An air fryer is considered these days as an essential appliance in a kitchen as it can cook a wide range of ingredients perfectly like crunchy florets of cauliflower, and breaded chicken tenders, etc.
Still, there are many food items you cannot cook in your air fryer. In this article we are going to discuss, what can you not cook in an air fryer.
What can you not cook in an air fryer?
According to the experts, you cannot cook foods like wet batters, cheese, and over-seasoned food items in an air fryer.
You can use your air fryer to make cookies, cook bacon, and prepare frozen foods but cooking wet and over-seasoned in it should be avoided as they can create a chaotic situation for you.
Though you can cook frozen foods as well as Brussels sprout in an air fryer to make them crispy even without oil or cook chicken breast, bacon, cookies, and steaks with some patience still you cannot cook items like broccoli and whole chickens or large roasts in it.
The main reason behind not cooking certain items in an air fryer is that they get dried up or cannot be cooked evenly. If you put the wet batter in it then it will not set easily without using an oil bath.
Cheese is one of the foods you cannot cook in an air fryer as it can create a lot of mess. Cheese needs to be deep-fried whereas an air fryer is not going to actually fry it.
You cannot cook a medium-rare burger in it as it will make the exterior of the burger brown quickly but the interior will not be done properly.
Can you cook anything in an air fryer?
In an air fryer, you can cook almost all types of food ingredients including chicken, beef, fish, vegetables and frozen foods, etc.
You can fry them just by spraying a few sprays of canola cooking spray or even less than a tablespoon of cooking oil instead of using a lot of oil. But can get a taste similar to the taste of deep-fried items.
Your air fryer can cook frozen foods very efficiently to make them taste very yummy and crispy. Some of the air fryers available in the market can also allow you to grill, roast, and bake along with frying various food ingredients.
In my opinion, French fries are the most popular food items you can fry in your air fryer.
You can make French fries just by putting your potato fingers in the basket of your air fryer and within a few minutes, you will get healthy and crispy fries. Some people also grill steaks in their air fryer.
What are the best foods to cook in an air fryer?
These days you can see an air fryer on the countertop of almost every kitchen as this small appliance has become one of the essential appliances to fry healthy foods.
Today you can also find air fryers lids in the market which you can use on your pressure cooker or instant pot to air fry your food items.
An air fryer can cook almost every food ingredient without using any or much oil. It fries everything just by circulating extremely hot air around the food you want to cook as it cooks them evenly from all sides.
Thus you can enjoy the golden brown and crispy texture even without deep frying them.
Though you can use your air fryer to cook a wide range of food items from basic foods like potato chips, chicken wings, cookies, and donuts, etc. to heat frozen foods still there are several recipes you can make in it.
Some of these recipes may include:
- Air fried crispy bacon
- Air fried crispy baked potatoes
- Air fried mini calzones
- Air fried juicy and crispy pork chops
- Air fried sticks of mozzarella
- Air fried chips of sweet potatoes
- Air fried cookies with chocolate chips
- Air fried chicken fried in buttermilk
Thus, there is a long list of the best food items you can easily cook in an air fryer.
How full can I fill my air fryer?
While using an air fryer people usually make a few critical mistakes that can be harmful not only for the quality of your food but also for your device. People usually overcrowd the basket of air fryer which is not right in any case.
Instead of filling up the basket of the air fryer too much, you must fill it almost half of its capacity. It will allow hot air to circulate around your food to cook it evenly from all sides. Actually, the basket of an air fryer has very limited space.
To cook your food without compromising with its taste and crispiness you should fill it up with not more than four servings of vegetables or two servings of fish or meat at a time.
If you have to cook food in larger quantities then you can air fry them in batches to enjoy the best tasting and crispy food.
Though an air fryer cooks, fries, and roasts foods very quickly but it should not be overcrowded. It can cook faster if you cook a fair amount of food every time.
So for faster and better cooking, you should avoid stressing your air fryer. Its convection cooking system allows you to cook in batches one after the other if you have to cook a larger amount of food.
It will allow the hot air to flow around your food efficiently to cook it effectively from all sides.
Final Thoughts
Thus, an air fryer is one of the must-have appliances in a kitchen these days. You can easily cook a wide range of healthy and crispy foods even without using any or too much oil.
In my opinion, at least health-conscious people should add this appliance in their kitchen to eat crispy and healthy fried food without compromising their health.
But while using your air fryer you should avoid overcrowding it, leave space on all sides, cooking wet batter, and cut vegetables very small in size, etc. However, you should not avoid cleaning it occasionally to maintain its hygiene.
