The Biggest Downside To Cooking With An Air Fryer (And Why It's Not A Big Deal)
The air fryer really is a genius invention, and it's one that many consumers have needed for a long time — hence why pro chefs need to chill with the air fryer hate. Sure, food cooked in an air fryer isn't really fried, but the tool's uses are myriad, and it's easy to see why the gadget has become so popular so quickly. Just because air fryers are great, however, doesn't mean they don't have downsides and pitfalls to watch out for.
One of the biggest is a typical air fryer's size — most of them aren't very big. These gadgets are brilliant at cooking enough food for one or maybe two people, but for any group larger than that, you run into trouble. Food in an air fryer must be spaced out in order to actually cook, and since these fryers' baskets aren't all that big, you sometimes have to cook your food in batches. Since each batch can take several minutes to cook, this means that the first few will likely be cold by the time the last few are ready. Fortunately, there's an easy solution: Just put those original batches back in the air fryer for a short time. Seriously.
An air fryer's small size is both a blessing and a curse
Pro chefs love to say (with noticeable derision) that an air fryer is "just a miniature convection oven," and that's more or less true — but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Both convection ovens and air fryers rely on hot air circulation to cook food, but because air fryers are significantly smaller than traditional convection ovens, they retain heat far more efficiently. This means that not only do they heat up faster, but they cook food faster, too. This is one of the biggest factors that makes them so convenient and versatile.
That said, their smaller basket size is something of a double-edged sword. You can't just dump a huge pile of french fries into an air fryer, one on top of another, and expect them all to reach the same level of doneness; the air needs space to circulate around the food and cook it evenly, meaning you have to cook in batches. This is a problem when you're preparing food for a large group of people, as it takes quite a while to cook all the batches you need to make. This essentially defeats the purpose of owning a miniature high-speed convection oven, and families of four or more may struggle with air fryers for this reason. Your first batches will likely get cold before the last ones are even done, but fortunately, you can solve this problem with relative ease.
Give your cold food another short stint in the air fryer
Because air fryers retain heat so well, you can simply pop your early batches back in, set the fryer to a lower temperature, and heat for just a minute or two. You're not looking to cook the food here — that part's already done — you just want to warm it back up. Reheating in the microwave can make food soggy, but an air fryer isn't going to have that problem (yet another benefit of hot-air circulation). This method does require some delicate balancing, and there's a point past which you have too many batches to even attempt it, but if you only have one or two extra groupings of food, it gets the job done.
This isn't the only air fryer tip to keep in mind, either. You really should clean your air fryer between each use, and it's important to know that perfectly air fried food requires less oil than you think. Also, you should avoid the air fryer for larger, bone-in cuts of meat for the same reason you sometimes have to cook in batches: They take up too much space and don't cook evenly. As long as you follow all these tips, though, your air fryer is still a great and convenient method for making an easy meal.