Before you experiment with another air fryer creation, be sure to keep these foods to never cook in the air fryer in mind.
Ever since the air fryer has soared into popularity, it almost feels like you can make pretty much anything in it. From breaded chicken to pork chops and even meatballs, what can’t the air fryer do? Well, a few things, actually. Not all foods cook well in the air fryer. Some will get too soggy, too messy, or just cook unevenly. So before you experiment with another air fryer creation, be sure to keep these foods to never cook in the air fryer in mind.
1. Foods with wet batter
It’s messy and the batter won’t set. You won’t receive that crunch when it’s fried in traditional oil. Instead of dipping foods in a wet batter—like chicken—make a healthier breadcrumb coating instead. Dip the chicken into eggs and coat it in breadcrumbs before placing it within the air fryer.
2. Leafy greens
Leafy greens—like cabbage and spinach—aren’t the best for crisping up in the air fryer. Unlike cooking with oil the air fryer cooks unevenly and will cause foods that are lighter weight to burn faster and become soggy.
3. Popcorn
Before microwave popcorn and packaged, premade popcorn bags, people had to add kernels and oil to a pot for some homemade popcorn. An air fryer chamber may seem similar to an enclosed pot, but an air fryer typically doesn’t get hot enough to pop popcorn. An air fryer is usually between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but it takes a temperature between 400 and 460 degrees Fahrenheit to get popcorn to pop.
4. Cheese
Who wouldn’t love to instantly make some fried cheese to snack on? Unfortunately, because your air fryer isn’t truly frying your food, cheese placed inside without some sort of coating will just melt into a puddle and create a mess you don’t want to clean up. Unless you scavenge the freezer aisle for some frozen mozzarella sticks, there won’t be any fried cheese coming out of your air fryer.
5. Hamburgers
Air fryers aren’t really designed to grill red meat, especially if you like your burgers medium-rare. Though it takes a fairly short amount of time for an air fryer to cook the inside of meat to medium-rare, the outside of the burger won’t brown as quickly. If you like your meat red and juicy, an air fryer won’t give it the char that balances it out. But if you like your burgers very well done, it should be just fine in an air fryer.
6. A whole chicken
If you want to roast up an entire chicken, it’s best to just do it in the oven instead of attempting to cook it up in an air fryer. The uneven temperature won’t cook the chicken thoroughly and will cause parts of the chicken to dry out.
Also, the air fryer is smaller than the chicken so it won’t all roast at the same time.
So while you can get away with air frying almost everything, you may want to skip these particular items next time.