The air fryer has become the must-have kitchen gadget. They use hot air rather than hot oil to cook foods, offering a quick and healthy alternative to deep-fat fryers. However, while the appliance can be used to cook a number of foods — including fries, pizza and chicken — there are other products that are not suitable for cooking in an air fryer. That’s because they cause a lot more mess than necessary, and some even pose a safety risk. The best foods for cooking in the air fryer include chicken, vegetables, potatoes, fish, pizza, and yes……cookies! The foods you should avoid cooking in an air fryer are listed below.
Cooking popcorn in your air fryer might not work because most air fryers don’t reach a high enough temperature to pop the kernels. The good old microwave will do a much better job.
You can’t use an air fryer to cook pasta, since you need a pot of boiling water. While cooking pasta sauces in an air fryer is technically possible, it’s likely to get very messy. You can use an air fryer to reheat pasta and sauce that’s already been cooked, but a microwave is again the better option.
Like pasta sauce, toast isn’t impossible to cook in the air fryer, but you’re likely to be disappointed with the results. The air fryer tends to dry out the bread, and the crumbs can get stuck at the bottom of the basket as the toast is blown around during cooking. There’s nothing better for making toast than an actual toaster.
Cooking rice from scratch also requires water, so the air fryer isn’t suitable. An air fryer isn’t the go-to appliance for boiling or steaming. You’re better off sticking to a slow cooker or cooking rice on the stovetop.
If you’re a fan of kale chips, you might be tempted to throw some fresh greens into your air fryer, but resist the urge. An air fryer won’t give you the crunchy chips you’re after. That’s because greens are so lightweight that they get blown around in the air fryer, creating more of a mess than a delicious snack.
While frozen cheese products like mozzarella sticks are fine to cook in the air fryer, it’s best to avoid using any fresh cheese. Most fresh cheese has a low melting temperature, which means it can burn quickly.
Unless you have an enormous air fryer, avoid putting a whole chicken in there. Air fryers need enough room to let the hot air circulate, and a whole chicken takes up too much space to allow this to happen. A whole chicken is likely to burn on the outside, while remaining raw on the inside.
