How to use an air fryer? Air fryers are becoming more and more familiar to many families in preparing delicious, nutritious, and healthy meals.
The air fryer with many people is still a very new product. So, when you first buy an air fryer, you may be confused about how to use it. Through the following article, I will guide you on how to use an air fryer safely and effectively.
Whether you’ve ever heard of an air fryer or not, I assure you that this article will be useful and easy to comprehend, even if you are a low-tech person.
What Is An Air Fryer?
Air fryers use the high temperature for cooking the foods without using oil while preserving their flavor. Air fryers may come in several kinds, but they mainly consist of 2 main parts: the Mayso wire that generates heat and the frying tray.
With this device, you can be completely secure in enjoying many different fried foods such as French fries, fried chicken, etc. “How about steamed dishes? Can I steam food with an air fryer?” – you might ask. Unfortunately, most conventional air fryers don’t have a steam function.
Another name: Vacuum Fryer
Working Principle Of Air Fryer
Air frying technology, in general, uses the principle of vacuum frying with a heating mechanism by the Mayso wire.
Mayso wire is usually made of aluminum, rolled, and bent into a spring yarn with a diameter depending on manufacturing requirements. It has the effect of turning electrical energy into heat.
When the switch is turned on, electricity flows in and heats up the Mayso wire. The wire will radiate heat to the surrounding environment, heating the air fryer quickly.
During operation, the temperature inside the air fryer is maintained in the range of 80 – 250°C, depending on the level you set.
Most air fryers operate mainly on Rapid Air technology. Rapid Air works on the principle that high heat circulates between the frying trays, passes through the food, and ripens them. (1)
Understanding how the air fryer works will help you prepare food more easily.
How To Install New Air Fryer
With some new types of air fryers, they still have a characteristic plastic or metal smell during the manufacturing phase.
Thus, you need to know the right way to install your air fryer. Or else, it can affect your meal. Here are the specific steps for you to follow:
Step 1: Remove The Air Fryer Parts From The Box
After opening the air fryer box, please gently remove the product and then disassemble the device’s internal parts, so you can clean them.
Stickers or labels on the surface of the device can detract from the aesthetic minimalism of the device.
Step 2: Rinse The Frying Cage And Mesh Tray
Rinse the frying cage and mesh tray with hot water, dish soap, and a non-abrasive sponge. Alternatively, you can also clean these parts in the dishwasher.
Step 3: Wipe The Inside And Outside Of The Device
Use a warm towel to wipe the air fryer to ensure hygiene as well as clean the stains that may remain for a long time during the production and packaging process.
Step 4: Place The Air Fryer
Place the device on a flat, horizontal and stable surface. Do not place the device on a surface that cannot withstand heat.
Step 5: Place The Mesh Tray In The Correct Position
Place the mesh tray back in the device to make sure it’s not dusty or unhygienic and ready for your first cooking.
Step 6: Unplug The Power Cord
Remove the wrapping materials around the plug and power cord to ensure safety during use. This action also helps prevent fire or overheating.
To ensure hygiene for the first time using, you need to clean your air fryer carefully.
How To Use Air Fryer
The new air fryer needs to be used properly to bring out the best quality of processed food, increase the durability of the air fryer, and ensure safety for users. Please refer to the steps to use the air fryer below:
Step 1: Plug The Power Plug
Plug the power plug into a grounded outlet. This can prevent electric leakage, which can cause dangerous situations for you and your family.
Step 2: Preheat
No matter which foods you cook, always preheat your air fryer first. Depending on your machine’s size, it will take about 3-5 minutes.
Also, you’ll need to learn different preheating methods for modern and classic air fryers. Some recent air fryers may already have a preheat button. But if yours is an old-fashioned one, you can do it manually. Set the temperature at 400°F and wait for a few minutes.
Step 3: Pull The Frying Cage Out Of The Device
Take out the mesh tray carefully. The mesh tray is usually coated with non-stick, so you need to be a little careful when handling this mesh tray to avoid distorting or scratching the non-stick coating.
The mesh frying basket helps excess grease flow to the tray below, and the dish will be cooked deliciously and without stagnation of oil. It can be easily disassembled, convenient to take food out, and clean after use.
Step 4: Put The Ingredients In The Mesh Tray
Do not overfill the mesh tray with ingredients, as this may affect the final quality of the dish. The ingredients need to be washed and drained of water first. Also, they must be of a similar type.
Step 5: Insert The Frying Cage Back Into The Device.
Insert the mesh tray back into the device. Do not use the air fryer without the mesh tray inside.
Note: Do not touch the mesh tray or air fryer during and after use because of heat. Hold by the handle only.
Step 6: Adjust The Temperature
Adjust the temperature on the control panel on the air fryer to the required temperature. If you want to cook multiple ingredients at once, make sure you check the cooking times and temperatures required for different components before you start making them all at once.
For example, with your beef steak, you should fry the meat until it is almost standard, then put the rosemary in the tray to fry them together.
Note: For dishes with recipes for the oven, you can completely apply them to dishes cooked in an air fryer. You only need to lower 25 degrees Celsius for the temperature of each dish in the recipe.
Step 7: Set The Processing Timer
Set the timer to the required processing time. You can completely pause the cooking process of the air fryer to check and flip the food when necessary. In addition, when your food is satisfactory before the time you have set, you can also stop the cooking process manually.
With this instruction, anyone can use an air fryer right away.
How To Make The Crust Of The Dishes Turn Golden Brown
With fried foods, the air fryer can cook them wonderfully. To make your dishes more perfect, you should refer to the following effective ways:
Drying The Ingredients:
Using a dry paper towel to absorb the water on the ingredients is the fastest way to drain the ingredients. As a result, when they are fried, the surface will become crispy and delicious.
Oil Spray:
Some cooking oil sprayed on will speed the browning process and can help make foods crunchier.
Covered With Honey:
The sugar in honey is also brown if cooked at a high temperature. Spreading a layer of honey on the surface of food not only gives flavor to the food when it is cooked but also creates an attractive golden brown color.
Use Fried Dough:
Coating your ingredients with a layer of flour mixed with egg yolks will make the dish more crispy than ever.
How To Make Food More Crispy With An Air Fryer
Do you know that food could be more crispy if you use An Air Fryer to cook? There are many ways to make food crispy, attractive but it is time-consuming. To be a good housewife, you could not skip this part:
Using Breadcrumbs
Coating a layer of breadcrumbs on the crust helps air-fried foods have a crispy crust and flavor.
Note: You should bake them first in the microwave with a little oil, making sure they turn an irresistible golden brown.
Spray Vegetable Oil
Lightly spray the bottom of the mesh tray to ensure that the leftover crust is evenly fried.
How To Cook Juicy Steaks With An Air Fryer
Steak with a little thyme above is a perfect meal for a romantic night diner. With the air fryer, your dish will be prepared quickly and equally attractive if you know how to do it.
Cut To The Right Size
Slicing the steak into smaller portions and halving the thickness will help you put more meat in the grill without filling it up. As a result, the pieces of meat will be cooked evenly and have enough moisture inside.
Add Seasoning
Steaks and ribs will become juicy and cooked more evenly as their toppings are spiced up. You should add a strong seasoning mix, which gives the meat a better color and a great taste.
How To Cook Fish With An Air Fryer
Fish is a challenge for even professional cooks. It needs to be well cleaned. Otherwise, it will be fishy, and the skin will tear apart when you cook it. But an air fryer will help your fish to be cooked perfectly.
Repeated Frying
Foods like fish often use lower temperatures and longer cooking times. So you should divide it into several short frying times. This will help the fish be fully cooked and have beautiful brown skin.
Use Foil/ Cooking Paper
You should put a layer of foil or cooking paper on the mesh tray when cooking fish because fish is easy to get stuck on the tray. By doing so, you can avoid wrecking your fish and still ensure the dish’s aesthetic.
How To Cook Chicken With An Air Fryer
Chicken dishes are very popular with everyone. But to cook them well with an air fryer, you need to equip yourself with some information to make your meal preparation process easier.
Chicken Skin Up:
The air fryer heats the bar on top, so you should keep their skin side up when placing the chicken pieces in the grill. This way, the skin will be fried to a crispy golden brown, and the chicken will not dry out and drain all the moisture inside.
Make Holes:
You should poke a few holes in the surface of the chicken skin before cooking. Doing so will prevent the chicken skin from drying out and shrinking. In addition, this also causes the chicken skin to secrete fat, making the chicken more attractive.
There are a few things you should keep in mind when cooking chicken in an air fryer.
Notes & Tips
The air fryer is one of the hottest kitchen items in recent times, precisely because of its convenience and health benefits.
But have you firmly grasped how to use a true air fryer to make the dish both delicious and the pot durable? If not, quickly grab a pen and paper to note these tips immediately!
- Is it safe to put a plate in air fryers? In fact, it depends on the plate’s material and its size has to fit in an air fryer basket.
- Some ingredients require shaking midway through the cooking time. To do that, pull the frying pan out of the appliance and shake the pot. Then insert the sliding fryer back into the device.
- If there is white smoke coming from the air fryer, you should add some water to the fryer tray. The white smoke could be because the fat has melted down the fryer.
- If the food isn’t crispy enough, make sure you don’t let the frying basket get too “stuffed”. And use a little more oil when making some deep-fried dishes.
- With some dishes, you can line the mesh tray with a layer of foil, so the food will not stick to the tray.
- Do not place the hot frying pan on any surfaces. The temperature of the frying pan can cause deformation of them.
- Do not let yourself be distracted while cooking with the air fryer. All incidents can happen, and you will not be able to imagine their consequences.
- Do not worry if you hear some noise coming from your air fryer. This is just the sound of the fan blowing hot air inside the fryer to heat the food.
- Avoid using oil with low smoking points like olive oil. Or, if your foods contain some fat, make sure you cook them at lower temperatures than their smoke point. You don’t want your dishes filled with smoking or burnt smell.
How To Effectively Clean The Air Fryer After Use
Many people are afraid to buy electrical appliances just for fear of having to clean and preserve them for long-term use.
The cleaning steps below will help your air fryer operate better, be more durable, and not affect the taste of the food:
Step 1: Unplug From The Power Outlet
Before cleaning the air fryer, be sure to unplug it from the electrical outlet and let it cool completely. This step helps to keep you safe from electric shock or damage to the pot.
Step 2: Wipe The Outside With A Damp Cloth
Wipe the outside of the device with a damp cloth or sponge with mild detergent. Avoid using glass cleaners, bleach, or harsh cleaners. Absolutely do not use hard, sharp cleaning pads to ensure the non-stick coating is always protected.
Step 3: Clean The Mesh Tray
Clean the mesh tray and the frying cage with warm water, a little soap, and a soft dishcloth. To save time, you can even wash it in the dishwasher.
If stubborn stains stick to the mesh or the bottom of the tray, soak the tray in hot water with a little soap. The mesh tray is placed in the frying cage, soaked for about 10 minutes, and then cleaned.
Note: Only use the air fryer for the next cooking time when the fryer is completely dry.
Step 4: Clean The Slots And Heat Bar
Use a wet paper towel to wipe the oil stains inside gently. You can also use a soft sponge and hot water with baking soda to clean the inside. I advise you to use a soft brush to remove food particles stuck on the heat bar.
Note: Do not use wire brushes or stiff brushes. They will damage the outer coating of the burners. After cleaning, place the air fryer in a dry place away from moisture or direct sunlight.
You should clean the inside of the air fryer thoroughly after each cooking to ensure hygiene.
The Most Attractive Dishes To Cook In An Air Fryer
If you are still doubting the convenience of an air fryer, the dishes list below will answer those questions. Get your ingredients ready to join us in preparing a wonderful meal with this device.
Roast Porks/ Shrimps/ Vegetables/ Drilled Fishes…
You just need to marinate the spices, put them in the pot, adjust the temperature, then set the timer, and you can go to other work. After a short time, you have delicious roast dishes with crispy skin.
Note: You can spray oil in the middle of the frying process to make the food golden and crispy.
French Fries
All you have to do is cut the potatoes to the size you want and sprinkle some rosemary and salt on them.
Air fryer helps you have delicious crispy potatoes, reducing the amount of fat, calories, and harmful compounds, and especially your potatoes will be greasy and healthy.
Drying Fruits And Nuts
There are many methods to make dried foods with only an air fryer. But the simplest way is to cut the fruit into slices and place them in the air fryer. Then you only need to adjust the temperature and time accordingly.
After only a short time, the fruits are dried with beautiful colors and a characteristic aroma of each type. With high-quality machines, you won’t even notice the differences between your air fryer and other dehydrators. You can also dry beans, chestnuts, almonds, etc.
Baking Cakes
Why not make some desserts with your air fryer? Some may worry that their cake will get burned in the air fryer. In fact, the result will be light brown, spongy, soft, moist, and delicious.
Frozen Prepared Foods
The air fryer can re-fry prepared dishes such as chicken thighs, chicken wings, fried fish bars, pizza,… without spending a lot of time and exertion in preparation.
You won’t be able to say no to these air fryer recipes!
What Should Not Be Cooked In An Air Fryer?
Air fryer helps limit the amount of fat in food and ensure your health. However, not all foods can be put in the air fryer. In this section, I will summarize the foods that should not be processed in an air fryer:
Food With A Sour Taste
You should limit putting in the air fryer sour foods such as citrus, berries, yogurt, tomatoes,… The reason is that the acidity of these foods will gradually corrode the material of the air fryer.
As for foil, it has aluminum properties, so when it comes in contact with acid, it causes a reaction to erode the foil. That reaction will leave a large amount of aluminum that permeates the food, causing adverse effects on health.
Large Size Food
Unlike an oven, the space of an air fryer is not too large. So, when you put large pieces of food in, the temperature of the air fryer will be overloaded and reduce the service life of the air fryer.
Besides that, when the space of the pot is pinched, the temperature is not circulated enough. It will take a long time to cook food and make the dish’s quality less attractive. Therefore, you should cut and divide the ingredients before putting them in the air fryer.
Fresh Vegetables
When putting fresh vegetables in the air fryer, you should choose vegetables with suitable thickness, such as broccoli, zucchini, etc. This way, the fryer’s heat will be able to cook them. As for thin vegetables like lettuce and spinach, they can easily shrink, burn, etc.
Olive Oil
Although olive oil has quite a few health benefits, it is smoky. So, when combined with an oil-free fryer, it will not create a delicious taste. In return, it will also create a bit of a yucky aftertaste for the dish.
You can replace olive oils such as peanut oil, canola oil. They both add fat in vegetable oil and make food taste more attractive.
With the above sharing, I hope to help you better understand the foods that should not be processed in an air fryer. From there, it will help your food keep its delicious taste and also ensure the long-term use of the air fryer. (2)
The Differences Between An Oven/An Electric Grill Vs Air Fryer
Air fryer is actually like an electric oven, but choosing an oven/electric grill or an air fryer also gets the attention of many people. Let’s refer to the following table for a better overview:
With the comparative information I have mentioned, I hope you can answer your concerns and choose the device to suit your needs in cooking.
Benefits Of Using An Air Fryer
Fried dishes are always a favorite of everyone, regardless of adults or children. With the traditional way of frying, people have to use a large amount of oil, spend a long time waiting for the dish to be cooked, and the frying oil is scattered all over the kitchen.
Therefore, the air fryer appeared not only to overcome all disadvantages but also to be good for health.
Cook A Variety Of Dishes
The air fryer can produce various cooking menus with many dishes such as frying, baking, and yogurt incubation. You can use the air fryer to dry food, dry fruit, grilled fish, barbecue, etc. Extremely convenient!
Reduce The Amount Of Fat In Food
Air fryers can cook food with only a little to no cooking oil. That will help you reduce the risk of overweight, obesity, heart failure, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.
The device is also equipped with an odor and smoke filter, so the food will always keep its delicious smell, without smoke or unpleasant odors coming to your kitchen space.
Quick And Easy Cleaning
If you are a busy person, the air fryer is the ideal choice to help you with fried foods. It will save your cleaning time and also be easy to disassemble.
The sealed design means that the heat is concentrated inside and has fewer escapes, thus reducing the cooking time and optimizing the wasted power.
FAQs
Above I have provided you with all the information related to the use of air fryers, but I believe that many of you here still have many questions.
Here are the frequently asked questions that arise during the use of the air fryer. Please refer to them and hope they will help you to solve the problem:
Using The Air Fryer Is Not As Difficult As We Think
The air fryer has only been produced in recent years, but it has indeed become an indispensable part of many families’ kitchens. With unexpected benefits, it partly explains why air fryers have become so popular.
So if you are wondering anything about air fryers and how to use and maintain them, please leave a comment below. I will continue to help you better understand this product.
Above are the necessary notes to use the air fryer safely and effectively. I hope this article has provided you with useful information!
References
- foodnhealth.org. 2018. A Short History Of The Air Fryer
- digitalcommons.fiu.edu/. 2013. Fat Absorption in Commercial French Fries Depending on Oil Type and Coating
