Meta: Air fryers have become incredibly popular in recent years. Read this to find out 7 things that you can safely put in your air fryer and 4 you should avoid.
In recent years, air fryers have become all the rage, and it is easy to see why! Once you get used to your air fryer, you will quickly realize all the benefits. It’s more efficient, more effective, and often better at cooking food than your regular oven.
However, if you’re new to using an air fryer, you probably have a lot of questions about them. What can you put in there safely? How do you make sure you use the whole thing safely?
In this guide, I’ll be taking a look at 7 things that you can safely put inside your air fryer and 4 things that you should avoid.
So if you want to find out more, keep on reading! By the end of this, you will know everything you need to in order to use your air fryer safely and make some delicious meals.
7 Things You Can Safely Put in Your Air Fryer
Let’s kick this off by taking a look at 7 things that you can safely put inside your air fryer when you are using it for cooking. While using these things in most air fryers is safe, it’s always worth checking the manual for your specific air fryer just to double-check.
Always better to be safe than sorry, and you should never assume anything for the safety of everyone involved. While air fryers are great, they can also be dangerous when used incorrectly.
1. Aluminum Foil
The first thing that you can safely use in your air fryer is aluminum foil. Your air fryer is not a microwave! There are a number of different uses for this in your air fryer, but one of the most common is to protect food.
If you want to heat your food through, but don’t want it to burn through direct exposure to the element, then you can use aluminum foil to wrap it up. Simply wrap the food in aluminum foil and ensure it is tightly sealed before popping it into the air fryer.
Alternatively, you can loosely place the aluminum foil over the food – just make sure it’s secured somewhere, or else it will lift.
You can also use aluminum foil to line the bottom of your air fryer. This is something that a lot of people do to make the cleanup process easier because things can get messy.
Thankfully, this is perfectly safe to do. Just ensure that the foil is weighed down by the food on top of it before you set it to cook.
2. Ovenproof Dishes
Any ovenproof dish used in your microwave or oven is also perfectly safe for use in your air fryer. So, that Pyrex dish you have sitting around and are too afraid to use? It’s perfectly safe to use that in your air fryer!
The basket in your air fryer is perfectly designed for holding food, but it can be a pain to clean. So, if you want to make cleaning up easier or simply want to be able to fish out your food with less hassle, using an ovenproof dish is a good idea.
If you’ve had an air fryer before, you know how those baskets can be.
3. Silicone Utensils
If you are using your air fryer to prepare a complete meal, you might need to use utensils. It can be easy to assume that metal utensils will be the best option for the job, but this isn’t actually the case. Instead, you should use silicone utensils.
Metal utensils can damage the non-stick coating on the inside of your air fryer. Silicone utensils, on the other hand, won’t do any damage at all.
You can get all sorts of silicone utensils, including tongs and spatulas – and they will all be perfectly safe to put in your air fryer. These utensils are also super easy to clean, so there’s really no loss here.
4. Parchment Paper
Just like aluminum foil, parchment paper is also safe to use in your air fryer. If you are cooking anything sticky in your air fryer, then it’s a good idea to use parchment paper. Similarly, parchment paper is definitely recommended if you plan on using your air fryer for baking.
I use parchment paper in my fryer by simply cutting it up and lining the bottom of my air fryer with it. Always make sure that the food you want to cook is spread evenly across the paper. If you don’t, you will just end up with parchment paper flying around the inside of your air fryer. While not inherently dangerous, it’s bound to get very annoying very quickly
While it’s recommended that you use parchment paper with sticky foods, this isn’t the only time that you can use it in your air fryer. Use parchment paper when you are cooking anything in your air fryer to make cleaning up a lot easier.
It’s totally safe and makes life a lot easier.
5. Ceramic Bowl
Using a ceramic bowl in your air fryer is also perfectly safe. This could be useful if you don’t want to use multiple cooking appliances to make a meal.
Instead of making macaroni on your stove, you can simply put all the ingredients together in a ceramic bowl, then put them in the air fryer. The finished result is totally delicious and easy to cook too!
6. Wooden Utensils
I’ve already advocated for the use of silicone utensils in an air fryer, but if you don’t have these to hand, wooden utensils are safe, too!
Just like silicone utensils, wooden utensils won’t damage the non-stick coating inside your air fryer when you use them. They also won’t heat up as you use them to handle the food inside your air fryer.
So, they’re generally a much better and safer option than metal utensils for your air fryer. Depending on the quality of the wooden utensils, they can also be a lot cheaper, too!
7. Instant Read Thermometer
Finally, you can safely use an instant-read thermometer in your air fryer. If you’re used to baking cakes or cooking fries in your air fryer, then you might be puzzled as to why you would want to use an instant reading thermometer in your air fryer. The answer is actually pretty simple – meat!
When you’re cooking meat, it’s essential that you check the internal temperature to ensure that it’s completely cooked. Only when meat is cooked thoroughly is it considered safe to eat.
That’s where your instant-read thermometer comes in handy, and you can safely use it in your air fryer! This means that there’s basically nothing that you can’t use your air fryer to cook. Pretty handy, huh?
4 Things You Should Avoid
Now, let’s take a look at 4 things you should avoid using in your air fryer. If you’ve been using any of these in your fryer, this is your warning to stop immediately!
1. Plastic Utensils
First up, I wouldn’t recommend using plastic utensils in your air fryer (or any plastic, for that matter). Metal utensils aren’t ideal for your air fryer since they can damage the non-stick coating inside it. However, plastic utensils can do even more damage.
Plastic isn’t suitable for use at high temperatures because it melts. Your air fryer will get very hot, and there’s a very good chance that the plastic will melt. If that happens, your fryer is almost certainly done for.
2. Water
Water shouldn’t be used in your air fryer. There shouldn’t be a need for it, and steam could damage the mechanics of the air fryer very quickly. If you’re following a recipe that requires water, only use tiny amounts. That way, it shouldn’t be a danger to the device.
3. Wet Foods
Likewise, any wet foods are not suitable for cooking in your air fryer. This includes food with sauces and foods that are covered in fresh batter. The only objection to this rule is meat marinades. Why? The water content.
4. Olive Oil
Finally, olive oil isn’t suitable for use in your air fryer. This is largely due to the same reasons why water isn’t suitable. In addition to this, using olive oil in your air fryer also leaves your food with a strange aftertaste.
At the end of the day, air fryers are so popular because they don’t need oil (or at least a lot of oil) to cook food. For this reason alone, I wouldn’t recommend putting olive oil in your air fryer.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this post has been helpful to you! I know there are always a lot of questions about how to safely use an air fryer when you first get one. However, it’s a pretty simple piece of equipment to use as long as you know the dos and don’ts.
Now that you know what you can put in your air fryer and what you definitely shouldn’t, hopefully, you’re feeling a little better about it!
With that being said, good luck using your air fryer! I’m sure there are many delicious meals to come.
