Kitchen Hints and Tips
Air Fryer
The air fryer isn’t just for frying; it’s great for other healthy cooking methods like baking, roasting and grilling, too.
- You need to spritz meat, French fries, etc. with just a little bit of oil before air frying. Do NOT use the canned sprays. Buy a cheap spray bottle at your local dollar store. Put whatever cooking oil you normally use in it, and spritz meat before cooking.
- Pre-heat air fryer before adding your food. Turn the air fryer on to the temperature that you need and set the timer for 2 or 3 minutes. When the timer goes off, the air fryer has pre-heated and is ready for food.
- Give foods plenty of space so that the air can circulate effectively; that’s what gives you crispy results.
- Lightly spray foods with cooking spray or add just a bit of oil to ensure they don’t stick to the basket. Invest in a kitchen spray bottle. Spraying oil on the food is easier than drizzling or brushing, and allows you to use less oil overall. There are aerosol agents in cans that can break down the non-stick surface on the air fryer basket. If you want to spray foods directly in the basket, invest in a hand-pumped kitchen spray bottle.
- Pat foods dry before cooking (if they are marinated, for example) to avoid splattering and excess smoke. Similarly, when cooking high-fat foods like chicken wings, make sure to empty the fat from the bottom of the machine periodically.
- Use the proper breading technique. It is important to coat foods with flour first, then egg and then the breadcrumbs. Be careful about the bread crumbs and press them onto the food with your hands, otherwise they will blow off in the air fryer.
- Add water to the air fryer drawer when cooking fatty foods. Adding water to the drawer underneath the basket helps prevent grease from getting too hot and smoking. Do this when cooking bacon, sausage, even burgers if they are particularly fatty.
- Use toothpicks to hold foods down. Every once in a while, the fan from the air fryer will pick up light foods and blow them around. So, secure foods (like the top slice of bread on a sandwich) with toothpicks.
- Don’t overcrowd the basket. It’s tempting to try to cook more at one time, but over-crowding the basket will prevent foods from crisping and browning evenly and take more time over all.
- Be sure to open the air fryer and shake foods around as they “fry” in the machine’s basket—smaller foods like French fries and chips can compress. For best results, rotate them every 5-10 minutes
- Open the air fryer as often as you like to check for doneness. You can open that drawer as often as you like (within reason) to check to see how the cooking process is coming along. This will not interrupt the timing of most air fryers – the fryer will either continue heating and timing as you pull the basket out, or pick up where it left off when you return the basket to the fryer.
- Use the air fryer to dry itself. After washing the air fryer basket and drawer, just pop them back into the air fryer and turn it on for 2 or 3 minutes. That dries both parts better than any drying towel.
