Learn how to preheat your air fryer so you can create even and crispy results on all the foods you toss in your air fryer. Having a hot air fryer cooking atmosphere provides the best quality on fresh and frozen foods!
But do you have to preheat an air fryer? I answer all the questions below to help you get started mastering your air fryer or air fryer oven. Try out my air fryer cinnamon sweet potato fries for a tasty side.
Popular Types of Air Fryers
Here are some of the top brands and styles of air fryers. Now, you can use this guide even if you don’t see your specific air fryer below.
- Ninja Foodi Air Fryer
- Instant Pot Duo Crisp Air Fryer
- Cosori Air Fryer
- Air Fryer Ovens
- Ninja Foodi Grill Air Fryer
- instant Pot Vortex
- Philips Air Fryer
Why Would You Preheat The Air Fryer
An air fryer uses hot air to circulate around your food cooking it and creating a nice crunch as you would if deep fried.
Preheating the air fryer allows for a already hot environment to give you the best crunchy texture. Otherwise you might have to cook food longer or it will lack that crisp texture.
Types of Food To Cook In Your Air Fryer
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to air frying. It allows you to cook quickly and efficiently!
I love doing my air fryer frozen chicken nuggets. It gives you a similar texture to deep fried without the excess grease.
But you can also cook foods like frozen pizza rolls, homemade crab rangoons, and more.
For a main course try these lobster tails, or a juicy turkey tenderloin.
And we can’t forget air fryer desserts! Puff pastry churros and chocolate chip cookies are two of my favorites!
How Do You Preheat An Air Fryer
Depending on your brand and model the steps will vary just slightly. But this can help you master the preheating.
- Start by plugging in and turning on your air fryer. Some have touch screens and other air fryer models might have a turn style dial.
- Some models have a built in preheat function you can use. Other models you will manually set the temperature for the same temperature you are cooking food, or otherwise stated in the recipe card.
- Then you will preheat for around 5-7 minutes on almost all air fryers.
Pro Tips
To get a nice golden color on your air fried foods, spritzing food with oil will help achieve it. Otherwise, food can look pale and not offer that golden color.
Another helpful tip is to line the very bottom of air fryer with aluminum foil. This can help when you have foods that might drip and make a mess. It allows for a quicker cleanup,
Adding a few slices of bread under tray or the racks if it fits in an air fryer is great for soaking up drippings. The bread holds the oil or grease and helps lessen the smoking of the air fryer. Air fryer bacon is one I always place on bottom. Then discard bread when done.
Common Questions
My Favorite Air Fryer
So I have a handful of air fryers. My overall favorite is the Nuwave Air Fryer Oven. This is a new model than what I have, mine is pretty old.
I love the removable racks, if allows you to cook a lot more food, or remove racks for cooking a larger food like a rotisserie style chicken.
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