How to Use an Air Fryer

Before you cook:

• Have a spray bottle dedicated for kitchen use: It’s recommended to be standard in every kitchen especially if you are a proud Air Fryer owner. Some foods needs little bit of oil when they are prepared to get the wanted crispiness. A lot of recipes require brushing or drizzling oil on the surface of the food you are about to prepare.Using a spray bottle to apply oil on the surface of the food on the other hand is easy and most of the times it uses way less oil that any other technique.
• Keeping your Air Fryer in a good condition: The key to a good condition of any appliance is the way the appliance is treated and the way the appliance is being kept. You should have a dedicated spot for your Air Fryer. DO NOT ever place it under water us use water to wash it directly. Always use a smooth cloth or soft paper to watch the parts that get in touch with the food. Keep and use your Air Fryer on heat resistant material and always allow for some space behind your Air Fryer to allow the heat to go out of the vent and let the machine run without overheating.
• Preheating is the key: We all want consistency when it comes to cooking. We always want to get our food just the way we like it. Well this is a tip that will ensure that you get the same result by using your Air Fryer. Turn on your air fryer and set it to the cooking temperature according to the food you are planning to cook. Leave it on for 3-4 minutes. You are not ready to place your food in your Air Fryer.
• Use the right accessories for your Air Fryer: Most of the times you need to follow the instructions provided by your manufacturer. Some manufacturer even sell accessories for your Air Fryer but generally everything oven safe will be safe to use with your Air Fryer. You have to have on your mind that you need to watch for the size when you are buying one because they should never get in contact with the heating elements. Always before you buy them you need to check if they fit in the basket.
• Use aluminum foil to make a sling: Getting the accessories out of the Air Fryer’s basket cam be really difficult after cooking. Take this as a pro tip. Make a strip out of aluminum foil and place it in the basket with the sides hanging on the sides. Fold the sides and you are ready to place the accessory in the basket. After you are done cooking you just grab the foil to the sides and lift it up and what is inside will come out.

Cooking

• Do not overload the basket: If you want your Air Fryer to last long and have consistency with the cooking, then you should not overload the basket. Have the cooking time on your mind as well. The more you add to the basket the longer it takes to prepare the food. Not to mention that you wont get the same result and the food will have the wrong texture lacking crispiness.
• Add water when you cook high fat food: Most of the meat that you cook contain fat. When you cook food that contains fat in your Air Fryer on high temperature the fat melts and causes grease to build up in the basket and in the cooking chamber. Sometimes this build starts to burn and black smoke is being released which may look alarming. To avoid this kinds of build in the basket, add some water before you start cooking. This water will trap the fat in it and cleaning the basket will be a lot easier. Also to avoid lingering food smells and grease buildup on the sides you should always clean your Air Fryer thoroughly.
• Opening the drawer during cooking won’t damage your appliance: If you need to check the state of the food you are cooking in your Air Fryer then don’t be afraid to open the drawer. This is actually a feature of the Air Fryer as a machine. If the drawer was not meant to be opened it would lock into the machine until its done. You are free to open the drawer as many times as you want to check the progress of your food you are cooking or to add ingredients that should be cooked less but are essential to a meal. Open it and see if the food is cooked just how you want it and after you close the drawer the cooking will resume.
• Shake the basket while cooking: Take this as a pro tip. Remove the basket from time to time and shake it. This helps to spread all the ingredients evenly across the basket.
• Flip the food while cooking: No matter what method you use or your cooking skill level. No matter if you use a machine or you cook over a campfire. When you bake,grill or fry you need to flip the food at least a couple of times to get it evenly cooked to have the same texture all over. This is the case while cooking in an Air Fryer. Flipping the food will ensure the perfect crispy finish and brown color every time you cook.
• Use some oil while cooking: Remember the spray bottle we suggested earlier, well this will be the perfect time to use it. Little bit of oil won’t hurt your healthy lifestyle but it will help the texture of the food. You will get the gold-brown finish everyone as well as the tastiest meal.
• Toothpicks have one major role while cooking in an Air Fryer: If you are trying to prepare a meal with long ingredients list that include small pieces of vegetables or other small ingredients then you have faced the problem of food flying around the basket caused by the strong fan blowing hot air inside the basket. This can be solved by fixating the ingredients using toothpicks to stop them from being blown.
• The fine ingredients should be mixed in with the oil: If you have to use toothpicks to fixate smaller pieces of food like vegetables and such then think about the fine ingredients like salt and spices. When you don’t mix in the ingredients with the oil then your spices and salt will most likely end up on the wall.
• First goes the slowest cooking ingredient: When you cook a simple recipe or a recipe with a couple ingredients then you place everything in the basket you turn your Air Fryer on and you flip the food midway and you have a well made dish when the cooking is done. But that is not the case with complex meals with long list of ingredients and with ingredients with different cooking times and thermal preparation. For these kinds of meals you should add the ingredients accordingly. Of course the cooking will take longer but the food has to be prepared properly to be tasty and safe to eat. Usually potatoes and meat go first since they require the longest to be considered cooked.
• High-quality oil is a must: Air Fryers are invented and marketed as healthy kitchen appliances that can cook fast,efficiently and give great tasting meals by using little oil or no oil at all. We always recommend to use little bit of oil and apply it by spraying it on the food before you cook or if needed while cooking to get the best result texture and taste wise at the end. But this only means applying very little oil only if you prefer it that way. Also use very high-quality oil that is most likely a lot healthier than any of the cheap oils. This tip also helps with the longevity of the appliance.

After you cook

• First remove the basket from the drawer: This is a mistake common to new Air Fryer users. Many of the foods you will make contain fats and combination of juices that you don’t want on your plate. If the food you cook contains low or no fat, then you can pour its juices from the bottom of the drawer on top of your meal as a sauce.
• The Air Fryer must be cleaned after every use: One of the most common troubleshooting problem is lingering smells, food contamination and black smoke out of the Air Fryer. All of these can be connected to a cleaning problem. Most vapors, fat burning and grease sticking on the side can cause any of these problems. Specially if the inside of the drawer and the food cooking area of your Air Fryer are not cleaned properly. Always use smooth towel to clean all the part that come in contact with the food. Never submerge the whole appliance under water or wash in the dishwasher. After cleaning the basket and the drawer and any accessory you use for your Air Fryer give some time for them to dry.
• Use your Air Fryer to reheat the leftovers: Usually medium temperature is good for this because you don’t wanna dry up the food further. You should experiment with this and try it on your own but the Air Fryer can certainly be up to the task. It’s proven itself as a versatile cooker for all kinds of meals.