Chefs reveal the common foods that shouldn’t go in your air fryer

Air fryers have become a symbol of modern living, especially in these times of tightened belts.

They need less time, less energy, and less fat to cook grub than ovens and frying pans - what’s not to like?

But as much as we’ve come to rely on our trusty air fryers, they too have their culinary limits.

Some food just won’t cook well in them, and others can be downright dangerous.

There’s a long list of foods that shouldn’t see the inside of an air fryer, but there are some particularly common and popular items that are best cooked via more traditional methods.

Burgers

This one comes as a surprise seeing as air fryers are the undisputed kings of cooking brown foods, but it turns out that burgers are best cooked elsewhere.

"Unless you like your burgers well done, leave them out of the air fryer," Anna Vocino, author of Eat Happy Kitchen, told BuzzFeed.

"Air fryers are not ideal for grilling red meat. You’d be able to get the inside of a burger to medium rare, but the outside wouldn’t get that ‘char’ that you want on a burger. Plus, it’s really messy."

Wet Batters

Anything wet batter-related is also a big no-no for air fryers.

There’s no end of TikTok videos featuring home cooks whipping up frittata recipes, but it’s a mistake to try and substitute a deep-fat fryer for an air-based ones.

Trisha Pérez Kennealy, owner of the Inn at Hastings Park in Lexington, Massachusetts, said things like fresh onion rings are unlikely to come out well in an air fryer.

She notes that air frying batter limits its ability “to set and become crispy”, leaving you with an unsatisfying bite and the risk of some unpleasant mushiness.

Cheese

You could say something similar for cheese, as it turns out.

"An air fryer is actually NOT a deep fryer. When you make something like a mozzarella stick in a deep fryer, an instant outer crust is formed," says Yankel Polak, head chef and culinary director of ButcherBox.

“In an air fryer, this does not happen, and you’ll instead end up with a gooey, cheesy mess.”

That doesn’t sound so bad, to be fair. But, if you’re after a crispy edge to your cheese on toast, you’re better off sticking it under a grill.

Fresh Greens

It likely comes as no surprise that lettuce and cucumber struggle in an air fryer, although that’d also be true if you tried baking, roasting or frying these unassuming veggies.

Wait… is cucumber a fruit? I’m not Googling that one again.

Anyway, there are some TikTokers out there showing off things like kale chips that they’ve knocked together in an air fryer.

While it’s an admirable effort, you’ll just be drying out those leaves rather than enhancing their flavour or texture.

They’re also too light to air fry well. Air fryers are constantly blasting air around the chamber, so anything that could get caught in a breeze is bound to go flying.

Not only will those greens not cook evenly, they could get stuck on the element and create a fire hazard.

Bacon

Last on this list of non-air-fryables is bacon.

Simply put: the uneven cuts and fattiness are a bad combination.

It’s very difficult to cook a rasher of bacon evenly in an air fryer, and they’re so fatty that they’ll inevitably spit all over the place.

"Bacon is a fatty food," said Brenda Peralta, a recipe developer for FeastGood.com. "When it is cooked in an air fryer, the fat can drip down and cause smoke or splatter."

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

Not ideal!

Much like dishwashers, it’s important not to see air fryers as a magic box that you can fill with abandon.

A little thought behind their use makes for much better results, and sometimes reaching for the oven or the hob is the best option.