©Edu Oliveros/Shutterstock.comBut rest assured, we’ve learned from our mistakes and spent countless hours testing various models of the air fryer to compile these tips for you. Sit back, relax, and remember: With practice comes perfection!
Putting Food in an Unheated Basket
Don’t worry: We write this tip as a step in every recipe so you don’t have to guess for yourself when to turn the air fryer on (or when to wait an extra few minutes before your recipe is ready to go in).Preheating the air fryer essentially allows the recipe to heat evenly when you put it in and be cooked to perfection by the time cooking completes. If you put food in an unheated basket, it may take longer to cook to the proper temperature, especially with foods like beef, chicken, and seafoods.
Overcrowding the Basket
Some recipes need to be cooked in batches. There’s just no way around this (unless of course you decrease the recipe quantity and adjust ingredients accordingly). Be sure to allow space between the food (like chips and fries) so they achieve the perfect crisp every time.Filling Your Cakes and Cupcakes Too High
When using a pan or air-fryer-safe dish inside the air fryer, make sure not to fill them too high. Fill the pan only three-quarters full. That way, you’ll ensure that the pan doesn’t overflow when cooking or hit the top of the air fryer unit when inserting it into the machine. Trust us, no one wants to scrape the top of a cheesecake off of an air fryer!Undercooking Foods
Invest in a food thermometer so you can properly assure your raw foods have been cooked to the safe internal temperatures.Multitasking without Watching the Time
We get it: You have a million things to do in addition to getting food on the table! But every second counts when you’re air-frying foods. Set a timer in addition to the one on your air fryer (especially if you leave to go do the laundry in another room) so you don’t forget about your recipe.Preparing a Wet Batter for Breaded Foods
There’s a reason we coat most of our breaded recipes in a panko, nut, or other dry crust. Moist batters don’t work well with the air fryer. Because air-fried cooking uses significantly less oil than traditional deep-fried cooking, the batter needs to be dry when going into the air-fryer basket.Forgetting to Shake the Basket
Shaking the basket prevents the food from overcooking on one side. It’s easy to do but equally as easy to forget. We’ve found it helpful to use a timer on our smartphones to ensure we remember to shake, shake, shake!Using the Wrong Kind of Cooking Oil
We often use extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and sesame oil in our recipes because they have a high smoke point (meaning the oils can withstand high-heat cooking), making them perfect for air-fried cooking. Unrefined oils, such as flaxseed, wheat germ, and walnut oil have a low smoke point and shouldn’t be heated.Putting Off Cleaning Your Fryer
The best way to ensure you get the perfect air-fried foods is to make sure you’re working with clean, well-functioning equipment. You can do this by cleaning your air fryer after each use. We promise, it’s actually not as hard as it sounds. Most air fryers are very easy to clean and take five minutes, tops.Just be sure you’ve let the air-fryer basket cool completely before putting it in water, and don’t put it in the dishwasher!
Using Foods That Are Too Small
The air fryer you own is a set size. It’s not something you can change (unless, of course, you buy a bigger one). Use the basket inside your air fryer to gauge what size to cut your vegetables and other smaller air-fried foods.You may see recipes elsewhere that tell you to cook popcorn in the air fryer, but we’ve tried it and disagree. The small kernels fall through most air-fryer baskets and make it challenging to cook evenly without burning.