I have gone utterly rogue with this pork loin.
Factor, HelloFresh's prepared meal delivery service, does not offer instructions for heating up its meals with an air fryer. But I've gone a little off-script while testing Factor's high-protein meal options, after my previous experience reheating Factor's never-frozen, packaged delivery meals using the microwave. The air fryer works better. Wings? Garlic chicken? Truffle filet mignon? Everything goes into the Ninja Crispi, which has become by far my favorite device for livening up and reheating leftovers.
The key is, meat and veg go on the top. Rice, or wet food in general, goes on the bottom. After 10 minutes on the 380-degree-Fahrenheit recrisp setting, my brussels sprouts and pork loin bear none of the soggy hallmarks of reheated microwave food. They even take on light Maillard char atop the cooking plate. The nuttiness of buttery wild rice—cooked underneath the cooking plate—might even be better than the pork, sopped a little in juices from the pork resting above it.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Honestly, it's a good meal, almost homestyle—among the best I've tried from Factor, whose ready-to-eat meals have steadily improved in both taste and texture since WIRED began testing them a couple years back. Factor's strong point has always been proteins, and so I decided to get with the times, trying out the high-protein diet that everyone on TikTok seems to think they need. On Factor, these are branded Protein Plus, each with more than 30 grams of protein.
Four days and 10 Protein Plus meals later, I realize I could probably live like this. I'm less hungry, on fewer calories. And I'm still eating my veggies.
Pro-Protein
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
As with all health fads, I am wildly dubious of self-appointed nutritionists on TikTok pushing 200 grams of whey protein per day as a life hack, not to mention crusaders who swear they eat only steak. The nutritive benefits of the all-ribeye diet are, needless to say, questionable. And as my colleague Boutayna Chokrane noted earlier this year, you're … probably getting enough protein already.