While air frying is a great way to cook healthy wholesome foods, re-heat foods or cook a quick dinner, it helps to learn what not to do. Here’s our air fryer safety tips list and suggestions for safe air frying and Do’s and Dont’s.

Air Fryer Safety Tips Mistakes to Avoid Do's and Dont's on a counter top

Air Fryer Safety Tips: Do’s and Dont’s

  1. DO read the manual that came with your air fryer. There’s valuable information about safety and how to use it property. There might even be a hotline number and social media accounts listed on those manuals for you to ask for help. We have our safety tips below based on our own experiences, but make sure to rely on your manual and the professionals that made your air fryer.
  2. Don’t leave your air fryer plugged-in when not in use. Repeat: UN-PLUG your air fryer when it’s not being used. It’s a safe habit to practice because you never know if a button was accidentally bumped on your air fryer when you didn’t mean to.
  3. Don’t burn yourself or your countertops. There are internal and external components of the air fryer which get super hot during cooking. It’s easy to burn yourself so make sure to not touch any of those hot elements with your bare hands. Do use a silicone glove or oven safe mitts. Use a silicone trivet or heat safe board/mat to place hot air fryer baskets and lids on.
  4. Don’t cook in a non-ventilated area or a small closed off corner. Place your air fryer near vent hoods and turn vent hoods on. Pull the air fryer away from the the wall and open windows if necessary.
  5. Don’t let the air fryer hot air ventilation openings blow into electrical outlets. You need to leave space around the air fryer for the vent to circulate. This is safe air frying.
    air fryer safety tips for safe air frying  Don’t
    air fryer safety tips for safe air frying  Don’t
    air fryer safety tips for safe air frying  Do
  6. Don’t put the air fryer on the stove. You’ll might accidentally turn on the stove and melt your air fryer and cause a fire.
  7. Don’t use use perforated parchment paper at high heat without having food over it. If you don’t have enough food weighing down the parchment paper, it will fly around when the hot air circulates and cover the food. This will make the food cook unevenly. Also, the parchment might burn if it’s flying around and hitting the hot heating element.
    cookies on warped parchment for safe air frying and air fryer safety tips Don’t
    chicken on parchment for safe air frying and air fryer safety tips  Do
  8. Don’t use cooking sprays with propellants, aerosol sprays or chemical based non-stick sprays. They might start to break down the coating on many non-stick baskets & trays. Do invest a few dollars in a quality oil spray or pump and use a quality high flash point oil. We discuss all this here on: Best Oil and Sprays for Air Fryers. 
  9. Don’t use wet batters or wet coatings. The coating will splatter everywhere from the circulating fan. Do use a bread crumb crust by dredging food in flour, raw beaten egg, then bread crumbs. Then liberally spray oil on the bread crumbs so that they are weighed down on the food, keeping it from flying around. If dry bread crumbs hit the heating element this can cause smoking. You must use a decent spray of oil and coat all the dry breading spots so it can cook crispy. Otherwise it often cooks dry and hard. Here’s more info about smoking air fryers. 
  10. Don’t over-crowd the air fryer basket. The food won’t cook evenly and the air doesn’t get a chance to circulate properly. Do try to keep the food in a single layer during air frying.
  11. Don’t forget to check on the food so it doesn’t burn. Not all air fryers cook the same. Some cook hotter, some cook slower, some have super powerful fans, others just a moderate fan strength. Do use a timer to remind you to flip, shake or check on the food. 
  12. Don’t season the food with salt while it’s in the air fryer. Dry salt laying on non-stick interiors may cause the basket coating to break down and peel. Do season the food first in a bowl or cutting board, then add it to the air fryer. Or season after cooking.
  13. Do use accessories and inserts that are made for your air fryer. These are convenient items are fit the air fryer and maximize cooking space.
  14. Don’t clean the racks or air fryer basket with harsh metal scouring pads. For safe cleaning, soak the dirty racks and baskets in hot soapy water for about 20 minutes. The crusted food should wipe off easily.
    dirty basking in soapy water for safe air frying and air fryer safety tips  Do
    bakset soaking in soapy water for safe air frying and safety tips  Do
  15. Again, read your air fryer manufacturers manual! 
  16. Did we miss anything? Please let us know in the comments below so we can all learn from one another. Thank you!

Read the rest of our Air Frying 101 Guides Here.

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