Hungry? Just throw some more fried milk in the air fryer.

Shinsegae Food’s guobaorou, left, and Lotte Foods’ fried milk, right, can both be cooked in an air fryer. [SHINSEGAE FOOD, LOTTE FOODS]

Korean food companies are jumping on the popularity of air fryers - appliances that cook food by surrounding it with hot air - to introduce a wave of new products.

Lotte Food on Wednesday added fried milk and cheese balls to its home meal replacement brand La Cuisine’s lineup. The new additions are popular snacks from Taiwan, a common destination for Korean tourists.

The fried milk is made of milk, starch and sugar, while the cheese ball is a combination of mozzarella and cheddar.

The key to these snacks is that they can be cooked in 10 minutes using an air fryer, eliminating the need to use cooking oil, according to Lotte. Fans of a greasy snack need not fear, however. Both dairy dishes can still be prepared in a more traditional frying pan.

“La Cuisine fried milk and cheese balls reflect the recent snacking trend of conveniently eating popular snacks and [finger food that go well with alcohol] at home,” said a spokesperson for Lotte. “We plan to expand the range of home meal replacement dishes that can be cooked using an air fryer.”

Shinsegae Food on Wednesday said it introduced Chinese guobaorou, or deep-fried chicken in a hot pepper sauce, that can be cooked in less than 10 minutes with an air fryer.

The guobarou is the first addition to Shinsegae’s premium Olbaan food brand since the company in July introduced its first air fryer dish: tomato salsa taco dumplings.

Shinsegae chose guobarou on the back of the recent mala madness that has swept Korea this summer, as well as lamb skewers, the company said.

“We have introduced guobarou that can be enjoyed at home at a reasonable price for customers that feel pressured to eat out amid the skyrocketing living expenses,” said a spokesperson for Shinsegae Food.

Sales of air fryers on online shopping malls make it very clear why companies are investing in air fryer food.

Sales of air fryers at e-commerce website Gmarket have shown three-digit growth since 2016. On year sales jumped 134 percent in 2016, 520 percent in 2017 and 108 percent in 2018.

Air fryer sales at e-commerce website 11st showed 73 percent on-year growth in 2017, a 167 percent jump in 2018 and a 56 percent increase from January through July this year.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]