Air fryer pork steak sandwich
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
- Dietary
- Nut-freePregnancy-friendly
Step aside pulled pork, here’s a crispy alternative. This air fryer pork steak sandwich is just as great in a bun and ready in no time at all.
By Jules Mercer
Ingredients
For the quick pickled onions
- red onion: ½ red onion, sliced into 1cm/¾in rings
- lemon juice: 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
- caster sugar: 1 tsp caster sugar
For the pork sandwiches
- plain flour: 2 tbsp plain flour
- egg: 1 free-range large egg, beaten
- panko breadcrumbs: 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú panko breadcrumbs
- pork loin: 2 pork loin steaks (about 150–200g/5½–7oz each)
- olive oil: olive oil spray, for frying
- apple: 1 small green or red apple, cored and sliced into 1cm/¾in rounds
- black pepper: salt and freshly ground black pepper
- lettuce: chopped lettuce, to serve (optional)
- bread rolls: 2 burger buns or bread rolls, split, to serve
- mayonnaise: mayonnaise, to serve (optional)
Method
To make the pickled onions, mix the onion, vinegar and caster sugar together in a small bowl. Set aside to pickle.
Heat the air fryer to 200C. To make the sandwiches, spread the flour out on a large plate and season well with salt and pepper. Place the egg in a bowl and spread the breadcrumbs out on another large plate.
Dip a pork steak in the flour, then the egg, and finally the breadcrumbs. Double dip on the top and bottom of the pork steak for a thicker, crispy coating. Repeat with the other steak.
Spray the steaks a few times with the oil spray, then lay the two steaks on the rack in the air fryer and place half of the apple slices around them.
Cook for 5 minutes, then flip the steaks (if the apple slices are cooked by this point, remove and set aside until serving). Cook for another 4–8 minutes on the other side, depending on the thickness of the pork. It should take a total of 12 minutes for a 3cm/1¼in thick piece of pork and approximately 8 minutes for a 2cm/¾in thick piece of pork.
To serve, place some lettuce, if using, in the buns, then layer with slices of the steak or whole pork steaks. Top with the pickled onion, roasted apple slices and the mayonnaise, if using. Serve immediately.
Recipe tips
If you have time, mix together 250ml/9fl oz cider with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard in a large bowl. Add the pork steaks and marinate in the mustard mixture overnight or for a few hours. Once marinated, follow the recipe as detailed here.
This recipe was developed using a 5.5 litre/9½ pint air fryer.