Three things you should never put in air fryer

Air fryers are practically a kitchen essential at this point.

They’re affordable, and they smash conventional ovens and frying pans in tonnes of areas.

Air fryers are faster, use less energy, and require little to no oil, making them cheaper, quicker and healthier to cook with than the old school appliances.

But that doesn’t mean they’re the best option every time.

There are various foods that struggle in air fryers. For one, anything oily or with wet batter is a no-go, as the liquids and spit and splash over the element.

Trying to bake a potato in one is also, as this writer once discovered, a recipe for a rock-hard disaster.

Someone's in for a disappointing lunch (Penpak Ngamsathain/Getty Images)

For a few extra considerations, let’s turn to self-proclaimed kitchen hacker Nicole Jaques, who posts to TikTok under the handle @itsnicolejaques.

Back in 2023, Nicole shared three foods that she’s deemed to be incompatible with air fryers, and it’s worth taking notes.

1. Anything with cheese on top

Now, this one isn’t quite a universal truth. As this intrepid researcher at FOODBible has previously ascertained, you can indeed sort yourself some decent cheese on toast with a short cycle and regular checking-in.

However, generally speaking, Nicole reckons it’s a bad combination.

"The cheese is going to melt before your item is cooked, creating a huge gooey mess."

For best results, Nicole said, you can add the cheese when there’s two minutes to go.

2. Rice

This one might go without saying, but perhaps people are out there trying to make egg fried rice in an air fryer. It’s almost certainly been attempted, anyway.

Per Nicole’s advice, keep the rice out of there.

"Even with the special insert, it never cooks evenly. Just use a rice cooker instead."

That would make sense.

D'oh! (Oleg Breslavtsev/Getty Images)

3. Cake donuts

Finally, the quintessential Homer Simpson-style donut is a bad air fryer choice, as far as Nicole’s concerned.

"The sour cream in their dense batter of sugar and flour just becomes a flop in the air fryer. Don't try it," she said.

So there you have it, another three air fryer no-gos to keep in mind. Thankfully they’re few and far between.

As for some other things to keep well clear of your air fryer, others to avoid include fresh greens – they’ll just go dry and bitter – bacon which has a tendency to spit and fail to cook evenly, and burgers. The latter isn’t a complete no-no, but it’s hard to get anything other than a well-done burger out of an air fryer.