An air fryer is a wonderful appliance. Not only can it cook food quickly the way you want, but it can also fry foods without grease.
It blows hot air on the food, and after some time, you are ready to eat. Like an oven, it can also bake and roast your food; however, unlike an oven, its heating elements are at its top.
A very powerful fan accompanies these heating elements. When the heating elements are hot, the fan blows the hot air o to the food.
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How To Clean An Air Fryer – 5 Easy Steps
Cleaning your air fryer requires patience and dedication from you.
This is because it is something you have to do very often. It is best to clean your fryer after every use.
And you must endeavor to clean it well to remove the thin layer of grease that forms after every cooking.
To clean your air fryer, you have first to gather supplies. Some necessary tools you will need include:
- A non-abrasive sponge. Using this type of sponge protects the non-stick coating of your fryer.
- Microfiber towels or cloths
- A soft bristle scrub brush
- Dish soap
- Cleaning solutions. Examples are baking soda and vinegar mixed with water.
To clean your air fryer, you should:
1. Allow the fryer to cool down
You should allow the air fryer to cool down for about half an hour before you begin the cleaning procedure.
It is also crucial that you unplug the appliance from electricity before you start cleaning. If not, you risk damaging the appliance through a short circuit or giving yourself an electric shock.
After you have allowed the air fryer to cool down, you can then bring out all the removable parts for cleaning.
You have to be extremely careful, so you do not damage any part of the fryer while cleaning it.
2. Clean the removable parts of the fryer
Soak the basket, tray, and pan in hot soapy water for about 10 minutes.
This will help to remove all the caked grease or charred pieces of food on them. Use a non-abrasive sponge to wash them thoroughly.
However, you have to be very careful not to allow the non-stick coating of the fryer to be damaged.
If you encounter some stubborn particles, you can use baking soda or vinegar on them. They should come off easily with no problems.
Vinegar is an excellent choice of degreaser for this task. Mix these materials with water. For baking powder, you should form a thick paste and rub it on the stained surface. Wipe it clean after a while.
As for vinegar, you should spray the solution onto the surface and let it soak a bit. Wipe the surface clean after a while.
Please, ensure that you use a soft brush for this task.
3. Clean the interior of the fryer
Clean the inside parts of your air fryer with a damp microfiber cloth or a non-abrasive sponge.
Add a little bit of soap to the cloth or sponge. You should wipe off everything cleanly with another damp cloth.
You should also clean the heating element while you are at it.
4. Clean the exterior parts of the fryer
Use a damp cloth to clean the outside parts of the fryer. Remember to wipe away any soap residue after cleaning. You can polish it further with a paper towel.
5. Reassemble your fryer
Before you reassemble it, you should make sure that there is no water residue on any part of the fryer.
Make sure to dry every part of it completely. After you have done so, you can reassemble your air fryer for another use.
Air Fryer Cleaning Solutions
There are a lot of cleaning solutions that you can utilize to clean your air fryer. However, you must ensure to avoid abrasive cleaners.
These cleaners, like really strong brushes or steel wool, can scratch the non-stick coating of your air fryer, even if you use mild vinegar for it.
Some solutions you can use are:
1. Vinegar and water
Vinegar is a cleaning solution that you can use anywhere in your kitchen, including inside your air fryer.
When you create a solution of water and vinegar, you will leave any spot spotless. The best solution is 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar.
This means that if you use one cup of water, you will use 1/3 cup of vinegar.
It will be best if you use a spray bottle for this cleaning process.
Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and spray it over the areas you want to clean in your fryer. If you do that, it makes it very easy to clean it off.
2. Baking soda
Some stains might refuse to go off—they are that stubborn. However, a baking soda paste can help you remove them.
Mix baking soda and water to a thick paste. Spread this paste on the stuck-on spots in your air fryer and let it absorb the paste.
After a while, the stains should come out very easily.
3. Dish Soap
Your dish soap can also clean up some stains off your air fryer basket.
Though it might not be able to clean up some really tough stains, it could wipe a bit off the surface.
Put a few drops of concentrated soap on your sponge, and then soak it in water. Use this wet sponge to wipe the air fryer.
But remember to dry the fryer off before you use it.
4. All-purpose cleaners
You can use all-purpose cleaners both on the exterior and interior of your air fryer.
Spray every part of the fryer with the cleaner, then wipe it down with a cloth.
Make sure to use a dry cloth to wipe it off, drying it completely.
Is air-fried food healthy?
The taste and texture of food cooked using an air fryer are the same as deep-fried food. It is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
However, since you only need to use a small amount of oil for cooking with an air fryer, it is healthier than deep-fried food. It is also better to use 1-2 tablespoons of plant-based oil with seasoning.
You can also use it for cooking vegetables quickly and easily, which is a good thing.
This is because vegetables are good diets for your health, and any appliance that can help you eat more of them is one you must have.
Continuous intake of vegetables helps to reduce weight, reduces the risk of chronic diseases, and improves a person’s lifespan.
How often should I clean my air fryer?
It would be best if you cleaned your air fryer after every use. Doing this will help you to remove charred food and debris buildup in the basket.
However, it is not every part of it that requires such cleaning discipline. You can take care of some parts occasionally. The parts of your fryer that you must clean after every use include the basket, tray, and pan.
You can put them in the dishwasher, that is, if the model of your air fryer supports it. If not, you can wash them by hand.
It is also a great idea to clean the interior of your air fryer every time you use it. Since it uses small amounts of oil, you might not need to be that dedicated to the exterior of your fryer.
However, before you dismantle or clean any part of your fryer, make sure to unplug it from the electricity source. A damp cloth will suffice as a cleaning tool.
What you should avoid doing while cleaning your air fryer
Whenever you clean your fryer, you might be tempted to remove pieces of food stuck in the basket with utensils.
However, you should try to resist the temptation to do that. This is because an air fryer is coated with a non-stick coating. When you use your utensils to remove stuck-on food, you are prone to scrape off this coating.
Continuous use of utensils, steel wool, metal sponges, or scrubbed will wear away this coating.
You should also avoid using disinfectants on your air fryer. Disinfectants contain chemicals that should not be ingested.
Whenever you clean the surface of your fryer with a disinfectant, you poison the surface and foods that would later come on it.
If you decide to use a sanitizing solution for your cleaning, make sure to confirm for safety.
If you cannot find any sign that it has been approved for food-contact surfaces, you will do well to avoid it.
Some sanitizers you can use include chlorine and iodine.
A dishwasher is a perfect means of cleaning your air fryer. However, if your air fryer is not dishwasher heat-proof, you might end up destroying them.
Therefore, before you pop your air fryer tray, basket, and pan into the dishwater, make sure to confirm from the manual that they can hold their own against the intense heat of a dishwasher.
Also, you should never clean your air fryer while it is plugged into electricity. If you do so, you may submerge the main unit in water.
This can short-circuit the air fryer or shock you in the process. Always unplug your air fryer before you take it through its routine cleaning.
Difference between an Air fryer and a Deep fryer?
With air dryers, your food will cook at a very hot temperature with a high-powered fan as a conduit.
Deep fryers, on the other hand, cook your food in some amounts of oil that have been heated up. Both of them cook at a fast rate; however, air fryers require no preheating time.
For deep fryers, you will need about 10 minutes of preheating time so that the food can cook well.
Since deep fryers use up a lot of oil, your food will absorb much grease while cooking.
This is in contrast to air fryers that require no oil to cook. If you would use any amount of oil, it will be little.
With both fryers, however, your food would come out crisp and juicy. They would not taste the same, though, because you need batter for cooking with deep fryers.
It is the batter that will give your food a different taste in contrast to when you use an air fryer. Batter foods do not do well in an air fryer, but with deep fryers, you’ve got yourself the meal of the day.
| Air fryers | Deep fryers |
| It needs no preheating time | Takes about 10 minutes to preheat before it can cook |
| It needs little to no oil for its cooking process | A deep fryer requires oil for its cooking process |
| It uses a high-powered fan as a conduit with some heating elements. The fan blows hot air from the heating element to cook. | It is the oil that cooks the food. The oil needs to be hot before cooking. Hence the preheat time. |
| Your food will come out crisp and juicy. | Your food will come out crisp and juicy |
| It does not do well with batter foods. | It is excellent for batter foods. |
Even though air fryers require no grease, there is still a substantial amount of grease and bits of food that will be left in the air fryer basket.
When these accumulate, it can be a real pain to clean them off.
Conclusion
Air fryers are cool appliances to have in the kitchen. However, you must deal carefully while using them.