New Knorr range offers air fryer cooks flavour inspiration

The use of air fryers has transformed from a niche curiosity into one of the fastest-growing global cooking methods of the past decade.

According to research from Knorr, 87% of air fryer owners in the UK use theirs weekly and 57% for three or more main meals a week. Europe in particular is emerging as a key growth market, with the category expected to generate over €2 billion in annual sales by 2030.^[a]

With such a big growth opportunity, the Unilever Foods Power Brand Knorr has launched a dedicated product range to help home cooks achieve flavour-rich meals with minimal effort.

Introducing Knorr’s air fryer seasonings and coatings

Knorr’s new Air Fryer Meal Mixes line offers seasonings and crispy coatings developed specifically for air fryers to deliver delicious results. All nine mixes are based on consumer insights and flavour trends reflecting the most popular air fryer meals across launch markets Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

“By bringing together the culinary expertise of our own chefs and deep consumer insights, we’ve developed products that work perfectly in the air fryer, helping people create flavourful, crispy and satisfying dishes with ease,” explains Joanny Lijbers, VP, Cooking Aids & Marketing Transformation, Unilever Foods, Europe.

“It’s all about giving consumers the confidence to try something new while delivering the great taste they expect from Knorr.”

An innovative foods x tech partnership

Unilever Foods and Versuni, the makers of Philips air fryers, have joined forces to help people get even more from their cooking.

In a multi-year, multi-market collaboration, Knorr is bringing its culinary expertise together with Versuni’s innovative technology, including its category-leading SteamFry functionality.

Through co-created recipes, optimised products and cooking guidance as well as joint activations in retailers, on apps and across social media, the partnership aims to make air fryer cooking more inspiring and accessible.

How Knorr is defining the category

Knorr’s deep understanding of flavour and how people cook across cultures and markets dovetails perfectly with this shift in cooking behaviour.

Air fryer meals depend on seasonings, coatings, marinades and texture‑driven blends, all of which are Knorr’s core strength. The brand’s innovation pipeline is built on consumer and chef insight work, testing formats, understanding pain points and identifying ways to deliver superior results.

"Consumers aren’t just using air fryers to cook faster, they’re using them to cook differently,” says Joanny. “The air fryer has opened up a whole new world of tasty possibilities. It’s a tool for creativity, helping people discover new recipes and experiment with different dishes.

“Across markets, air fryer adoption is already widespread and rising rapidly, offering a rare household platform on which brands can build penetration and cultural relevance. As more people embrace this way of cooking, it represents a huge opportunity for Knorr.”

Why are air fryers so popular?

The increasing pace of air fryer ownership illustrates the sheer scale of the shift. By 2030, the UK is expected to generate €313 million* in annual air fryer sales, making it the fifth-largest market globally, with Germany close behind at €308 million.

Air fryers deliver exactly what home cooks want in terms of speed and convenience, with users estimating they save an average of 19 minutes per meal, equivalent to around 1.5 hours across a typical working week.

But convenience alone doesn’t solve every weekday cooking challenge. Lack of inspiration is one of the biggest barriers home cooks cited (31%), second only to lack of time. People consistently struggle with blandness or uneven flavour as well as over‑ or under‑cooking, lack of clear guidance and not knowing which seasonings or coatings are best to use.

More than a third of air fryer owners already use seasoning blends or stock-based flavourings to upgrade their meals, with similar numbers using sauces, dressings or marinades. Among those, 60% say they use seasoning blends more often, 70% use crispy coatings more often and 53% use marinades more often than before cooking with the appliance.

At the same time, 86% of people in multi-person households say that weekday meals are important for spending quality time together. For Knorr, that makes the air fryer more than a convenience appliance, it’s a platform to unlock flavour-led solutions, helping people to create easier, tastier and more enjoyable meals during the week.

Frequently asked questions

• What is driving the continued growth of the air fryer market?

  The air fryer market is expanding through three converging forces: convenience for time-pressed consumers, alignment with Gen Z and Millennial cooking behaviours (visual, shareable recipes), and a critical flavour gap that creates demand for complementary products. Asia’s early-stage adoption represents the largest untapped growth opportunity, with penetration rates far below other markets.

• Is the air fryer market entering maturity or is it still in growth phase?

  Category data from market research company Statista indicates early-to-mid growth phase, not maturity. US market leadership at 50% penetration demonstrates category viability, while Latin America (Brazil 68%, Mexico 28%) and Asia (minimal penetration) represent room for expansion. In the UK, high-frequency usage patterns (57% using as primary appliance for three or more meals weekly) suggest that adoption is a long-term behaviour change, rather than a short-term fad.

• How big is the market for air fryer complementary products?

  The air fryer category is expected to generate over €2 billion in annual sales across Europe by 2030. According to Knorr research, with 60% of users purchasing seasoning blends more frequently post-adoption and 54% actively seeking better flavour solutions, the complementary product category represents a recurring revenue opportunity.