Grim reason you should never cook pigs in blankets in air fryer

Anyone who is favouring their air fryer to cook their Christmas dinner this year should be aware that pigs and blankets aren’t the appliance’s best friends.

According to a press release, a whopping two thirds of adults in the UK (66 percent) own an air fryer, with some of the more popular brands being Ninja, COSORI, and Our Place.

This holiday season, thousands of us will be crisping up our potatoes, perfectly roasting our turkey breasts, and getting a stunning crunch on our Brussel sprouts in our kitchen heroes.

You can even cook off your stuffing balls and parsnips in the device, but not your pigs in blankets, according to a dietitian.

If you’ve somehow never had a pigs in blanket, then this delectable delight is essentially a mini sausage with a juicy bit of bacon wrapped around it.

You can cook most of your festive feast in an air fryer, but not everything (Getty Stock Image)

The festive staple are sometimes called kilted sausages, or kilted soldiers, and originally became popular in the 1990s, thanks to celebrity chef Delia Smith.

If you were planning on including pigs and blankets on your Christmas dinner plate this year then be warned - it could spell disaster for your air fryer.

According to dietitian Brenda Peralta, bacon fat can drip down into your kitchen top friend, causing smoke or splatter.

"This can make the bacon difficult to cook evenly, and it can also produce a lot of smoke and odours, she told the Huffington Post.

Because of the high level of fat in bacon, it can be difficult to cook the meat-wrapped sausage evenly, thus running the risk of food poisoning.

The expert added that you probably shouldn’t cook thin slices of bacon in the air fryer either, remarking on how easily it can get stuck on the bottom of the draw.

"A bacon strip is a small and delicate food, and it can be difficult to flip or remove from the air fryer basket without breaking it,” she said.

“The air fryer basket may not be large enough to accommodate a large quantity of bacon.

Cooking your pigs and blankets in an air fryer runs the risk of food poisoning (Getty Stock Image)

"This can make it difficult to cook a lot of bacon at once, which can be inconvenient if you are cooking for a group."

If you’re looking for some pigs and blankets alternatives, you could always try cooking up a vegan or vegetarian version using veggie sausages and no-pork bacon.

Or why not get creative and swap your meat out for veggies? Carrots wraped in pastry, or halloumi wrapped in aubergine could be the way to go.

Happy feasting!