It’s been a couple of years since the greaseless machine made its entrance in our homes. And now, years later, the appliance is still used on a regular basis in our household.
At first, the rest of the family was skeptical and decided to not use it, that changed quickly when they were treated to a newly fried batch of french fries followed by a plate full of crunchy chicken wings.
Where am I going with this?
Oh yeah, because the air fryer was used pretty much all the time, there were more episodes of trial and error-style cooking, oftentimes executed by the youngsters in our house.
That led to some pretty frustrating situations involving the air fryer, but, in hindsight, it also resulted in nefarious amounts of extensive research and development of techniques that I now use every day to get the most out of the air fryer.
Now that I’ve walked down that path, I figured that I could share the things I have learned so you can go straight to the fun part of using an air fryer, which is successfully cooking a batch of delicious food, be it appetizers, main dishes or desserts.
Take note, you may avoid a lot of trouble down the road if you keep this information in the back of your head.
Use An Oil With A Higher Smoking Point
Air fryers are frequently marketed as oil-less deep fryers, but to achieve the best results, you should add a tablespoon (or slightly less) of oil. But you can’t just pick any oil you have stored at home and go wild, you need to consider the fact that every cooking fat has a smoke point. The smoke point indicates at which temperature the fat stops shimmering and starts to form smoke.
The air fryer operates at temperatures as high as 400F, therefore, the oil you use in the air fryer has to have a smoke point above 400F.
Don’t Overcrowd The Basket
Cooking in an air fryer often equals limited amounts of cooking space, as a solution to that, one may be very tempted to put more food than is recommended in the basket. Well, an air fryer cooks food by circulating hot air using the convection mechanism, and in order for the air fryer to cook the food, it has to be exposed to the hot streams of air, which it will not be if the basket is overcrowded. You’ll end up with a batch of half-cooked food.
Here’s more on how much you can cook in an air fryer.
Don’t Stack Meat
When you’re cooking larger pieces of food such as steaks or chicken breasts, you definitely shouldn’t stack them. Make sure that there’s enough space between them so they don’t overlap. By giving each bite its own space, you’ll ensure that it’s evenly cooked.
Easily Convert Oven Recipes
Normally, in almost all cases, the cooking instructions on the packaging are for conventional ovens, microwave ovens or the stove. The air fryer doesn’t take as much time as the conventional oven to heat up, and it isn’t as quick as the microwave. Therefore, the cooking times and temperatures need to be tweaked to suit the air fryer.
Here’s a little trick to help you convert any recipe made for the oven into an air fryer recipe.
- Reduce the recommended temperature by 25 to 50F
- Reduce the time by 20%
Get Rid Of The Chemical Smell That New Air Fryers May Emit By Doing This
If you spend half an hour reading reviews or frequently asked questions about air fryers, you’ll learn that a bunch of customers need to withstand a horrible, rancid smell the first times they use their air fryer. If you’re one of them, I suggest you try this method.
- Mix a tablespoon of vinegar and lemon juice in a dish and place in in the air fryer
- Run the air fryer on 370-400F for 2-10 minutes then let it sit for 5-10 more
- Remove the dish and replace it with another one containing pure water and let it run for 2 minutes
- Remove the dish.
This method may not remove the plastic smell the first time you try it, but it will hopefully reduce it significantly. Repeat the process until the air fryer smells pleasant enough to use.
Of course, I recommend that you clean your air fryer thoroughly with water and soap too. That may also help.
Use Foil Or Parchment Paper To Make Cleaning Easier
Both foil and parchment paper can be used in the air fryer to make cleanup easier because the food isn’t in direct contact with the basket. This saves your air fryer components from peeling as you don’t have to scrub them to remove burnt foods.
- When using aluminum foil, make sure that it doesn’t block the bottom of the basket completely.
- When using parchment paper, I recommend that you either make your own or invest in perforated papers. As we know, the air fryer needs to circulate air in order to cook, perforated papers allow the air to flow freely.
- For both: Make sure that they are held down by the weight of the food. Light ingredients can easily end up in the heating coil otherwise.
Bathe The Components In Warm Water And Soap To Get Rid Of Grease Residue
When cleaning baskets, pans or accessories, place them in the sink and fill it with warm water, add soap and let them soak for 10-15 minutes before you scrub them with a soft sponge. This will remove leftover grease residue.
Mix Your Spices With Oil Before Applying Them To Your Food To Make Sure They Stick
To prevent spices and herbs from ending up in the heating coil, which will burn them and
Clean The Air Fryer After Each Use
Cleaning the air fryer isn’t only about having a good looking kitchen. It’s about hygiene and maintenance of the air fryer. Taking good care of your air fryer will reduce smell, smoke and increase its lifespan.
Not cleaning the air fryer will result in a build-up of grease. That same build-up may then form smoke when overcooked, additionally, it will damage the non-stick surface of the basket. When you finally decide to clean the air fryer it will be a troublesome procedure if you’ve waited too long, and it might require a harder scrub than fresh oil would. Scrubbing components with force can remove the non-stick surface.
Add Water To The Drawer To Prevent The Formation Of Smoke When Cooking Fatty Foods
Food with high fat content can produce a lot of smoke when cooked in the air fryer. We talked about smoke points before, that’s what’s going on now. The fat starts to smoke at a certain temperature. To prevent this from happening, remove the drawer from the air fryer and add water to it. The water will keep the fat from getting too hot when you’re cooking, which in turn results in a smoke-free kitchen and potentially delicious food.
Season Your Air Fryer Basket Or Pan To Make Sure Nothing Sticks
Seasoning your air fryer’s basket or pan is another little trick that will make the maintenance of the air fryer a breeze. Doing this will prevent food from sticking to any of the accessories. Here’s how it’s done.
- You need coconut oil, a paper towel, water, soap, and a soft sponge.
- Clean the air fryer’s components in the kitchen sink using warm water, soap, and a soft sponge.
- Dry the components then place them back into the air fryer
- Set the temperature to 400F and time to 5 minutes
- Remove the basket or pan after 3 minutes, now, using a paper towel, take some coconut oil and rub it all over the component. Keep the layer pretty thin.
- Place the component in the air fryer and resume for the remaining three minutes on the clock.
- Now you’re done. Your basket or pan should have a shiny coat covering it.
Don’t Use Non-stick Aerosol Spray Cans
Aerosol sprays contain agents that don’t work well with the non-stick surface on most air fryer baskets. The propellants will cause the basket to flake quickly. Instead, opt for a spray bottle to apply oil to the basket.
Shake Or Flip Food Halfway Through For Even Results
Cooking chicken breasts, I often get away without having to flip them halfway through, however, when you’re cooking a batch of french fries or any other food that doesn’t lay as organized as chicken breasts in the basket, you should shake, stir or flip the food halfway through to make sure that it’s cooked from every angle.
Upgrading To Better Accessories May Provide More Possibilities
There is a wide selection of air fryer accessories available online and in store. If you’re struggling with cooking space a double-layered grill rack may be something for you or if you’re having trouble slicing chips thin enough, you may benefit from having a mandolin. I’m sure you can find something to further improve your air frying experience.
Purchase A Spray Bottle To Apply No More Than Sufficient Amounts Of Oil
We’re trying to keep the usage of oil to a minimum, that’s why we purchased an air fryer in the first place, isn’t it? It can be hard to minimize the amount of oil used when applying it with a tablespoon. Spray bottles are extremely convenient for applying oil, and as a bonus, you won’t have to worry about applying more than you need.
Make Sure Light Items Are Weighed Down
We’ve talked about this before, but it’s important enough to be highlighted on its own. The air fryer will, without any problems, take light items and throw them around the air fryer like leaves. If they end up in the sizzling hot heating coil, they will burn and produce a cloud of smoke accompanied by a not-so-pleasant smell.
Clean The Basket Carefully To Avoid Peeling
Never use harsh brushes when scrubbing the air fryer, they will scrape the non-stick surface right off. Instead, use a very soft sponge and be very gentle. If your basket or pan starts flaking, I would suggest you stop using it right away. The exposed metals may release toxins when overheated.
Be On The Lookout For Smoke
Smoke coming out of an air fryer isn’t very strange to see, but it’s important to identify the smoke because it does indicate that something is out of the ordinary. Here’s what it could be.
- You’re using an oil with a smoke point below 400F and the oil is now overheated, causing it to produce clouds of smoke.
- You’re cooking fatty foods without adding water to the drawer underneath the basket and the grease is getting overheated.
- Something has flown into the heating coil of the air fryer.
- There’s leftover grease in the air fryer from previous use
- The air fryer is having an electrical malfunction.
Experiment With The Air Fryer To Get The Most Out Of It
If you only use your air fryer to cook chicken wings and french fries, you’re seriously missing out on some awesome things. No matter how awesome air-fried chicken wings and french fries are, there are a lot of alternative foods to cook in the air fryer.
- Snacks
- Cakes
- Bars
- Dried fruit
- Nuts
- …. and much more. Pinterest is a great source for recipes.
Preheat The Air Fryer Before Using It
Even though it’s way faster than heating an oven or a pan on a stove, the air fryer benefits from being preheated. If you can adjust the time, add 2 minutes to the initial cooking time to preheat the air fryer.
Choose The Right Size Air Fryer For Your Household
Air fryer sizes are measured in quarter gallons, or “quart”. As we know by now, the air fryer needs to be able to circulate air to cook food, so stacking isn’t always an option, instead, focus on getting an air fryer big enough to cook for as many as you plan to.
Here’s a chart on air fryer sizes.
- 1.0 – 2.0 Quart: Suitable for one person, possibly for two if used for snacks or baking.
- 2.2 – 3.0 Quart: Suitable for 1-2 persons.
- 3.0-5.0 Quart: Suitable for a family of 2-4.
- 5+ Quart: The perfect pick for larger families.
Here’s an in-depth article on air fryer sizes.
Don’t Use Teflon Cookware If You Have Exotic Birds At Home
If you’re the owner of one or more beautiful birds, make sure to research what type of material is used to make the cookware in the air fryer. When Teflon is heated, it releases fumes that are lethal to birds. In that case, ceramically coated or stainless steel components are a much better alternative.
Breading Makes Food Crispier
Seriously! Breading is part of the air fryer experience, and it’s pretty normal to see it included in many recipes. To get it right, dip the food in flour, then egg and lastly, breadcrumbs. To avoid having a bunch of breadcrumbs end up in the heating coil, press the breadcrumbs against the food with a little bit of force to make sure they stick.
Re-heat Food In The Air Fryer To Revive Its Crispiness
This appliance knows magic abilities that the microwave oven just hasn’t learned yet. The air fryer can give new life and crisp to food that has turned soggy when reheating it. We both know how unsatisfying it is to eat french fries that have been reheated in the microwave, they just don’t have the texture you crave anymore. Start using your air fryer for the best results.
Go Wild And Bake Something In The Air Fryer
Yes, you can bake in the air fryer. What’s stopping you? Go ahead!
Use A Thermometer For Perfect Results Each Time
Tweaking time and temperature until you get it right is one way to achieve the juiciest results, but there’s another way that’s less abstract, and it’s as easy as keeping track of the inner temperature of the foods. Using a thermometer in the air fryer is an easy way of keeping track of the food. I can’t speak for everyone but I love a crispy exterior and a juicy interior.
Roast Vegetables In The Air Fryer (This Is How You Get Your Kids To Like Vegetables)
Roasting vegetables in an air fryer
Pick vegetables of your choice, cook them in the air fryer until they get a light-brown surface, remove them and add a pinch of salt. If you’re “treating yourself” add a minimum amount of butter to the vegetables for an amazing experience.
Wet Batters May Need To Be Tweaked
Using wet batters in the air fryer isn’t as practical as dry batters. The liquids will be thrown around in the air fryer as soon as the fan starts to rotate, leaving it looking like the sixteenth chapel. Instead, finish the wet batter by dipping it in flour or breadcrumbs to give it more surface.
Give The Air Fryer Space To Vent
The air fryer vents air from the inside while cooking, the air carries both heat and scent. Make sure to give the air fryer space to vent, otherwise, the air fryer may be a potential hazard as it will overheat.