Avoiding Air Fryer Fails: ‘Queen of Air Fryers’ Cathy Yoder Offers Tips on Air Fryer Don’ts

With throngs turning to their air fryer this holiday to knock out the Thanksgiving dinner…and other holiday meals, there are some key mistakes to avoid. Below, Cathy Yoder, the Queen of Air Fryers with nearly 730,000 followers and 35,000 air fryer cookbooks sold, notes that, “The air fryer is a kitchen marvel that has taken the culinary world by storm. With its innovative technology, you can enjoy crispy, delicious meals with significantly less oil than frying and bake faster than in the oven.”

Even so, there is plenty of room for error when cooking with this appliance, so below Yoder offers 12 common mistakes home cooks would do well to avoid:

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1. You don’t invest in a good air fryer.

If you feel like you’re doing everything right, but your food is still coming out burnt or weird, you might not be the problem.

Buying a cheap or sub-par air fryer can help you shave off some dollars to get this hot new appliance on a small budget. However, if you don’t buy a good one, you could end up with burnt or unevenly cooked food, ruined counters, or worse.

Ensure that you take the time to read the reviews and invest in an excellent-quality air fryer. I use the Cosori Air Fryer and Philips XXL Air Fryer in my kitchen. However, if you’re unsure about an air fryer, read the reviews and stick to a trusted brand.

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2. You’re overcrowding the frying pan.

Don’t overcrowd the frying pan.

One of the most important rules of air-frying food is not to overcrowd the pot. Too much food in a skillet or microwave will lead to lousy cooking results and uneven cooking. The same is true with your air fryer! If you overcrowd your food, it will end up half-burnt, undercooked, and not right.

If you are making several large batches, it might be worth looking into a larger air fryer. Check out this double-basket air fryer, which is perfect for large families. Otherwise, you must cook your food in batches, just like you would with a frying pan or skillet.

A helpful reference is never filling your air fryer more than about halfway. When shopping for an air fryer, rather than focusing on the total quart size, I would focus on the perimeter size of the basket. My 5.8-quart Cosori basket is 9″ square and is an excellent size without taking up a ton of counter space.

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3. You use too much oil or not enough.

Use just the right amount of oil in the air fryer.

A big selling point of the air fryer is that you can make “fried” food without using oil. However, most foods require cooking with some oil for a truly crispy finish. However, you can add too much oil and end up entirely on the other side of the spectrum.

There are two reasons you need oil when air frying food:

Make foods crispy (like homemade air fryer french fries).

Help the spices and seasonings adhere to the food (like with this air fryer steak).

Here are some important tips to keep in mind when using oil in the air fryer:

— No additional oil is needed if you cook foods with fat or skin, like chicken wings or bacon. If you want something extra crispy, spray oil on the food near the end of the cooking cycle.

— If you’re using your air fryer for baking, you won’t need any oil at all since you’re using the air fryer more like a convection oven than a fryer. You won’t need to use oil on foods like:

— For breaded items like fries, you will only need about 1-2 teaspoons of oil. They won’t be nearly as oily and greasy as if you fried them. But a little oil helps them achieve that crispy texture. The hot air circulates in your air fryer to cook them sufficiently without needing much oil. Make sure your food is well-coated in oil without looking overly wet or soggy. And remember, you can always add more near the end of the cooking cycle if you want more crispness.

— Avoid canned or pressurized propellant oil sprays to protect your air fryer investment. Why? If you look at the ingredients of these spray oils, you’ll see they contain propellants and chemicals. Not only is it not good for your health, but these propellant oils have also been known to peel and chip the lining of air fryer baskets.

A simple solution is to purchase a spray bottle and put your favorite oil in it. I have this 18-oz Evo Oil sprayer. It’s pretty big, and if I were to purchase it again, I’d definitely go with a smaller bottle.

Whatever you decide, I recommend reading the reviews. Some users complain about the sprayers getting clogged. And if you have an oil sprayer brand you love, leave a comment below to let me know!

— When air-frying your food, you want to use an oil with a high smoke point. The Smoke Point (or burning point) is the temperature at which an oil or fat begins to produce smoke. Every oil or fat has a different cooking temperature.

The smoke point of butter, coconut oil, and extra virgin olive oil is 350˚F (176˚C).

The smoke point of avocado oil is 375-400˚F (190-204˚C).

Vegetable oil and peanut oil have a higher smoke point of 45o˚F (232˚).

Canola oil has a smoke point of 400˚F (204˚C).

I almost always use avocado oil personally. It has a higher smoke point than extra virgin olive oil, is healthier than vegetable and canola oil, and doesn’t affect the food’s taste, like peanut oil tends to (plus we have a peanut allergy in our house).

You do you, my friend. Just be aware that if you coat your food in butter and cook it at 400˚F (204˚C), your air fryer might smoke a bit and smell unpleasant.

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4. You don’t rotate or shake the food

Rotate, shake, or flip the food in the air fryer

Air fryers are almost hands-off cooking… but not 100%.

For a perfectly cooked meal, you’ll want to flip or rotate your food at the halfway point. This ensures the food gets evenly crisped on both sides.

However, some air fryers don’t require flipping or shaking like this Cosori Dual Blaze Air Fryer. If you want to walk away and forget about it, an air fryer with a dual burner would be a great option. You won’t have to worry about staying close by to shake or flip the food.

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5. You aren’t checking your food’s temperature.

Check the food’s temperature so you don’t overcook.

You’ll want to invest in a digital read food thermometer if you don’t already have one to avoid undercooked or overcooked food. Doing this will ensure that you are getting your food fully cooked. This is especially important for meats. When cooking air-fried chicken (and any other meat), you will want to peek in on it before the timer is up.

Use an instant-read digital meat thermometer to ensure your meat doesn’t overcook. Cooking meats in the air fryer can vary because the thickness of your meat will vary with each batch. You can learn more about my three tips for the perfect chicken in the air fryer in my 3 minute YouTube video.

Taking the temperature will also help you learn and gauge the correct cooking time for your foods since it varies with all air fryers.

To make your air fryer even more hands-off, the Chef Maker has a probe that inserts into the food to set a timer for you. When the food reaches temperature, it stops cooking—no checking required!

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6. You put your air fryer basket and hot fryer on the countertop.

Don’t burn your countertop with a hot air fryer basket.

You might not feel steam coming from the air fryer basket, but it gets pretty hot! It’s like a tiny oven inside of a small appliance.

Lift your air fryer from the counter with little feet or something underneath it to avoid ruining your counter. This goes for the basket, too!

Don’t set it on your counter right when it comes out of the air fryer; put it on a heat-safe surface, like a hot pad, wooden cutting board, or heat-resistant mat.

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7. You’re cooking fatty foods incorrectly.

Fatty foods can smoke in the air fryer.

Not all foods need oil, especially fatty foods that already have oil. To help these foods cook correctly, add a little bit of water to the bottom of your air fryer. This will also prevent a gross, smoky smell from cooking fatty foods like bacon.

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8. You never clean your air fryer.

Clean your air fryer regularly.

You might think cleaning the air fryer between sessions can be a pain, but it’s really not bad! Most air fryers have a non-stick coating, so they clean off quite easily with hot, soapy water. And many air fryer baskets are dishwasher safe. Refer to your owner’s manual to be sure. If you take the time to wash it after each use, you’ll thank yourself later.

If you don’t clean your air fryer often enough, crumbs and leftover food get left behind in the basket and end up burning the next time you use it. The leftover oil can cause your drawer to smoke and ruin the food you’re cooking. At a minimum, it starts to stink; in the worst-case scenario, it’s a fire hazard waiting to happen.

Every month or so, when the air fryer is completely cooled, wipe down the inside to remove any build-up. Follow these steps to give your air fryer a deep clean.

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9. You are cooking wet food.

Pat veggies dry before cooking them in the air fryer.

This is especially important with your proteins and veggies. If you don’t pat them dry, you will end up with steamed food. So be sure to pat your foods dry, then give them a light spritz of oil for that crispy fried taste.

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10. You don’t adapt your recipes.

Adapt recipe instructions for the air fryer.

Air frying food isn’t a simple translation process to convert baking to air frying.

You will need to adjust the time and temperature as you cook. An air fryer usually requires less time to cook food than a traditional baking method in the oven since the heat is condensed to the small air fryer chamber. Make sure that you take this into account when air frying your food.

A good rule of thumb is to decrease the temperature by 10-25˚F and cut the cooking time in half. Then, increase the cooking time as needed.

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11. You are not using your air fryer to reheat leftovers.

Reheat leftovers in the air fryer.

Thanks to air fryers, you can say goodbye to soggy leftovers. Air fryers bring leftovers back to life in a way that microwaves can’t. It may take a little longer than the microwave, but oh so worth it.

You can reheat almost anything to give your food that crispy, fresh texture. Usually, I reheat foods at 350˚F (176˚C) for 3-5 minutes. Some of our favorite things to reheat in the air fryer are leftovers from restaurants, french fries, and pizza.

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12. You aren’t using helpful tools.

Use air fryer accessories and tools.

You can buy some air fryer accessories to get more out of your air fryer. But you don’t have to! You likely already have items in your kitchen that you can use. For example:

You can use foil to make a foil sling that allows you to easily place delicate foods in and out of your air fryer. This is great for cookies or delicate meats like this air-fried salmon. Just be sure not to press the foil all the way to the sides of the air fryer basket; otherwise, the air won’t be able to circulate.

You can use air fryer-safe parchment paper with holes to place at the bottom of your basket. This is great for dishes with cheese or breading, like parmesan chicken or coconut shrimp, which are a little messy during cooking but clean up easily with parchment paper.

WARNING: NEVER use wax paper or paper towels inside your air fryer while cooking, as they could start a fire.

Another good rule of thumb is if it’s oven-safe, it’s air fryer-safe. You can use ramekins, cupcake liners, and oven-safe glass dishes like Pyrex inside your air fryer.

As you can see, there are so many different ways to misuse your air fryer. But if you’re patient and keep testing things out, you’ll have perfect air fryer recipes in no time!

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When asked about her cooking journey, Yoder shared, “I don’t like to cook. But, as a busy mom, I needed a way to put food on the table fast—several times a day.” Enter the air fryer. Yoder began documenting her experiments with the appliance, discovering that she could make simple, delicious and mostly nutritious meals in minutes. Her relatable videos struck a chord with viewers during the pandemic and, since then, she’s continued to share countless recipes, tips and helpful tools for using an air fryer to its fullest.

***Some or all of the accommodations(s), experience(s), item(s) and/or service(s) detailed above may have been provided at no cost and/or arranged to accommodate this review, but all opinions expressed are entirely those of Merilee Kern and have not been influenced in any way as per the disclosure policy on our “Legal” page***