Are you looking for the best way to use air fryer? You’re not alone. Many people are interested in learning how to make the most of their air fryers, and we’re here to help.

Got an air fryer, but you’re a little nervous about using it. Today I’m going to tell you the top 10 mistakes people make when using an air fryer. Knowing these will prevent you from making mistakes. So you can get the best results from your air fryer rather than learning the hard way.

Best Way To Use Air Fryer

1. Not Investing in a Good Air Fryer

Mistake number one is not investing in a good air fryer. It’s tempting to buy a cheap air fryer to save some extra dollars, but it’s a waste of money in the long run. If you’re not going to buy a good one, not only will you get subpar results from your food? A common complaint from cheap air fryers is that the nonstick coating starts peeling off within a few months, and then you’re just going to have to replace it.

Anyway, if you haven’t purchased your air fryer yet or haven’t used it, consider returning it and doing some research. Be sure to take some time to read through the reviews and make sure you’re buying an air fryer with excellent quality. I recommend looking for products that have a few thousand reviews and an average star rating of four to four point five stars.

2. Overcrowding The Basket

One of the most important rules of air frying is not to over crop the basket. You’ll see in the marketing pictures that they’ve got the baskets overflowing with food, and that’s not right. Instead, fill your basket is no more than halfway full. The only exception that I found with this rule is frozen air fryer wings.

I generally do load up the basket because they shrink and lose a lot of water as they’re cooking. Now, if you don’t want to cook your food in batches to avoid overcrowding, consider getting a larger air fryer.

I advise that you get an air fryer that’s slightly larger than you think you need. I don’t think you’ll regret that purchase, and instead of looking at the capacity size. I recommend looking at the basket dimensions and, most importantly, paying attention to that horizontal space where you can lay food flat.

3. You’re Doing The Oil All Wrong

Even though an air fryer is marketed as a healthier way to fry foods. Most of the foods you cook will need a little oil. If you’re looking for that truly crispy finish. Some people go crazy and use way too much oil, and others aren’t using enough, or they’re not using any at all.

When they really should be oil not only helps transfer the heat. It’s going to help make the food crispier as a general rule of thumb. You only need one to two teaspoons of the oil for breaded foods like fries. If you want a crispy finish, just a light coating will do.

You can always add more oil at the end of the cooking cycle if you want more crispiness on your food. Oil also works great for foods like roasted potatoes, and rather than a spray, you can stir the food up in a mixture of oil and seasonings, which leads me to another reason you might want some oil.

4. Not Rotating or Shaking Your Food

Not rotating or shaking your food halfway through cooking air fryers are almost completely hands-off. But not 100 for a perfectly cooked meal. You’re going to want to take time to flip or rotate the food or shake it when it’s halfway through cooking.

Some air fryers have a reminder for you. Others don’t. So if you find yourself always forgetting to rotate the food, what I suggest is just setting the timer for the first half, letting that go off rotating the food. And then setting the timer for the second half of the cooking time.

5. Not Checking The Food’s Temperature

Mistake number five not checking the food’s temperature. If you want to get the best results from the meat that you cook in your air fryer, you’re going to want to invest in a small instant-read digital meat thermometer. They’re cheap, under 20 and so helpful. To make sure you don’t undercook or overcook your food.

6. Not Giving Your Air Fryer Air

What the heck am I talking about? Air fryers need air to cook. To make sure your air fryer is getting enough circulation, ensure you’ve got at least five inches of space between your air fryer and the wall. That’s going to allow it to have enough circulation and also protect your walls. You also want to make sure that there’s some space underneath your air fryer. It will help with the air circulation and protect the countertops when you have it on a wood cutting board or something else. That’s a heat-resistant surface.

7. Cooking Fatty Foods Incorrectly

You don’t need oil for fatty foods. Since the fat will be cooking off the food and landing in the drip basket, you’ll have better results if you put a little water down there. That way, when that fatty oil lands down there. It’s going to hit the water instead of metal, and it’s going to prevent all the yucky smoking that sometimes people experience in their air fryers.

8. Cooking In The Air Fryer Without Cleaning

At first, thinking about cleaning the air fryer between cooking sessions can sound like a pain in the neck, but it’s super easy the longer you leave your food in the air fryer. The harder it’s going to be to clean it off. The crumbs that are left behind in the basket are going to burn to a crisp. The next time you use your air fryer and be even harder to clean plus. It could be changing the taste of your food and will likely lead to a lot of smoke and funky smells.

9. Not Adapting Recipes Air Frying Food

Mistake number 10 not adapting recipes air frying food is not a perfect one-to-one conversion from baking instructions to air fryer instructions. Since the air fryer is so compact, it cooks food faster.

So you will need to adjust the time and temperature when you cook foods. So a good rule of thumb is to decrease the temperature by 10 to 25 degrees. And then start with half of the cooking time. That’s the beauty of an air fryer. You can easily adapt and adjust any recipe.

10. Not Using Your Air Fryer To Reheat Leftovers

You say goodbye to soggy leftovers reheating leftovers in the air. Fryer is the best way to bring food back to life. It does take a little bit longer than the microwave. But it’s faster than reheating in the oven and so worth it.