Air Fryer Tips and Tricks

Air fryer tips and tricks are what it’s all about today. If you haven’t noticed – which is highly unlikely – I love my air fryer. I will cook any and everything possible in it. It makes fried foods crispy and so much healthier. It makes baked goods so delicious with a bit of crispness on the outside. Basically, air fryers just make everything better, but not everyone has used one.

I realized this and I thought it would be nice for my readers to get a good understanding of air fryers, what they can do and some great tips and tricks, as well. And here we are. LOL. So let’s take a look at the ever-amazing air fryer.

All About Air Fryers

Air fryers are everywhere and in all different models and sizes. From small ones to larger models that actually allow you to cook entire meals at once and everything in between, there’s an air fryer to suit every lifestyle. However, they all boil down to cooking the same way, which is where we’re going to start.

How Air Fryers Cook

Despite their name, air fryers don’t actually fry food. In reality, these appliances are more like small convection ovens than frying appliances. They use hot, circulating air to cook evenly and create a crispy outer later on battered foods and a nice texture on baked goods. Even simple vegetable dishes that involve nothing more than a little seasoning come out amazingly well in the air fryer thanks to its impressive uniformity of heat which leads to fast, uniform cooking.

Air Frying is Healthier than Pan or Deep Frying

Air frying is healthier by far than pan or deep frying. Instead of a pan full of oil or a deep fryer full of even more oil, you only need a scant amount to make crispy fries, chicken, fish, and more. Of course, like oven-fried food, air-fried food has a deep fried-adjacent flavor. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s still tasty.

Preheating the Air Fryer

Air fryers do have to be preheated, but it’s an incredibly quick process. Unlike ovens which can take upwards of 15 minutes to preheat, depending on how hot you need it, air fryers preheat in next to no time.

That being said, while I am a firm believer in preheating the air fryer, I have friends who simply put in their food and skip the preheating process. They swear it makes no difference, but I just like mine preheated.

Air Fryer Capacity

A standard air fryer can hold enough food for between 2 and 4 servings, although there are some models that are larger. That means that if you’re making large amounts of something, you’ll have to cook it in batches. If you subscribe to the “no preheating” idea, be sure to check the food in your second batch, and it will most likely cook faster since the air fryer is already heated up.

Air Fryer Attachments – Convenient but not Required

Some air fryers come with attachments like racks and pans and some have them available for purchase as separate items. While these extra bells and whistles can and do make cooking easier at times, you absolutely don’t have to go out and buy them.

Cleaning the Air Fryer

Most of the removable parts of the air fryer like the drawer and basket of most models are dishwasher safe. This makes total sense because the air fryer was designed to be convenient. That being said always check your user manual first. You never know. You might own a brand that doesn’t have dishwasher safe parts – although it’s highly unlikely.

To clean the interior of your air fryer – which should be done every so often – simply use mild detergent and a damp sponge. Damp, not wet. And of course, don’t try this with a hot air fryer. After you’ve cleaned the interior of your air fryer, simply run it to dry it out. Done.

General Air Fryer Tips and Tricks for Cooking

Although I often call the air fryer a magical appliance, it isn’t. Too bad, isn’t it? You do have to do a few things to make sure that your food comes out exactly as you either imagined it or the recipe said it would be. So while we’re talking about how air fryers cook, let’s look at some air fryer tips and tricks for that cooking.

Plenty of Room

Air fryers cook using hot, circulating air. The key word here is “circulating”. If you pack your air fryer, there isn’t enough room for that hot air to circulate. An overstuffed air fryer will steam the food rather than browning or crisping it, the kiss of death if you’re making a “fried” recipe.

How to Encourage Browning

And speaking of browning, here’s a tip. Toss your food with a scant amount of oil – just enough to lightly coat it. Pat your food – especially raw meat – dry with a paper towel and then add enough olive oil to achieve a light coat. Olive oil is a healthy fat, and the moisture will allow the food to brown or crisp up nicely. You’ll find that almost every air fryer recipe will help you out by giving you specified amounts of oil to use for any given recipe.

You can also use honey or other sugary glaze brushed on to encourage browning. Sugar browns up incredibly well.

Extra Crunchy Breading

To get an extra crunchy breading, especially if you’re using panko, simply mix them with a little oil and pretoast them in the microwave. You’ll end up with an extra crispy, extra delicious coating.

Rotate Your Food

One of the most important things to remember with these air fryer tips and tricks is that air fryers are amazing, but they aren’t 100% auto-pilot machines. You still have to do a little bit of work when cooking. Emphasis on “little”. One thing to remember is that although air fryers cook by circulating hot air, that heat source for that air is at the top of the fryer. That means that you’ll need to rotate your food about halfway through cooking.

Simply flip your meats or pour your veggies, fries, and other smaller foods into a bowl, give them a quick toss, and then it’s back into the air fryer.

The Lincoln Log Kebab Method

When cooking kebabs, try stacking them Lincoln Log style. This helps improve airflow across all your kebabs to ensure the best cooking and browning.

Keeping Your Food From Sticking

There are two ways to ensure that foods that are likely to stick – breaded meats or fish filets – don’t. The first is spraying the basket lightly with cooking spray. The second is using foil. Foil is nice for certain foods because it keeps them from sticking and makes cleanup super easy.

Smoke or Odd Smells

There’s usually one major answer to smoke or weird smells coming out of your air fryer… You need to clean it! Excessive smoke or a burning smell – along with food that isn’t burnt at all – is a sure sign that your air fryer is overdue for a cleaning.

Of course, if you check your air fryer, and it is clean, you probably should have it looked at before using it again. Learn from “This is Us”, folks!

Advanced Air Fryer Tips and Tricks

I call these advanced air fryer tips and tricks, but it might be more accurate to say specific tips. The following air fryer tips and tricks will help you cook up steaks, chops, fish, and chicken to absolute perfection even if you aren’t using a recipe.

Steaks and Pork

When cooking large steaks or pork tenderloins, cut them into smaller pieces. You can then put more meat into your air fryer while still allowing the air to circulate freely and cook up your beef and pork so nicely.

Adding a rub is also a great way to boost both the look and the flavor of your steaks and chops. A rub with a nice kick of flavor will add color to the outside of your meat, extra flavor, and extra juiciness. My general rule of thumb is to almost always use a rub when I cook beef or pork in the air fryer.

Fish and Seafood

Of course, we all love how fast air fryers cook with that intensely hot circulating air, but it’s not always advisable to crank up the heat. When cooking fish, it’s far better to dial it back a bet and let the fish cook longer over a lower heat. This allows their tinder protein to cook more slowly, making for fish that is fully cooked and with a browner crust.

To ensure that your fish doesn’t stick to your air fryer basket, I prefer to use foil rather than simply spraying the basket with non-stick spray. I’ve found that even with the spray, fish can still stick.

When it comes to smaller varieties of shellfish like scallops, oysters, mussels, and clams, skewers are your best friend. They make it easy to get the meat in and out of the air fryer.

Chicken

Although air fryers cook by circulating hot air, that heat source comes from above. Because of this, you should always cook your chicken with the skin side up. This ensures skin that is far more crispy and delicious.

For thick bone-in chicken breasts, begin cooking skin side down and then flip it skin side up about halfway through. Chicken thighs and split cornish hens should be cooked skin side up from the start to ensure a lovely browned skin that is super crispy and full of flavor.

Finally, when cooking chicken thighs that are on the fatty side or drumsticks, poke a few holes in the skin with a skewer to help render the fat. This will allow the chicken to self-baste and help brown the skin more evenly.

Complete Meals

You can cook complete meals in your air fryer! I’ll be you didn’t know that. All you have to do is layer.

Place your vegetables at the bottom and then top with your chosen protein. The meat will come out tender and juicy, and thanks to the juices being able to drip down over the veggies, they’ll come out wonderfully flavored and perfectly cooked, as well.

Give These Air Fryer Tips and Tricks a Try

Now that you know how to use an air fryer, it’s time to put these air fryer tips and tricks to good use. Find one of my many air fryer recipes on the site to start. I have listed some of our favorites below.

After you’ve gotten comfortable with your air fryer, it will be time to venture out on your own, using your own creativity and knowledge of how air fryers work to create your own delicious recipes!

There’s nothing like cooking with an air fryer so I do hope you’ll give it a shot.

Air Fryer Crispy Roasted Little Mini Baby Potatoes

Easy Air Fryer Crispy Roasted Little Mini Baby Potatoes recipe creates the best small baby potatoes in an air fryer EVER for breakfast or dinner! Are you ready to learn how to make potatoes in the air fryer? Keep reading!

Whether you call these mini, small, baby or little potatoes, and no matter what, if you’re a potato lover I posit it’s impossible to be disappointed with these crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, tiny bundles of joy.

Yep. I just referred to these amazing air fried potatoes as bundles of joy. These air fryer baby potatoes are such a delight! Just wait until you try them. As far as little potato recipes go, this one is a definite keeper. You’ll make these air fryer roasted potatoes a regular item for dinner, and breakfast too.

Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Onion Rings

Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Onion Rings? Is this really real life? This is certain to be your new favorite way to cook up onion rings in an air fryer. They’re not only perfectly crunchy but they’re wrapped with delicious bacon as well!

Pizza Bagels in Air Fryer

Pizza bagels in air fryer are the best of two delicious worlds – pizza and bagels! This delicious pizza bagels recipe features delicious sauce, cheese, and mini pepperoni topping bagels that have been sliced in half.

If you’re looking for the ultimate pizza treat, this is it!

Air Fryer Bagels – Plain and Everything

Air fryer bagels are the best of two worlds. This air fryer bagel recipe gives you all the flavor of traditional bagels with a crispy outer layer that is just so delicious. Choose between air fryer everything bagels or plain air fryer bagels. You’ll find both here in this post!

Air Fryer S’mores

Air fryer s’mores have all the classic flavor we love about traditional s’mores with an air fried twist. These air fryer smores are ooey, gooey, and so delicious. They’re also super easy to make. It’s a winner all the way around!

In no time at all, you’ll be enjoying gooey s’mores without having to even light a fire!

Fast Air Fryer Shredded Chicken Tacos

Fast Air Fryer Shredded Chicken Tacos is the perfect chicken taco recipe. It’s flavorful and simple to make. These Air Fryer Chicken tacos cook quickly and make for an excellent weeknight dinner when you are in a hurry to get food on the table quickly.

We love Mexican food for dinner in our house. And, you can’t get any easier than air fryer Mexican recipes. I have to admit that I’ve broken not one but two different air fryers in the past four years. That’s how much I use and love my air fryers. Not only are air fryers easy to use, they also cook quickly and taste great.

How to Make Pasta Chips in Air Fryer, Deep fried, Baked

Pasta Chips are a fun appetizer that the family will lose their minds over. We love to dip these crispy little morsels into our favorite dips. It doesn’t matter if I make air fryer pasta chips, fried pasta chips or even baked pasta chips. We love them all just the same.

This crunchy snack combines two of my favorite foods: pasta and chips. I don’t know about you, but I could sit down and eat an entire bag of chips on my own. These crispy snacks really hit the spot when I am craving a salty snack.

Air Fryer Chocolate Donut Holes

Air Fryer Chocolate Donut Holes are soft, cakey bite-sized treats that take less than 20 minutes to make, and they turn out delectable. These soft and chewy chocolate treats make for a fantastic breakfast or even a dessert after dinner.

My family has always been fans of sweets for breakfast. Donuts are a family favorite in our household. I am always looking for a new twist on a breakfast staple to bring a little excitement to the breakfast table.

Air Fryer Pizookie

This Air Fryer Pizookie is the perfect combination of cookie flavor with a pizza look. Each bite is perfectly portioned with loads of chocolate flavor! This air fryer pizookie recipe is sure to add joy to your home.

Air fryer pizookies are served warm and gooey in small pie tins or ramekins and topped with ice cream and so much more.

Air fryer Snickers

Air fryer Snickers are just what the name says – air fried Snickers. Pieces of our favorite chocolate, caramel, and peanut candy bar is wrapped in crescent roll dough and then air fried to delicious, golden perfection. It’s the perfect treat to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth.

Air fryer Snickers feature a center of melty chocolate goodness surrounded by crescent dough. It doesn’t get better than air fried Snickers and yes, Mars Bars taste great too!

How to Cook Hamburgers in Air Fryer

How to Cook Hamburgers in Air Fryer recipe shows how easy cooking hamburger patties in your air fryer is. Air Fryer Hamburgers are delicious! Just you wait and see.

This is one of the easiest air fryer hamburger recipes you’ll ever make, and when we’re all done, you’ll know exactly how to cook hamburgers in the air fryer!

Apple Dumplings with Caramel – Easy Air Fryer Recipe

Apple Dumplings are sweet apple pie like desserts that are baked right in your air fryer. This crescent roll apple dumplings recipe is so delicious that your family and friends will be asking you to make these tasty morsels over and over. Even better is that this apple dumplings recipe takes less than 30 minutes to complete.

When I was growing up, my mom was a huge fan of attending craft fairs. One of her first stops was at the food trucks that sold the fried apple dumplings.

Air Fryer Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada Sauce

Air fryer coconut shrimp has everything we love about fried shrimp without everything we don’t love about frying. Crispy and perfectly cooked, this spicy air fryer shrimp with pina colada sauce is a beach-side feast no matter where you are.

Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenderloins

Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders are ready in under 25 minutes. You can never go wrong with a recipe that is crispy and ready in less than a half-hour. Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenderloins are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Your family will crave these chicken tenders.

Just you wait and see.

Air Fryer Monster Cookies – Chocolate Chips and More!

These air fryer monster cookies are packed with mix-ins, and so good! Try these air fryer chocolate chip cookies today and get ready to be wowed!

Air fryer monster cookies. The name says it all! These air fryer cookies are absolutely exploding with chocolate candies, and they are huge. They’re crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and an absolute dream from the first bite to the last.

Air Fryer Biscuit Donuts

Delicious air fryer biscuit donuts are always a hit. This air fryer donuts from biscuits recipe is so easy you’ll make them over and over again.

Air fryer biscuit donuts will be your new favorite treat once you try this recipe. This recipe creates delicious, tender, and sweet donuts that everyone in the family will love.

Air fryer biscuit donuts are perfect for a snack or a quick breakfast at any time of the day or night!

Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

Air fryer fried chicken thighs are easy and delicious. These air fried boneless chicken thighs are breaded perfectly for any day of the week. Not only is this air fryer boneless chicken thighs recipe super simple, but it’s packed full of amazing flavor as well!

We eat a ton of chicken in our house but let’s be truthful with one another and admit that eating the same dish over and over can get quite boring. I love how versatile chicken can be but sometimes I just get tired of thinking of new ways to try and cook it.

Air Fryer Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Bacon

Air fryer grilled cheese with avocado and bacon is the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich. This bacon avocado grilled cheese sandwich is rich and cheesy, and the bread is so crunchy!

With this easy recipe you’ll know how to make the best air fried grilled cheese or grilled cheese in an air fryer. You’ll be able to make the best bacon grilled cheese, avocado grilled cheese or bacon avocado grilled cheese sandwich!

All of them and so much more.

Air Fryer French Toast Sticks

Air Fryer French Toast Sticks are crunchy and sweet and so easy to make in your air fryer. When you are looking for a quick breakfast on a busy morning, I suggest giving these fresh toast sticks in the air fryer a try.

Not only are french toast sticks delicious, but they take less than 20 minutes, are easy and quick to make, and freezer friendly too. I don’t know about you, but as a busy mom, I am always looking for a way to have breakfast ready to go on the run that will still taste like a freshly made breakfast. These french toast sticks in the air fryer are just what I was looking for.

Air Fryer Pumpkin Bagels

These pumpkin bagels taste amazing. Air fried pumpkin spice bagels are easy and delicious, making this the perfect pumpkin pie bagel recipe. Air fryer pumpkin bagels have the great flavor we love in our pumpkin spice bagels, but with an extra crispness from the air fryer.

This pumpkin pie bagel recipe is so deserving of your time. They’re fantastic!

Air Fryer Apple Danish – Good and Easy!

Air fryer apple danish gives you all the crispness of a fried dessert without all the unhealthy oil. This Air fried danish is so sweet and so good. it’s a crispy on the outside, tender in the middle air fried danish that everyone in the family will love.

Perfect for breakfast and as a sweet afternoon treat, you can’t go wrong with making a simple danish at home. I am not even kidding.

Air Fryer Pizza Grilled Cheese

Air fryer pizza grilled cheese is the best of two of our favorite foods—grilled cheese and pizza! This air fryer grilled cheese sandwich combines pepperoni, cheese, and sauce with a crispy grilled cheese bread for an absolutely heavenly sandwich like nothing you’ve ever had before.

Air Fryer Chicken Tenders – So Easy So Good

These air fryer chicken tenders are so good and so easy to make! Try these air fryer chicken strips today. They’re always a crowd-pleaser.

Air fryer chicken tenders give us all the flavor and crunch of fried chicken with a fraction of the oil and calories. These air fryer chicken strips are crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and oh, so good.

They’re the perfect lunch, dinner, or after school snack with a guilty-pleasure flavor that is decidedly guilt-free.

Air Fried Oreos – All the Flavor with Less Oil

Air fried Oreos give us that classic deep-fried flavor without all the splattery mess. A delicious Oreo cookie is wrapped up in a crescent roll dough and then fried in the air fryer to crispy, golden perfection.

Then, the whole thing is coated in powdered sugar and served with maple syrup for dipping. It’s a decadently sweet treat that everyone will love.

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich – air fryer and skillet

This Buffalo Chicken grilled cheese brings the flavors of my favorite things and wraps them into one tasty sandwich. I am obsessed with anything buffalo chicken. I love wings, chicken tenders, casseroles, you name it, and I’m excited about it. What better way to feed my obsession than to create this gooey cheesy sandwich that is filled with spicy buffalo chicken. This grilled cheese is the best you will ever have.

This tasty sandwich combines two of life’s most delicious comfort foods and turns them into one amazingly yummy sandwich. After one bite of this cheesy sandwich, you will be craving this sandwich all the time.