Recipe This | Air Fryer Vol Au Vent Cases (2024)

Air Fryer Vol Au Vent Cases. How to use the air fryer and your favourite brand of puff pastry to make your own vol au vent cases.

You will love how golden your vol au vents are, how amazing they turn out and best of all chef Dom’s tips and tricks for making them much faster.

Vol Au Vent Cases

I learnt a lot of my early cooking skills (I am talking 20 years ago when I was 18/19) from watching Jamie Oliver on the TV, my chef boyfriend teaching me and an endless supply of magazines that I browsed through.

That was then and of course the boyfriend is now my husband of almost 19 years.

Though one thing I have got back into lately is the cooking magazines. On Portuguese prices they were just not worth it and its nice to go to Morrison’s or Asda and leave with a stack of magazines.

Whilst browsing through the magazines (I can’t remember which one) I saw a double page feature for making your own vol au vents using puff pastry.

I was fascinated and never though of making my own, it was something you bought already made from the supermarket.

I mentioned it to chef Dom and whilst making our air fryer beef wellington and having plenty of backup puff pastry, he set to work, making the best vol au vent cases I had ever tried.

We then loaded them up with prawns and went back to the 1980’s on each bite of these prawn vol au vents.

I just wonder what I am going to find next in these magazines!!!

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What Is A Vol Au Vent?

Now that is a question. I would describe them as my favourite party food on a buffet. Alongside sausage rolls and quiche. So, no wonder after doing air fryer sausage rolls and air fryer quiche, that we are converting vol au vents to the air fryer too.

Vol au vents are like an open top pie that is loaded up with your favourite sandwich fillings, such as mushrooms in a sauce, chicken in a sauce or prawn co*cktail. Though there are many variations and the most popular is the prawn co*cktail.

The vol au vent is cut with a ring shaped circle in a similar way to how you cut doughnuts before cooking them.

There were most popular in the 80’s but many still feature them at a buffet.

Can You Cook Vol Au Vents In An Air Fryer?

Yes, you can, and they are a lot better than they are cooked in the oven.

That is because you get the perfect crisp and wonderful golden colour thanks to the egg wash and the air fryer magic.

Plus, if you often overcook and forget about them in the oven, there is no need to worry about that in the air fryer.

Can You Freeze Vol Au Vents?

Yes, you sure can. But ONLY if they are frozen without their delicious fillings.

But if doing this, make sure they are cool first and then load them onto a baking tray.

Then freeze them and move into a zip loc bag.

If you go to the bag straight away, they will stick together.

Then after freezing vol au vent cases, you can defrost them and then load them up with your favourite vol au vent fillings.

What To Put In Vol Au Vents?

When I think of a vol au vent, I am always thinking about the best vol au vent fillings. The ones when I saw them on a buffet, I would choose them because their fillings were the best.

Whilst I am all for the prawn filling, it’s also about it being a crowd pleaser and making fillings that people will want to eat. Or if you are on a budget, choosing vol au vent fillings that are cheap to make.

With that in mind here are my favourite quick and easy vol au vent fillings:

• Chicken vol au vent
• Tuna and mayonnaise vol au vent
• Mushroom vol au vent
• Prawn vol au vents

Of course, if you are on a budget then you cannot beat the price of making mushroom vol au vents. You can simply cook our air fryer garlic mushrooms and coat them in Greek yoghurt, and you are done.

Or if you are making a Boxing Day buffet, note that instead of a chicken vol au vent you could make them with leftover turkey.

Vol Au Vent Recipe Ingredients

Pastry – You can use any brand of puff pastry for homemade vol au vents. I bought some frozen and then defrosted it, the day before. I also just used one pack and was amazed by how many vol au vents it made.

Egg – For that golden glow, you will want to egg wash your vol au vents prior to air frying them.

Fillings – Then of course, don’t forget about your vol au vent fillings. We went with prawn co*cktail and used some Heinz sauce, frozen prawns and a salt, pepper, and chives for the seasoning.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this vol au vent recipe it has just been our Cosori Air Fryer XL. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer pastries.

How To Make Vol Au Vents

• Roll. Make sure your puff pastry is fully defrosted and leave it out for an hour to come to room temperature. Then roll it out.
• Cut. Then using your favourite medium cookie cutters, cut out 18 medium rounds. Then cut 9 of them with a small cookie cutter in the middle. The centre is then removed, and you can use these for tops for your vol au vent cases or use them for something else.
• Wash. Egg wash your full size ones and then place the rings you have made over them. The egg wash will then hold them in place. Then egg wash the tops again for that golden glow.
• Cook. Load onto a layer of foil in the air fryer basket and air fry for 8 minutes at 180c/360f.
• Beeps. When the air fryer beeps, remove from the air fryer, allow them to cool and then load up with your vol au vent fillings.

And I am sure you can see now how easy it is to make vol au vents using puff pastry.

Prawn Vol Au Vents

Now you have made your vol au vent cases and as you allow them to cool, its time to make your vol au vent filling.

I am demonstrating with prawn vol au vents, but you can do the same with other fillings.

1. Place frozen prawns in a sieve or bowl in the sink and rinse with the warm tap until fully defrosted.
2. Load the prawns into a bowl with your favourite co*cktail sauce, plus any seasonings.
3. Mix with a spoon until fully coated.
4. Then load your prawn filling into the vol au vent cases.

Listen To Air Fryer Vol Au Vents

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More Air Fryer Party Food

• Air Fryer Pull Apart Bread Rolls
• Air Fryer Sausage Rolls
• Air Fryer Pigs In A Blanket
• Air Fryer Quiche

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