Since Air Fryers have hit the market, tons of people have been turning to them to help them quickly make easy, healthy, and delicious meals. So many people love their air fryers and swear by them—but are you using them correctly?
Cathy Yoder, author of “Air Fryer Recipes”, loves the air fryer, calling it “a kitchen marvel that has taken the culinary world by storm.” However, she warns of 12 common mistakes that home cooks should avoid to ensure they get the most out of this super handy appliance.
1. Not Investing in a Good Air Fryer
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If you feel like you’re doing everything right, but your food is still coming out burnt or weird, you might not be the problem.
Buying a cheap or sub-par air fryer can help you save a bit of money. However, if you don’t buy a good one, you could end up with burnt or unevenly cooked food, ruined counters, or worse.
Ensure that you take the time to read the reviews and invest in an excellent-quality air fryer.
Read More: The Best Air Fryers
2. Overcrowding the Frying Pan
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Don’t overcrowd the frying pan.
One of the most important rules of air-frying food is not to overcrowd the pot. Too much food in a skillet or microwave will lead to lousy cooking results and uneven cooking. The same is true with your air fryer! If you overcrowd your food, it will end up half-burnt, undercooked, and not right.
If you are making several large batches, it might be worth looking into a larger air fryer. A helpful reference is never filling your air fryer more than about halfway. When shopping for an air fryer, rather than focusing on the total quart size, focus on the perimeter size of the basket.
3. Using Too Much Oil or Not Enough
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Use just the right amount of oil in the air fryer.
A big selling point of the air fryer is that you can make “fried” food without using oil. However, most foods require cooking with some oil for a truly crispy finish. If you add too much oil, you can end up on the other side of the spectrum.
There are two reasons you need oil when air frying food:
- Make foods crispy (like homemade air fryer french fries).
- Help the spices and seasonings adhere to the food (like with this air fryer steak).
Here are some important tips to keep in mind when using oil in the air fryer:
– No additional oil is needed if you cook foods with fat or skin, like chicken wings or bacon. If you want something extra crispy, spray oil on the food near the end of the cooking cycle.
– If you’re using your air fryer for baking, you won’t need any oil since you’re using the air fryer more like a convection oven than a fryer. You won’t need to use oil on foods like:
– For breaded items like fries, you only need 1-2 teaspoons of oil. They won’t be nearly as oily and greasy as if you fried them, but a little oil helps them achieve that crispy texture. The hot air circulates in your air fryer to cook them sufficiently without needing much oil. Make sure your food is well-coated in oil without looking overly wet or soggy. And remember, you can always add more near the end of the cooking cycle if you want more crispness.
-Avoid canned or pressurized propellant oil sprays to protect your air fryer investment. Why? If you look at the ingredients of these spray oils, you’ll see they contain propellants and chemicals. Not only is it not good for your health, but these propellant oils have also been known to peel and chip the lining of air fryer baskets. A simple solution is to purchase a spray bottle and put your favorite oil in it.
-When air-frying your food, you want to use an oil with a high smoke point. The Smoke Point (or burning point) is the temperature at which an oil or fat begins to produce smoke. Every oil or fat has a different cooking temperature.
- The smoke point of butter, coconut oil, and extra virgin olive oil is 350˚F (176˚C).
- The smoke point of avocado oil is 375-400˚F (190-204˚C).
- Vegetable oil and peanut oil have a higher smoke point of 45o˚F (232˚).
- Canola oil has a smoke point of 400˚F (204˚C).
Cathy says that she uses avocado oil personally. It has a higher smoke point than extra virgin olive oil, is healthier than vegetable and canola oil, and doesn’t affect the food’s taste, like peanut oil tends to (plus we have a peanut allergy in our house).
You do you, my friend. Just be aware that if you coat your food in butter and cook it at 400˚F (204˚C), your air fryer might smoke and smell unpleasant.
Read More: 15 Common Cooking Oils, Ranked From Worst to Best
4. Not Rotating or Shaking the Food
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We all want to be able to dump food in the air fryer and walk away. Air fryers are almost hands-off cooking… but not 100%. You need to rotate, shake, or flip the food in the air fryer
For a perfectly cooked meal, you’ll want to flip or rotate your food at the halfway point. This ensures the food gets evenly crisped on both sides.
If you want to walk away and forget about it, an air fryer with a dual burner would be a great option. You won’t have to worry about staying close by to shake or flip the food.
5. Not Checking the Food’s Temperature
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Check the food’s temperature so you don’t overcook.
If you don’t already have one, invest in a digital food thermometer to avoid undercooked or overcooked food. This will ensure that your food is fully cooked. This is especially important for meats. When cooking air-fried chicken (and any other meat), you will want to peek in on it before the timer is up.
Use an instant-read digital meat thermometer to ensure your meat doesn’t overcook. Cooking meat in the air fryer can vary because the thickness of your meat will vary with each batch.
Taking the temperature will also help you learn and gauge the correct cooking time for your foods since it varies with all air fryers.
6. Putting the Air Fryer Basket and Hot Fryer on the Countertop
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Don’t burn your countertop with a hot air fryer basket.
You might not feel steam coming from the air fryer basket, but it gets pretty hot! It’s like a tiny oven inside of a small appliance.
Lift your air fryer from the counter with little feet or something underneath it to avoid ruining your counter. This goes for the basket, too!
Don’t set it on your counter right when it comes out of the air fryer; put it on a heat-safe surface, like a hot pad, wooden cutting board, or heat-resistant mat.
7. Cooking Fatty Foods Incorrectly
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Fatty foods can smoke in the air fryer.
Not all foods need oil, especially fatty foods that already have oil. To help these foods cook correctly, add a little bit of water to the bottom of your air fryer. This will also prevent a gross, smoky smell from cooking fatty foods like bacon.
8. Not Cleaning Your Air Fryer
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Clean your air fryer regularly!
You might think cleaning the air fryer between sessions can be a pain, but it’s really not bad! Most air fryers have a non-stick coating, so they clean off quite easily with hot, soapy water. And many air fryer baskets are dishwasher safe. Refer to your owner’s manual to be sure. If you take the time to wash it after each use, you’ll thank yourself later.
If you don’t clean your air fryer often enough, crumbs and leftover food get left behind in the basket and end up burning the next time you use it. The leftover oil can cause your drawer to smoke and ruin the food you’re cooking. At a minimum, it starts to stink; in the worst-case scenario, it’s a fire hazard waiting to happen.
Every month or so, when the air fryer is completely cooled, wipe down the inside to remove any build-up.
9. Cooking Wet Food
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Pat veggies dry before cooking them in the air fryer.
This is especially important with your proteins and veggies. If you don’t pat them dry, you will end up with steamed food. So be sure to pat your foods dry, then give them a light spritz of oil for that crispy fried taste.
10. Not Adapting Your Recipes
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Adapt recipe instructions for the air fryer.
Air frying food isn’t a simple translation process to convert baking to air frying.
You will need to adjust the time and temperature as you cook. An air fryer usually requires less time to cook food than a traditional baking method in the oven since the heat is condensed to the small air fryer chamber. Make sure that you take this into account when air frying your food.
A good rule of thumb is to decrease the temperature by 10-25˚F and cut the cooking time in half. Then, increase the cooking time as needed.
You can also specifically find air fryer recipes that will work well.
11. Not Using Your Air Fryer to Reheat Leftovers
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Reheat leftovers in the air fryer.
Thanks to air fryers, you can say goodbye to soggy leftovers. Air fryers bring leftovers back to life in a way that microwaves can’t. It may take a little longer than the microwave, but totally worth it.
You can reheat almost anything to give your food that crispy, fresh texture. You can reheat foods at 350˚F (176˚C) for 3-5 minutes. Some of the best things to reheat in the air fryer are leftovers from restaurants, French fries, and pizza.
12. Not Using Helpful Tools
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Use air fryer accessories and tools.
You can buy some air fryer accessories to get more out of your air fryer. But you don’t have to! You likely already have items in your kitchen that you can use.
For example, you can use foil to make a foil sling that allows you to easily place delicate foods in and out of your air fryer. This is great for cookies or delicate meats like this air-fried salmon. Just be sure not to press the foil all the way to the sides of the air fryer basket; otherwise, the air won’t be able to circulate.
You can use air fryer-safe parchment paper with holes to place at the bottom of your basket. This is great for dishes with cheese or breading.
WARNING: NEVER use wax paper or paper towels inside your air fryer while cooking, as they could start a fire.
Another good rule of thumb is if it’s oven-safe, it’s air fryer-safe. You can use ramekins, cupcake liners, and oven-safe glass dishes like Pyrex inside your air fryer.
12 Foods To NEVER Eat After They Expire (Throw Them Away Immediately)
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The “Sell by” date on food packaging tells how long the food can stay on shelves, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when it expires. On the other hand, the “Best by” or “Use by” date is something to really pay attention to.
Some foods can be fine well past that date, but others don’t, and consuming them can lead to food poisoning, a trip to the hospital, or worse. Following are some foods you should never consume after they expire.
12 Foods To NEVER Eat After They Expire (Throw Them Away Immediately)
15 Healthy Foods That Taste So Good They Have No Right Being Healthy
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Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor. Many nutritious foods are full of vitamins and minerals and taste absolutely delicious. Some of these foods might surprise you with how good they taste while still being a part of a healthy diet.
If you’re looking for guilt-free snacks or meals, check out this list of 15 healthy foods that taste so good they almost feel like a cheat.
15 Healthy Foods That Taste So Good They Have No Right Being Healthy
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