Revamp Leftover Pasta In The Air Fryer For Crispy Pasta Chips

It's a marvelous feeling to open the refrigerator and see a heaping container of leftover cooked pasta inside. Noodles are easy to reheat and often taste just as good the second time around. But if you've ever refrigerated pasta salad or pasta with red sauce only to later realize that the noodles absorbed most of their liquid, you might come to the following realization: Pasta just isn't as good without the sauce — that is, until you pop it in the air fryer.

If you're looking for a delicious, crunchy treat, skip the potato chips and pretzels. Instead, take some cooked pasta, jazz it up with a few spices (or even a little Parmesan cheese), then crisp it up in the air fryer for just a few minutes. You're left with crunchy, delicious pasta chips that you were able to make in no time, even though they feel like a special treat. The best part? This trick works with pasta that's been cooked in sauce, as long as it's not drowning in it; you can even use leftover pasta salad that's been tossed in dressing or mayonnaise.

Of course, plain noodles work best if you're making pasta chips, but it's more likely that you'll have some leftover pasta with red sauce or a little pasta salad sitting in the refrigerator. If the noodles have absorbed most of their liquid (which, if they sat overnight, they probably have), then you should be good to go. A bit of red sauce won't significantly impact how well the pasta fries, and a light coating of mayonnaise might actually improve its taste.

Mayonnaise's ingredients — eggs and oil — are ideal for caramelization, so this is actually an easy air fryer hack for that perfectly crispy exterior. Plus, a thin layer of mayo will help ingredients like grated Parmesan and other seasonings stick to the pasta. If your salad used a pre-seasoned, mayo-based dressing that was mostly absorbed, then you can simply take it straight from the fridge to the air fryer. As for red sauce, you can try this trick if there isn't too much, but otherwise, you might have to give the pasta a quick rinse.

These chips are best when eaten fresh from the air fryer (just give them a minute to cool); sticking them back in the refrigerator will make them soggy. If you do want to reheat them, just place the chips in the air fryer for about a minute so they get crisp but don't burn.