Tuna is one of those fish that does not forgive mistakes. Epic start, isn’t it? (ง •̀_•́)? If salmon or mackerel are quite difficult to overcook to the state of "shoe leather," with tuna steak it's a different story. Just a little too long on the heat – and instead of tender and juicy meat, we risk getting something more akin to canned tuna from a tin, dry and bland.That’s why we were curious to check how an air fryer would handle such a task. Spoiler: it did quite well, although we almost ruined the result ourselves by overcooking the steaks for a few extra minutes.

For serving, we also prepared fried potato slices and tartar sauce.

First, we left the steaks to thaw at room temperature. After complete thawing, we dried them with paper towels to remove excess moisture.Next, everything is as simple as possible. We rubbed the fish with salt, black pepper, a pinch of smoked paprika, and dried garlic. Then we lightly brushed the surface with olive oil and gave the fish a “massage” to allow all the spices to penetrate the meat.

We cut the lemon into quarters – it also went into the air fryer bowl along with the fish.

For the first experiment, we set the temperature to 200 °C and the cooking time to 12 minutes.

When half the time had passed, we flipped the steaks to the other side to achieve an even golden crust.And it was here that we encountered the main f**k-up conclusion of this culinary experiment.

The steaks turned out tasty, but they were already practically on the verge of overcooking. For pieces about 3.5 cm thick, 12 minutes at 200 degrees turned out to be somewhat excessive.（╯•﹏•）╯Next time, we will boldly reduce the time to 8 minutes. There is a chance that this duration will allow for a juicier center and a more tender texture.However, even our result turned out quite successful. The tuna was nicely browned on the outside, and the light aroma of smoked paprika (and we also slightly overdid it with the salt, as it turned out during tasting) wonderfully complemented the flavor of the fish.

We served the cooked steaks with fried potato slices, green onions, tartar sauce, and baked lemon wedges. A few drops of lemon juice before serving added just the right acidity that the fatty tuna needs.

Overall, we can consider the experiment successful. The air fryer is excellent for cooking tuna, but this fish requires attention to time. If you don’t overcook it by just a few minutes, the result can pleasantly surprise even those who are used to cooking steaks exclusively on a pan or grill.