How To Air Fry Costco's Fan Favorite Kirkland Frozen Lasagna

Costco's signature frozen lasagna is a steal for any frozen dinner fans: two 3-pound bricks of hearty, meaty lasagna for only around $13.99 (though prices can and do vary by store). The lasagna, made with all-natural ingredients and stuffed with either beef or a mix of beef and sausage, can be easily heated up in either a conventional oven or in the microwave depending on how much time you have and how you like your baked pasta prepared.

There's another way to heat up this tasty frozen dish if you have an air fryer; Costco lasagna toasts up wonderfully, particularly if you have an oven-style air fryer with enough space to fit the lasagna tray. Simply preheat the air fryer, poke a few holes in the plastic seal on top of the lasagna, and bake the entire tray for about 30 minutes (give or take a few minutes, depending on the strength of your appliance). If you want some crispy, bubbly cheese on top, you can remove the film, increase the temperature, and bake it for another 10 minutes until everything's golden and ready to eat.

While the standard ways of heating up this frozen dinner are the oven and the microwave, cooking your lasagna in the air fryer provides several benefits over the other methods. Air fryers work by rapidly circulating hot air inside the appliance; since an air fryer is much smaller than a standard oven, the hot air is constantly blowing directly against the food, cooking it more quickly and efficiently. That's why cook times for air fryers tend to be shorter than with conventional ovens.

Microwaves also heat food quickly — even more quickly than the air fryer — but with the microwave, you're sacrificing that crisping factor. Your lasagna might be hot and the cheese melted, but you won't get that golden brown bubble like you would in an oven or air fryer. An air fryer always works best when you're trying to heat up something that you're trying to make crips and brown; microwaves tend to work better for wet foods like soups, stews, and curries.

Costco serves a medley of freezer products beyond lasagna that are perfect for prepping in the air fryer. Mandarin orange chicken, for instance, is one of Costco's bestsellers. This frozen meal just needs to be reheated and tossed with sauce and it's ready for serving alongside rice or your favorite accompaniments. Though the instructions suggest either oven or stovetop prep, you can also use an air fryer to get those nuggets of chicken extra crunchy.

Costco also sells Kirkland brand tempura shrimp, which crisp up wonderfully in the air fryer. These shrimp make perfect appetizers and even come with a soy-based sauce for dipping. 

Or what about Costco's own food court's specialty, the Chicken Bake? This signature product features chicken, mozzarella, cheese, bacon, and dressing wrapped into a crust, almost like a Hot Pocket or stromboli. If you buy the frozen, take-home version, get that exterior crust as crisp as can be with a short bake in the air fryer.