6 things to avoid putting in your air fryer and why

Are you trying new and unusual foods in your air fryer? What have you tried so far? Here I want to share 6 things you should never put in your air fryer for safety and mess reasons!

The air fryer has revolutionised our cooking habits over the past few months and so many of us are taking advantage of them. They are cheap to run which keeps our energy usage low and often you can cook things really well and very quickly.

However, while it is tempting to cook almost anything with this new gadget of yours, there are some things you do need to avoid. I wanted to share with you the things to avoid putting in your air fryer and why. Hopefully, it will help you get the best possible use out of your air fryer. 

Anything with a wet batter

Battered food can be heavenly. The crispy batter and delicious meat, fish, or vegetables can be a taste revelation. But while you may think this is the perfect food to cook in your air fryer, sadly anything with a wet batter is just not advised.

This is because the batter will seep through the air fryer insert, or even puddle underneath and run off what you have chosen to coat in it. It will make one big mess and not give you that desired crispy batter you are after. 

Anything saucy

The same thing to be aware of is anything that is saucy. These are meals like stews or pasta sauces which are very liquid-heavy. In an air fryer, the air circulates, and this will cause any sauce to splatter.

It might be dangerous but it will most certainly be messy. A slow cooker will be better suited to that. 

Popcorn

Popcorn is a popular snack and you might think an air fryer would be the perfect appliance to cook it in, but the truth is, it is probably best to leave that for the microwave or the stove.

The air fryer heating element won’t get hot enough to pop the kernels so won’t create the delicious snack you would be hoping for. 

Pasta

This one is a little controversial. You could actually cook a pasta dish in the air fryer, but not necessarily the pasta.

A pasta bake, for example, is usually put together with cooked pasta and sauce. The last element is the baking part usually with cheese.

That could be done in the air fryer if the baking dish fits. It will create a lovely bubbling top and heat the food perfectly.

However, cooking pasta from dried to al dente is not advised in the air fryer. It won’t heat up enough. It is always best to boil the pasta on the stove. 

Rice

Like with pasta, cooked rice dishes could be finished off in an air fryer with no problem but cooking the raw grains is only possible on the stove with boiling water.  

Toast 

Lastly, toast is another controversial one. While it wouldn’t be advised to put a piece of bread in your air fryer and hope you get delicious toast, it is possible to make a toasted sandwich in there.

A piece of bread will just move around as the air circulates, so it won’t toast the bread as you would expect. But a sandwich could be created as it is put together with ingredients and wrapped in parchment paper to keep everything together. It will cook evenly then. 

I hope this has made you more aware of the things to avoid putting in an air fryer.