9 top tips for new air fryer owners
IF YOU have recently acquired an air fryer for your home, pay attention to these important tips. These tips will enhance your cooking experience and help maintain the air fryer’s longevity.
Grease your basket
Even if your food does not require oil, always take a moment to at least grease your air fryer basket. Unless a food is inherently fatty, always add at least a little oil, which encourages browning. Otherwise, the fan could dry out the food before it browns.
Preheat it
Like the full-sized oven in your kitchen, the air fryer only starts cooking once its chamber has heated properly. Save cooking time – and get better results – by running the air fryer for three to four minutes while you are preparing your food.
Airflow is king
An air fryer uses hot air to cook. But to cook evenly, this hot air needs to be able to circulate all around the food. If you block that airflow, your cooking performance in your air fryer will drop a lot and may even be unusable.
Don’t overcrowd the basket
Roasting a whole chicken in there? Not such a great idea. Even if it fits into the basket, chances are it will not cook evenly, so you are better off doing chicken parts.
Use foil or parchment paper
To make cleaning easier for supermessy things (wings covered in a sticky sauce!) lay them on a sheet of foil or parchment paper on top of the air fryer basket. The hot air moving can cause the sheets to fly, so make sure food is heavy enough to prevent this.
Read your owner’s manual on how to wash your air fryer
You might find that some parts or accessories can go in the dishwasher. Never submerge the actual device itself.
Save the drippings from the drawer for your next meal
The fat that collects in the pan does not have to go to waste; you can save it for future cooking, even if it’s mixed with a bit of water. It’s packed with flavour and can be put away in a container to later use for gravies and stir-fry sauces. If you have received an air fryer cookbook with your new appliance, then you can use drippings in some of these recipes.
Reheating your food in the air fryer tastes so much better
While it may be tempting to warm your food in the microwave, the results are often disappointing. But reheating with the air fryer will easily make your food crispy and delicious again. In just a few moments, you can reheat French fries or other “crunchy” foods and bring that delightful crunch back to life, instead of settling for soggy leftovers.
Remember to shake!
To help your food cook evenly and have great colour, shake the basket a few times during the cooking process. This is especially helpful when you’re making smaller items.