When air fryers first emerged on the scene, some home cooks wrote them off as but another gimmicky cooking device. A gadget that promised to make fried food healthy was too skillful to be truthful, right? Skeptics didn’t want to learn how to cook on the newfangled machine, and they certainly didn’t want to spend time learning how to clean an air fryer.
But once Americans tried air frying, they were hooked. So hooked, in fact, that air fryers are an $894 one thousand thousand business organization, and experts estimate that the appliances volition have a $one.four billion market place share by 2026. Then what’south all the fuss about? Air fryers are, in essence, small convection ovens that sit on your countertop and create crispy, just-similar-fried foods without the fat or hassle of frying. But just as regular cleanings are crucial for coffee makers, Keurigs, microwaves, humidifiers and pretty much whatever other apparatus, knowing how to make clean an air fryer is key to keeping information technology in working social club.
“It’southward important to keep your air fryer clean for several reasons,” says Kathy Hester, writer of
Vegan Cooking in Your Air Fryer and blogger at Healthy Slow Cooking. “If you have a toaster oven–style [air fryer], oil and food can drip onto the heating elements beneath and bake on. This could fifty-fifty crusade a small burn down if it’s not kept make clean. If you lot take a handbasket-mode air fryer, little bits of food can go defenseless nether the handbasket and burn.”
In short, it’southward fourth dimension to add air-fryer cleaning to your regular cleaning schedule. Only don’t be intimidated! We’ve put together a quick and easy cleaning guide to anybody’s favorite cooking tool.
How air fryers work
When yous deep-fry food, you’re submerging it in ultra-hot oil that gets into every nook and cranny, cooking the outsides at lightning speed and giving your nutrient a crackling-crisp chaff.
Air fryers work in a like style. They surround your food with scorching hot heat, but instead of oil, they use rapidly circulating air that delivers the same crispy chaff without the fat.
Why cleaning your air fryer is essential
Your air fryer’s high-powered fan doesn’t just blow air effectually your food, it also circulates crumbs, grease, moisture and small, lightweight bits of food. Not cleaning the machine between uses is a big air fryer mistake. $.25 of food and grease tin can become into the mechanisms and create a greasy buildup on the fan, which will slow information technology down. Over time, it will accept longer to air fry foods, and if the fan is sluggish, the finished production won’t be as crisp either.
The practiced news: While a lack of cleaning can impairment the apparatus, regular cleanings will extend its lifespan and keep information technology cooking correctly.
How often to clean your air fryer
Gently make clean your air fryer after every employ by shaking out any excess crumbs and giving whatsoever parts that came in direct contact with food a quick wash. If you exercise this every time you lot use your air fryer, it will rarely need to be deep-cleaned.
How to tell if you need to clean your air fryer
Fifty-fifty if y'all accept the best air fryer and clean it later every use, the fan and heating coils will, over time, accrue some greasy buildup, merely like a regular oven does. (Speaking of, you should be cleaning your oven regularly too.)
You’ll know it’s time to deep-clean your air fryer when its performance begins to slip. If your nutrient is taking longer to melt, doesn’t come up out every bit crispy every bit usual or isn’t cooking evenly, a thorough cleaning can make your air-fried meals tastier and even extend the apparatus’southward lifespan.
Supplies will you demand
- Sponge
- Dish lather
- Scrub brush or soft toothbrush
- Clammy cloth
- Baking soda
How to clean an air fryer
Step 1: Permit the air fryer cool
Don’t endeavor to clean a hot air fryer—let it cool down for at to the lowest degree 10 minutes to prevent adventitious burns. To speed things upward, leave your air fryer basket or door open up after you’ve finished cooking. Focus on cleaning the balance of your kitchen while you expect.
Step 2: Remove the crumbs
Hester points to crumbs as an event for basket-style air fryers—small $.25 of nutrient can get trapped below the basket and burn, and then you’ll need to clean them out regularly. Remove the handbasket bedchamber and empty it into the garbage. Go on in mind: It’southward alright for small crumbs to go down the garbage disposal, simply larger pieces of food belong on the trash can.
If you have a toaster-oven-style air fryer, pull out the crumb-catching tray on the bottom, milk shake information technology off over the sink or trash tin, and so use a brush to remove any errant crumbs that stick to the door or hinges.
Step iii: Clean the basket, tray and/or pan
Don’t fret about knowing how to clean the air fryer basket—it tin exist washed simply like whatever other dish, with soap and warm water. If you don’t feel similar washing it by hand (and we don’t blame yous), Hester has good news: “Most removable baskets tin can get into the top rack of the dishwasher, to brand cleaning piece of cake,” she says.
While virtually air fryers accept pieces that are dishwasher safe, the smartest motility is to always check the didactics transmission for your specific model kickoff, simply to be sure.
Food crusted onto the basket or pan? Before you toss them in the dishwasher, soak the parts in hot soapy water for 20 to 30 minutes. Then utilize a scrub brush to remove the softened gunk.
Footstep 4: Clean the interior
One time y'all have removed the basket, tray and pan, you lot tin can clean the inside of the air fryer. Simply run a damp kitchen sponge with a little bit of dish soap over the entire interior and wipe it dry.
How to deep-clean an air fryer
Pace i: Unplug the machine
Safety first! As is the case when cleaning all small appliances, brand sure your air fryer is unplugged before you begin.
Step ii: Wipe down the outside
Since there’s very little oil involved in air frying, in that location won’t be much in the way of greasy residue after each apply, which means you don’t need to clean the outside of the air fryer as frequently. Apply a damp fabric to wipe down the exterior every couple of uses.
Footstep 3: Remove buildup
If y'all notice any nutrient particles that take cooked onto the within of the air fryer or patches of baked-on grease, cover them with an easy-to-make baking soda paste: Combine a half cup of blistering soda with a few tablespoons of water. Gently utilise a nonabrasive scrub brush or soft toothbrush to thoroughly scrub the interior of the air fryer.
Never utilize metal utensils to remove crumbs or caked-on food from the machine. They can damage the nonstick coating and prevent your air fryer from working properly.
Step 4: Wipe down the interior
Once you’ve scrubbed the inside of the air fryer, give it a skillful wipe-downward with a moisture fabric. Wipe the appliance dry, so put the newly cleaned handbasket, tray or pan dorsum. And just like that, you’re good to become.
Now that you know how to clean an air fryer, information technology’s time for your next cleaning task. (What, y'all thought you were washed?) How about cleaning that refrigerator while you’re in the kitchen?
Sources:
- Allied Market Research: “Air Fryer Market by End User (Residential and Commercial) and Sales Channel (Hypermarket & Supermarket, Specialty Shop and Online sales Channel): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019–2026”
- Kathy Hester, author of
Vegan Cooking in Your Air Fryer
and blogger at Healthy Slow Cooking
