I am one of the largest air fryer enthusiasts on the planet. I will fry just about anything that I can find. These cooking adventures have led me to discover many amazing things you can cook with an air fryer and things that shouldn’t be air fried. Some items can become dry due to the convection-style cooking of an air fryer (which circulates hot air around food). Some foods may not cook evenly in the air fryer.
These are seven items you shouldn’t air fry — or you should exercise caution when air frying — and tips on how to cook them.
Wet-battered Foods, Unless you Like Smoke Alarms
What happens?
Items with a batter that is too wet, such as tempura vegetables or fish that has been beer-battered, won’t cook well in an air fryer. Deep-frying wet battered food in hot oil will “set” it onto the item. The batter puffs up and crisps to give the item that crunchy coating. If you try to air fry fish or other food coated in batter, it can stick to the basket or leak through. This can cause a lot of mess and alarms on some models.
You can also deep-fry wet-battered food or air-fry frozen battered foods such as fish and shrimp. The freezing process will set the batter. You can also opt to forgo wet batters and use a breading, such as these air fryer chips. These have a crispy exterior. Finally, air-frying wet-battered food requires that you line your air fryer basket using parchment. Then let as much batter as possible drip off, such as this air-fried Oreos recipe.
Muffins, Unless you Like them Crispy outside and Rock-Hard inside.
What happens?
While an air fryer might seem perfect for small treats, the Easy-Bake Oven size makes it ideal for baking all kinds of baked goods. However, when I attempted to air fry some muffins, I discovered that they were unsuitable for all bakes. Air frying did not make the muffins fluffy and light but instead dehydrated their centre. I got muffins that were too crisp on the outside and hard in the middle.
Cheese without any layer of protection, unless you like a big mess in your Fryer Basket
What happens?
While you can technically air fry most cheeses – a wheel of air-fried Brie is delicious – placing cheese directly in an air fryer basket will produce a large, melty mess.
What should I do instead?
If you plan to place cheese directly in the air fryer basket, make sure to line it with parchment paper.
Eggs, unless you like eating rubber
What happens?
There are many online recipes for air-fried hard-boiled eggs. Many people swear by them. Kelli Foster, Kitchn Senior Contributing Editor Food Editor, explains that air-fried eggs can leave unpleasant. This is why you shouldn’t use this method to hard-boil eggs when there are better options.
How to replace it?
Skip the air fryer, and instead, use the stovetop (or the Instant pot) for cooking your eggs. These are both fast ways to get hard-boiled eggs that don’t have a rubbery texture.
Rice, Unless you like it undercooked or overcooked
What happens?
If you’ve ever Googled “Can you air fry rice?” then the answer is no. You can air fry rice, but it’s not a good idea, no matter how tempting it may seem. Rice needs moisture to cook properly in the air fryer’s dry conditions. Even if you steam your rice in a special insert or with additional water, the fan will not heat enough to cook the rice evenly. This can result in rice that is undercooked and crisp in places. This was evident when I tried to cook rice in foil-covered cake pans. My first attempt was to use 1 cup rice and 1 1/4 cups of cold water. After 30 minutes at 360°F, it was crisp in certain areas but not in others. The same process was repeated, but this time I used boiling water. The rice stuck to the pan this time. Despite my resentful feelings, I had to admit defeat. The air fryer was not the right tool for rice.
What should you do instead?
You can use an Instant pot to quickly cook perfectly cooked rice or use one of these stovetop cooking methods. The air fryer can be used to make fried rice from leftover rice. For one, you can try this air-fryer fried rice recipe Andrea Nguyen posted on her website. For more information on different types of rice and how to cook them best, be sure to visit our rice cook’s guide.
Baby Spinach, unless you like the taste of charred food
What happens?
Another lesson I had to learn the hard way. My first attempt at air-frying baby spinach failed. The fan in my air fryer blows the leaves around, and leaves are left with uncooked leaves. Some leaves were turned into crisps.
What should I do instead?
Instead of using spinach, air-fry a stronger green like curlyKalee. Air frying kale chips in small batches is key to crispy results. To ensure even cooking, only use 3 cups of packedKalee per batch. Kale shrinks when cooked. Three cups of rawKalee will yield about 2 1/2 cups cookedKalee. If you’re cooking for a large crowd, keep this in mind. You’ll need to make sure that you remove any thick ribs from each piece of Kalee. They don’t cook well in the oven and can be hard to chew for hours.
Here’s how it works:
- Heat an air fryer at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, combine 3 cups of ribbed shredded curlyKalee in a medium bowl with 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp of all-purpose seasoning (or any other seasoning you prefer).
- After the oven has been preheated, spray the cooking spray on the basket.
- Toss the seasonedKalee into the basket and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the seasonedKalee over and continue to cook for 1 to 2 more minutes, depending on how crispy or charred you prefer. In 5-6 minutes, lightly crispy kale chips will be ready. They are still green and slightly charred on the edges.
- Sprinkle with a little more seasoning. Serve immediately
Toast, unless You Want to be Very, Very Thirsty
What happens? To see how many people recommend air-frying bread, you only need to Google “air fryer toast”. They say it’s easy. It takes only three minutes! But unless you enjoy sun-scorched cardboard, this method is not for you. I tried different temperatures, from 350 to 400degF. After three minutes, I made hard, crispy, and dry white bread. I gave up after six minutes as the toast was both golden and alabaster-white. It was almost like eating very stale bread.
What should I do instead? Air frying is a great cooking method, but it’s not suitable for toast. Instead, use a toaster, broiler, or toaster oven. These methods work just as well as an air fryer and are much faster.
