Tummy troubles! Disappearing broccoli! And meat so raw it might as well be mooing! Air fryers are
basically magic — but a couple of common mistakes could spell culinary catastrophe in your kitchen!
How often do you think you should be cleaning your air fryer? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Whenever you
get around to it? A quick search on the internet produces incredibly mixed results. Reputable
sources like Food Network state that it's not entirely necessary to deep clean your cooker after
every fry session, and that it really depends on how much buildup or food debris is hanging out
inside. On the other hand, Consumer Reports claims it's an absolute no-no to put off cleaning the
entire air fryer after each use, or else it will be a complete nightmare to clean the next time.
All in all, the consensus is that cleaning your air fryer more often
than not is a good practice to keep. Yes, it'll take some extra time in the kitchen,
but the benefits are well worth it. Frequently cleaning your air fryer
not only helps to extend its life but also keeps it from developing questionable smells,
according to Insider. It also eliminates any chance that those remaining crumbs will catch
on fire the next time you're using your air fryer. Just like any appliance — and machinery
in general — maintenance and cleaning are key. You wouldn't run your car without oil, right?
It may seem like a no-brainer, but it's pretty important to spend a few extra
minutes preheating your air fryer. Would you toss a frozen pizza into a cold oven?
"Frozen pizza! Frozen, frozen pizza! Frozen pizza! Frozen frozen pizza!"
Of course not, and any pizza box will explicitly indicate that you must preheat the oven. The
same goes for any food, frozen or fresh, that you're tossing into your air fryer.
According to Insider, among the multitude of reasons why preheating the appliance
is necessary, first and foremost it ensures that your food will begin to
cook immediately. It also guarantees that your meal will be crispy and delicious on
the outside and cooked evenly and all the way through on the inside.
Keep in mind that using the preheating feature on your air fryer also means that your food will
cook faster. So if you seriously need to get your frozen veggie tempura fix,
it's worth waiting a few extra minutes in the beginning to have a pleasant and satisfying
meal. It's also important to note that some air fryers automatically preheat, while others need
to be manually set. So be sure to know how your device functions to avoid assuming it's
preheating when it's just been blankly staring at you wondering when you're going to turn it on.
While most frozen foods come with cooking instructions, they're normally not geared toward
the newfangled air frying method. You'll typically read about frying, sauteeing, baking, or a good
old-fashioned arterial clogging deep-fry. The norm will probably soon change though, because air
fryer sales have increased by 76% since January 2020, according to the market research group, NPD.
With limited heating instructions, the fact that no two air fryers are the same makes it
even trickier to determine exactly how to prepare your favorite frozen foods. Temperature settings
and capacity are two major variables that will greatly affect your success rate. Air fryers
come with user manuals and sometimes include handy little recipe books, too. Consequently,
it's best to follow the basic guidelines that are provided with your particular air fryer.
If you've somehow misplaced your manual, search the wonderful World Wide Web for
the manual that goes with your particular air fryer instead of playing a guessing game. If
that sounds like too much work, the general rule of thumb is to start cooking at 350 F.
When in doubt, you can also look at online oven-to-air fryer conversion calculators.
"Set it and forget it!"
"You just set it and forget it."
"You just set it and you forget about it."
The whole set it and forget it style of cooking has made socializing during dinnertime or parties
a far safer prospect. Nothing's worse than turning your back on your oven for just one
minute too long and coming back to a blackened dish. That being said, no one likes to take a
bite out of a formerly frozen finger food only to discover that it's still cold in the middle.
And the last thing you want to do is give your friends or family a serious case of salmonella.
Timing and temperature go hand in hand and they vary dramatically from food to food. You want
to avoid cooking your frozen items for so long that they dry out past the point of saving. But
you also don't want to risk consuming undercooked food. If you stick with the handy-dandy guide that
comes with your fryer or simply use a conversion calculator, you'll be geared for success.
To help guide you, AirFrying.net has a chart that provides a general time
frame for cooking your frozen foods. Above all, investing in a food thermometer is the
easiest way to eliminate any uncertainty and prevent a bad case of sour stomach — or worse.
If the recipe calls for it or you just need some extra crisp in your frozen food fry fest,
there are a few factors to keep in mind when it comes to the addition of oil. First, you're going
to want to use an oil that has a neutral flavor, but you're also going to want to make sure that it
has a high smoke point, also known as the burning point. These types of oils hold up well for
high-heat cooking and won't easily burn. Refined avocado oil, safflower oil, light or refined olive
oil, or soybean oil are all good options to use in air fryers and for cooking frozen goodies.
Alternatively, you might simply be using too much oil! One of the
reasons air fryers are so darn amazing is that they're great at cutting back on
excess fat and grease. When compared to deep-frying or similar hot oil cooking,
using an air fryer can cut fat by up to 75%, as reported by Healthline. Interestingly enough,
the appliance wasn't originally intended to be crowned the countertop kitchen cook-all
king. The New York Times reports that air fryers were merely created to make crispy fries at home.
Even though their name implies it, air fryers don't actually fry foods. When it comes to
producing a crispy texture, some frozen foods don't even need added oil because they already
contain some. Keep in mind that you're also using an air fryer to eliminate any unnecessary fats and
oils, right? But if the recipe calls for it, a few tablespoons used sparingly should suffice.
Nothing good comes from overcrowding. Overcrowding, aka overfilling, an air fryer is
common when individuals are trying to cook more food in a short amount of time. Unfortunately,
adding too much to your air fryer at once causes your food to cook inconsistently, according to
America's Test Kitchen. So unless you're cooking for a bunch of people who like half crispy,
half soggy, and possibly undercooked food, use your better judgment. Overcrowding means that
you're also probably going to end up tossing what you made, ultimately resulting in waste.
Air fryers use a method of cooking known as convection,
which means that food is cooked via free flowing hot air, according to Insider. So
in order to properly work its fry-tastic magic, your kitchen countertop gizmo needs
to be able to freely circulate hot air around the pieces of food. If air can't move around,
then your snackaroos will suffer. For best results, fry your food in batches, not in bulk.
"Eat your vegetables."
Some veggies — like Brussel sprouts — fry up quite nicely in an air fryer. So does zucchini,
even though it's over 90% water. That being said, other vegetables don't fare so well.
Since these countertop ovens circulate hot air to crisp and cook ingredients,
leafy greens like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard refuse to stay put in the fryer
basket once the hot air begins to circulate and basically go flying.
Other vegetables, like broccoli, for example, become parched and brittle when cooked in an
air fryer. This also makes them more prone to burning. Essentially, the appliance turns these
types of produce into dust. If you're set on trying to air fry that gorgeous purple
broccoli you recently purchased at a farmers market, then remember to use larger pieces,
coat them with a neutral high smoke point oil, and avoid overcrowding your fryer basket.
One of the best features of air fryers is that they're basically just miniature
versions of a normal convection oven. Would you defrost frozen
food when you cook it in a standard range or toaster oven? Probably not.
The same rule applies when you're using an air fryer — there's no defrosting required.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the cooking time for frozen
proteins will need to be increased by up to 50%, but pretty much any frozen vegetable can be cooked
from its frosty form. Keep in mind that in order for your protein to be considered safe to eat,
it needs to reach a certain inner temperature. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, or the USDA,
notes that chicken should have an internal temperature of at least 165 F and seafood,
shellfish, and meaty roasts like pork and lamb should reach 145 F. Don't forget to
let the meat rest for at least three minutes to allow the juices to reabsorb into the meat.
There are some frozen foods you should simply not cook in an air fryer. Frozen steak,
frozen seafood that isn't battered, and unfortunately, even frozen hamburgers are
all just a bad idea. The latter poses a few issues, the first being with the air fryer
itself. As we've already established, no two air fryers are exactly alike,
especially when it comes to cooking temperature. While one model could cook your frozen meat patty
to perfection, another may turn it into a dried-out meaty hockey puck. Or worse — you
could end up with the complete opposite and chomp down on an undercooked burger.
"It's raw! Is it supposed to be raw?"
The Healthy reports that undercooked meat can contain salmonella and E. coli,
making it the winner when it comes to ways to contract food poisoning. Ground meat is
particularly prone to spreading these pathogens because there's
more surface area to expose the potentially contaminated meat, according to the USDA.
Keep it simple and just don't attempt to cook a frozen hamburger in your fryer.
If you're craving a juicy burger, take the time to do it right and stick to grilling,
pan-frying, or broiling it. Treat yourself — just not to a case of food poisoning.