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 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. It can stick to the basket or leak through if you try to air fry fish or any other food coated in batter. 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 in 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 it is not suitable for all bakes. Air frying did not make the muffins fluffy and light but dehydrated their center. I got muffins that were too crisp 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, line it with parchment paper. See my article for full instructions on baking Brie in an air fryer.
Layer cheese on a sandwich like this grilled cheese or wrap it in a thick breading such as these air-fryer mozzarella sticks ( do not use light breading for mozzarella sticks as the cheese will ooze and cause a mess, I learned this the hard way!)
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 an unpleasant texture. This is why you shouldn’t use this method to hard-boil eggs when there are better options.
Rice, unless You Like It Undercooked, order Overcooked
What happens? If you’ve ever Googled “Can you air fry rice?” 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 the water 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 of rice and 1 1/4 cups of cold water. After 30 minutes at 360degF, it was crisp in certain areas but not 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 either use an Instant pot for cooking perfectly cooked rice quickly or stick to these stovetop cooking methods for rice. 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, 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 curly kale. Air frying kale chips in small batches is key to crispy results. To ensure even cooking, only 3 cups of packed kale per batch. Kale shrinks when cooked. Three cups of raw kale will yield about 2 1/2 cups of cooked kale. 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 kale. They don’t cook well in the oven and can be hard to chew for hours.
Toast, unless You Want to be Very, Very Thirsty
What happens? You only need to Google “air fryer toast” to see how many people recommend air-frying bread. 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 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 unsuitable for toast. Instead, use a toaster, broiler, or toaster oven. These methods work just as well as an air fryer and are much faster.
