I tried making 3 easy family dinners in my air fryer. Some of the recipes will be joining our regular meal rotation.

I tried making a few family dinners in my air fryer, and found the results were pretty mixed.Terri PetersI tried making spaghetti and meatballs, mac and cheese, nuggets, and tacos in my air fryer.The macaroni and cheese was a bit of a hassle, but my kids loved it, so I'll be making it again.It was easy to make taco meat and meatballs in the appliance, but it's not ideal for rice or pasta.My family uses our air fryer for almost everything, since turning on the oven can quickly heat up our house, and we live in Florida.Luckily, I'm convinced that my two-basket Ninja Foodi air fryer can do it all. I decided to test its limits by using it to make three of my family's favorite weeknight dinners.I found air-fryer recipes for spaghetti and meatballs, tacos and Mexican rice, and mac and cheese with chicken nuggets to make for my family.Here's how they turned out, and which dishes I'd make again.I felt confident about making meatballs, since I've cooked them in my air fryer before.Terri PetersI've made meatballs in my air fryer before and had good luck, so I wasn't super worried about trying it again.This time, I chose a recipe for air-fried meatballs that called for a blend of ground pork and ground beef. I hoped the fat content would keep them moist and tender.First, I formed large meatballs.Terri PetersI mixed my ground meats with breadcrumbs, an egg, seasonings, and Parmesan.Then, I formed the mixture into large balls. I preheated my air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, then turned the temperature down to 380 F and added the meatballs.Cooking the meatballs required little effort.Terri PetersThe meat was cooked perfectly after about 12 minutes, but I ended up having to leave the meatballs in the air fryer while the spaghetti cooked. This dried them out a little more than I would've liked.The biggest challenge of preparing pasta in the air fryer was finding the right pan.Terri PetersThe recipe I found for air-fried baked spaghetti called for the dish to be cooked in a baking pan. After returning two different ones that didn't fit, I discovered a disposable loaf pan at Target that slid perfectly into my air fryer's basket.I precooked the spaghetti by boiling it on the stovetop and straining it, then added jarred sauce before pouring it into the pan. I layered the cheese in the pan, so the dish had a more lasagna-like vibe.Terri PetersI layered ricotta cheese and fresh mozzarella with the pasta to create a lasagna-type dish. The recipe didn't specify a temperature for baking my pasta dish, so I chose 375 F and cooked it for the suggested 15 minutes.The pasta was off to a good start, but I accidentally overcooked it.Terri PetersWhen I peeked in the basket halfway through, the cheese looked like it was starting to bubble perfectly.Unfortunately, when the 15 minutes were up, the top of the spaghetti dish had gotten burned and a bit dry. Since the pasta was precooked, I probably should've lowered the temperature to 350 F and only left it in for 10 minutes.This was a good reminder that cook times in different appliances can really vary — even air fryers. We ended up eating around and scraping off the more charred bits on top.I'd make the meatballs in an air fryer again, but not the spaghetti.Terri PetersThe meatballs turned out pretty tasty, and it was easy to cook a bunch at once in my air fryer.Although the spaghetti bake tasted fine, making it this way felt like way more work than boiling pasta and combining it with store-bought sauce.The hassle paired with the meal's unfortunate dryness wasn't worth it — I don't think I'd make spaghetti this way again. I'd make meatballs in my air fryer again, though.Next, I made chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.Terri PetersI love breaded chicken nuggets in the air fryer, but my family tries to keep dinners as healthy as we can.With that in mind, I found a homemade, non-breaded chicken-nugget recipe and an air-fried mac-and-cheese recipe for our next meal.The chicken was so easy to prepare.Terri PetersThe air-fryer chicken-bites recipe made it super easy to turn store-bought chicken breasts into nuggets.After cutting the breasts into bite-sized pieces, I combined spices like garlic powder, paprika, and salt with olive oil and marinated the pieces for a few hours.In about 10 minutes, we had air-fried chicken nuggets.Terri PetersPer the recipe's instructions, I cooked the chicken pieces at 380 F for about 10 minutes, shaking the air-fryer basket halfway through.When my timer went off, they looked perfectly cooked.The mac and cheese was not as simple.Terri PetersI prepped my mac and cheese in another disposable loaf pan. The recipe specifically said not to precook the elbow macaroni, and although I was doubtful, I followed that step.I cooked the dish at 360 F for 15 minutes, stirring the noodles every five minutes.The dish took longer to cook than I expected.After 15 minutes, the mac and cheese wasn't done.Terri PetersAfter 15 minutes, the pasta was nowhere near cooked. I ended up hav

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