17 Helpful Tips For Anyone Who Owns An Air Fryer

Most air fryers heat up fairly quickly and, in many cases, don't need to be preheated. However, when your air fryer is preheated, the food is quickly sealed, so you're more likely to get that delicious crispiness coating your food. Always check your recipe to see if preheating is needed for perfect results.

Many air fryer baskets or trays come with a non-stick coating, but it's still a good idea to grease the basket before adding your food. This is especially important for foods such as fish and crumbed dishes. The last thing you want is to turn your food over and have the skin or breading stuck to the basket. Use a cooking oil spray or just apply a thin layer of oil to your air fryer basket.

For perfect, crispy results for breaded food, french fries, and other foods that are usually deep-fried, spray a light coating of oil over the food before putting them in the air fryer to cook. You can use a commercial cooking spray or buy an oil spray bottle and add your favorite oil. This layer of oil results in all-round crispiness for all of your foods.

It's hard to be patient when you're in a hurry to put dinner on the table, and the temptation is always there to dump as much food as possible into your air fryer basket to save time and energy. Cooking in smaller batches will save you time because if you try and cook everything at once, it may actually take more time. 

Greasing your air fryer basket is an effective way to achieve great cooking results, and we all know cooking sprays give us the perfect non-stick advantage when we cook. While these commercial aerosol cooking sprays are great, many are made with harsh chemicals that may erode the non-stick surfaces of your air fryer. Invest in an oil mister or bottle and use that instead.

If you love crispy bacon, you'll love the results you can get when you cook those rashers in an air fryer. The trouble is, the fat will render off, and when it gets too hot, it will smoke. Place a little water in the bottom of your air fryer tray to prevent the fat from overheating. Otherwise, you’ll need to take the food out of the air fryer every few minutes and drain off the fat.

Air frying is a healthy way to cook without adding a lot of unnecessary oil, but much of the fats and oils that drip off foods like roasts and bacon is like liquid gold. Don’t throw out these fats and juices. They are packed with flavor and can be used to make mouth-watering sauces and gravies.

As much as we'd like to think of our air fryers as set-and-forget appliances, for best results, you need to take your basket of food out a couple of times during the cooking process and give the basket a shake. This quick shake will redistribute the food so that all sides cook evenly and crisply. You'll appreciate this little step when air frying french fries and other traditionally fried foods.

Your air fryer works on the concept of hot air circulating your food with the help of a high-powered fan. For this reason, you need to exercise a little caution when cooking foods with seasoning flakes or light pastries. The fan can blow these particles around and they can get caught up in the fan. 

Most air fryers come with a range of accessories such as pans, cake tins, and other cooking utensils. Other air fryers have these accessories available to purchase. Find additional sized cake pans, trays, and small pots that fit in your air fryer. Not only will you have more versatility with your air fryer, but you can also increase your repertoire of air fryer recipes and cook a larger variety of different dishes.

Some of the best foods to come out of an air fryer include chicken and pork, but you can also cook large chunks of meat like beef, lamb, turkey and more. Air fryers do cook food quite quickly, so there is always the fear that the beautifully cooked roast on the outside is still undercooked on the inside. Not only can this ruin a great meal, in some cases, but it can also be dangerous to your health. 

If you're concerned about your food sticking to the air fryer basket or pan, you always use aluminum foil or parchment paper. Simply line the bottom of your air fryer basket and cook away. You can also use parchment paper on the side of a cake pan to ensure your cakes won't stick. The other bonus of using aluminum foil or parchment paper is that cleaning is a lot quicker and easier.

Your air fryer relies on a lot of circulating hot air to cook your food to a perfectly crisp consistency. That means your air fryer is drawing on the surrounding air to ensure this circulation flows smoothly. Don't push your air fryer up against a wall and crowd other items around it when you are cooking. For the best and safest results, place your air fryer in the middle of your workspace and move any other odds and ends away, at least until you've finished cooking.

Your air fryer most likely has a removable basket and trays. Many of these are even dishwasher safe, so cleaning is relatively easy. Don't forget to clean the inside of the unit as well. Omitting this part of cleaning results in spattered food caking on the sides of your appliance, and this will affect the taste of the next food you cook. 

Most new air fryer owners are completely entranced with the perfection of fried foods cooked in this wonder appliance, but your air fryer can do so much more than just air fry your food. Use your air fryer for baking cakes and puddings. You can also roast nuts for a great treat or to add extra flavor to your desserts. Flash fry certain spices as well to release their magical aromas.

Before you head off for work in the morning, spend a little time to marinate your food and keep it in the refrigerator until you return home. All of those delicious flavors will infuse into your food and the marinade will also form a protective seal over your food as soon as the heat hits it. 

Most people like to take their frozen food out of the freezer in the morning as they leave for work, or even by defrosting it in the fridge overnight. Unfortunately, during the hustle and bustle of our busy schedules, we sometimes forget, and that makes preparing dinner a bit of a hassle. With an air fryer, you can still cook almost any food even if it's still frozen.