Air Fryer Smells
Air fryers are a great way to cook healthier, oil-less foods, but do air fryers smell. More specifically do air fryers smell bad?
Air fryers allow you to cook anything from french fries to salmon and everything in between. They use hot air and a small amount of oil to create the same effect as deep frying, but without all the mess.
So since air fryers use convection heat to circulate warm air around your food this is what gives food an even crispy texture using only a small amount of oil or none at all. When you first turn on your air fryer, it will heat up quickly, this can make it smell like something is burning. This is particularly true during the first use. You shouldn’t worry as long as you haven’t left any plastic or packaging in the main basket. This is just the fryer heating up for the first time.
If you have an older model air fryer and you are getting a smell. It may be that the bottom of the basket isn’t fully clean or that some stuck on food is on the insert. Sometimes the fan may have displaced some food that touched the burner and this may need to be cleaned also. However, if your new modern day miracle cooking device smells like something is wrong every single time you turn on your machine, unplug it and call customer support!
The first time we cooked turkey legs in the air fryer, we couldn’t believe how good it was. The meat fell right off the bone! It was amazing—and it smelled great too! We had never had such a wonderful scent waft through our home. What’s odd about this is that we are using the air fryer for all of our food, and it makes things smell delicious; however, whenever we are cooking something (turkey, salmon or chicken) in the air fryer that does not have a strong scent to begin with (like veggies), then suddenly there is an odor coming from the inside of our house. Think things like white fish, brussels sprouts, or even heavily seasoned items. The scents that come from cooking these things can leave an unpleasant aroma. *Pro Tip* If we are cooking something with a particularly unappealing odor we will use the vent fan above the range. Make sure now to put the air fryer on a hot surface such as a burner and also remember that most air fryers vent from the rear of the appliance.
We did some digging around on Amazon and found that some of the common odor complaints are related to the smell of burning oil (likely just a basket that hasn’t been well cleaned. Some people have complained that their dishwasher smells like burnt plastic when they clean them in the dishwasher. Remember that not all models are dishwasher safe. Even if they are it is better for the longevity to hand clean.
In summary air fryers can sometimes produce odors but most of this is related to the foods being cooked in them. The easiest way to keep this to a minimum is to make sure that your kitchen is well ventilated. If you have a small kitchen in particular extra ventilation or just cracking a window during cooking can help immensely. Any other smells such as burning oil or plastic should be met with unplugging the air fryer and investigation further. Also remember that air fryer are extremely hot some up to 450F this means that you need to use an oil with a high smoke point (chart).
