwards; it should never go into the basket.
Dry-fry the mushrooms first. The water has to come out of them before they meet the bread — otherwise you end up with a soft baguette, no matter how long you air-fry it.
Tips and tricks from the author: Morten Jensen
The typical mistakes and how to avoid them
The first and most common mistake is wet mushrooms. Mushrooms are almost entirely water, and if you put them on the bread raw, the liquid seeps down into the crumb. Dry-fry them in a hot pan until the moisture has evaporated. The second mistake is ketchup too early: the sugar in the ketchup turns dark and bitter in the hot air, so it goes on after cooking, not before. The third is an overcrowded basket. If the baguette halves lie close together or on top of each other, they block the airflow, and the result is steamed rather than crisp — cook them in two batches instead, or spread them across both baskets.
How to serve zapiekanka
In Poland it rarely gets more company than a napkin, but a few things lift it from a snack to a proper meal:
- A stripe of ketchup and freshly snipped chives or spring onions across the top
- Garlic sauce (sos czosnkowy) as a dip on the side
- Pickled gherkins or quick-pickled red onion that cut through the richness of the cheese
- A simple green salad with lemon and olive oil
- For the adults: a cold lager
Storage and reheating
Zapiekanka is at its best within the first fifteen minutes, but leftovers keep perfectly well. Put them in an airtight container in the fridge and eat them within a couple of days. Reheat them in the air fryer at the same 180 °C for a few minutes, until the cheese is soft again and the bread has its crispness back. The microwave will warm them through, but it makes the bread rubbery, so I cannot recommend it.
Zapiekanka proves that street food does not have to be complicated to be good. Five or six ingredients, an air fryer and under half an hour — and you have Polish comfort food that leaves you wanting more.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The mushrooms are the classic filling, but peppers, sweetcorn, bacon or ham work just as well. Just keep the filling in an even layer so the cheese can cover it all.
A mild cheese that melts well, such as Gouda, Emmental or ordinary grated pizza cheese. Grate it yourself from a block — pre-grated cheese is dusted with potato starch and melts into a more rubbery layer.
After. Ketchup contains a lot of sugar and turns dark and bitter in the hot air. Serve it as a stripe across the finished zapiekanka, exactly as they do at the Polish street stalls.
Recipe
Zapiekanka in the Air Fryer
Cooking Guide
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Cost of the dish
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Our estimate is based on average food prices for the current year 2026.
Estimated price for the whole dish:
Airfryer size
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Ingredients
Base
- 2 pcs baguette
- 1 tbsp olive oil (For brushing)
Mushroom filling
- 300 g button mushrooms (Thinly sliced)
- 1 pcs onion (Finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (Finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp butter (Melted)
- 1 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper (Freshly ground)
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
Topping
- 250 g Gouda (Grated)
- 4 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp chives (Finely chopped)
How to make it
Preparation
- Cut 2 pcs baguette in half lengthways so you get four equal halves. Leave the crumb intact so it can carry the filling.
- Clean 300 g button mushrooms with a damp cloth and cut them into thin slices. Finely chop 1 pcs onion and 1 clove garlic.
- Coarsely grate 250 g Gouda and set it aside.
Cooking in the air fryer
- Preheat the air fryer to 180 °C on the fan setting.
- Mix the mushrooms, onion and garlic in a mixing bowl with 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp salt, 0.5 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp dried marjoram.
- Spread the mushroom mixture out in the air fryer basket in an even layer and cook it for 8 minutes at 180 °C. Shake the basket after 4 minutes so the moisture steams off and the mushrooms brown lightly.
- Brush the cut sides of the four baguette halves with 1 tbsp olive oil.
- Spread the cooked mushrooms over the four halves and scatter the grated cheese evenly on top, right out to the edges.
- Bake the zapiekankas in the air fryer for 8 minutes at 180 °C, until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown and the edges of the bread are crisp. Bake in two batches if the basket cannot hold all four halves in a single layer.
Serving
- Leave the zapiekankas to rest for 2 minutes. Drizzle 4 tbsp ketchup in stripes over the cheese and scatter with 2 tbsp chives.
- Serve them hot while the cheese is still soft. Cut each half into two smaller pieces if you like.
Our notes for the recipe
Always cook the mushrooms on their own first. The moisture steams off in the basket, so the bread stays crisp underneath instead of going soft under the filling. Lay the halves out in a single layer so the cheese melts evenly right out to the edges. Variation:
Scatter 100 g of ham in strips over the mushrooms before the cheese goes on if you want the classic ham version. At the Polish street stalls, garlic sauce is just as common as ketchup — stir 3 tbsp of crème fraîche with 1 finely grated clove of garlic and a pinch of salt, and drizzle it over at the end. Serving:
Serve with pickled gherkins and a cold fizzy drink. Cut the halves into smaller pieces and they will stretch to a snack for six to eight people. Portion size:
If your air fryer is on the small side, you can cook the dish in two batches.
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
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