Using an air fryer is one of the most convenient tools to have in the kitchen. It allows for restaurant-quality crispiness to foods that you would otherwise not be able to accomplish in a simple form in your own-home. Air fryers are also convenient in their size and versatile in their capabilities.
As at home chefs begin to experiment with air fryers and their functionalities, it is likely that you will be using these appliances A LOT! When you’re using something so often, it’s important to ensure you are properly cleaning it – after all, you are serving food from it so you don’t want anyone to become sick after you’ve served them food from an un-clean air fryer.
With all of the convenience of an air fryer, cleaning them can be one of the least convenient parts (as is the case with all cooking!). Cleaning an air fryer can become especially difficult if you have oils or other foods that have become baked on. Once something is baked onto the inside of your fryer, it can become even more difficult to clean if it is not taken care of immediately after use.
However, there are ways to clean baked on oils and foods from your air fryer that we’ve outlined below. Additionally, we’ve provided general use cases for everyday cleaning of these appliances.
How To Clean An Air Fryer
It’s important to clean your fryer daily after use to maintain the life of your device as well as the quality of the prepared foods. When cooking anything that requires oil or may release oil while it cooks, you’re going to develop residue on the bottom of your fryer. If you have a grate or a plate on the bottom of your fryer, the oil buildup will likely be below this – so you may not even see it just by looking at a quick glance!
When you do have an oil buildup, it is recommended to dump this in a jar rather than down your sink. You don’t want to cause other unnecessary issues for yourself with clogged drains as the oil solidifies. Pouring the oil in a jar also provides a good visual of the oil that you are not consuming by using an air fryer.
Daily Cleaning
The good thing is for daily cleaning, most air fryers, regardless of style, can be cleaned in the same manner. You can remove your fry basket and use soap and water on it. Simply wash these by hand as you would any other dishes in your sink. Be sure to dry them off completely prior to returning them to your air fryer. While it is not a huge risk you want to avoid possible rust or mold buildup. It is important to note that it is not recommended to put your air fryer parts into a dishwasher – it will get rusty over time!
Cleaning The Exterior Of An Air Fryer
The excess of your fryer can be wiped down regularly with a towel, papercloth, or wipe. You should not need anything other than warm water for wiping down the exterior of your fryer. If you have some greasy fingerprints on it, you can use a gentle all-purpose cleaner.
Extending The Life Of Your Air Fryer
After long-term use, you will without a doubt have some oil buildup in other parts of your fryer other than the basket. This is simply due to the convection nature of the appliance. Hot circulating air will have oil particles in it, which will inevitably end up on the top, sides, and heating element areas. You will know if the heating element needs to be cleaned if you start to see smoke coming from your device when cooking. To clean these areas, be sure your device is cooled and unplugged. You can flip your fryer upside down to provide the best vantage point to the heating element. To clean these areas, use towels, sponges, or brushes to gently clean the fat and grease buildup. It is recommended to clean your air fryer in this manner every few months when it is being used regularly.
How To Clean Baked On Grease From Air Fryer
From time to time there may be an instance when you forget to clean your air fryer prior to using it again or maybe you just weren’t aware you should be cleaning it daily. Regardless, using an air fryer with old food or grease in the bottom is not recommended as these items will inevitably get baked onto the basket or drawer, making your future cleaning more difficult. If this has happened to you and you’ve not found a way to remove these baked on pieces, we have two solutions. Between the two solutions, one is a bit more labor intensive, the other is a bit less but may be controversial for some.
The “Elbow Grease” Method
To start, you’ll want to pick out all the large pieces of baked food or grease that you’re able to with your hands. Next, take baking soda and spread all over your basket and drawer, covering all areas. Next, take boiling water and fill your basket about halfway, ensuring all baked on areas are covered. Let this soak overnight. After soaking has completed, rinse everything out with hot water. The next step is to spread The Pink Stuff all over any remaining greased areas to get off any remaining oil.
The next step is to once again fill your pan and basket with hot water. This time you will add liquid dish soap, such as Ajax or Dawn, and scrub with a non-scratch sponge (we recommend these from Scotch-Brite). Do not use abrasive brillo pads or steel wool as it will damage your non-stick surface!
This process should thoroughly remove any baked-on foods and oil from your air fryer. Once you’ve washed your basket and pan, dry thoroughly and return to your air fryer.
The “Controversial” Method
This method has been used before to clean aluminum sheet pans as well as stovetop pots and pans. It is considered “controversial” by some because the manufacturer implicitly recommends against using their cleaner on aluminum. While this may not be an issue for an air fryer, some people would rather only use the cleaner in their traditional ovens. We feel this is an acceptable solution, but will let the readers at home decide.
Easy-Off Oven Cleaner is the quick and easy solution we’ve found. With your basket and pan in a sink, simply spray the Easy-Off cleaner and let it sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of soaking, scrub it with a scratch-free sponge. Next, take some liquid dish soap and fully wash the basket and pan to rinse away any remaining grease and cleaner. Be sure to thoroughly wash it to remove any possible chemical residue. Finally, dry your parts and they should look as new!
*Only use this cleaner on your basket or pan, do not use to clean the heating coil component or any other parts of your appliance.
Video Example Of How To Clean A Philips Air Fryer
Hi, everyone. Today I’m going to clean this air fryer, which I had for around two years already and I love it. I use it pretty much every single day. I toast bread in it for breakfast and I also make fries pretty often in this. Heat up leftovers. I make everything in it. You know, fried chicken. Just everything. So I use it very often. At least once a day, if not two times a day. And this is a great device. I’ve been loving it since I got it. I’ve had few different ones before I got this one, and this one is my favorite.
This is just the Philips air fryer. I believe it’s the extra large model, but it’s nothing fancy. But yeah, I love it. And it’s really dirty. So we’re going to clean it today. The part which I clean the most often is the back of it. You can take out. And I clean it in the dishwasher, which you should not. I don’t advise you to wash this part, this basket, in dishwasher because it will get rusty and it won’t look good. But it still works. You know, I started washing it in the dishwasher, and it was fine at the beginning but after a few months it started to get to rusty. Just use a sponge to clean it by hand.
The back is the part of which I clean the most often. And then I also just wipe down the exterior, like once a month. I’m pretty lazy with this. I should definitely clean it a lot more often because there’s a lot of gunk built up. It gets very oily. Whenever I touch it, my hands are very sticky. So this is very dirty. And recently I start to notice that whenever I start to heat this up, it starts to smell like smoke. It smells like it’s dirty inside. So it’s been two years, and I use it pretty much every single day, twice a day. So it’s not so bad. If I just started to notice the smell, but it’s definitely in need for some deep cleaning.
So what I’m going to do, I’m going to wipe down the exterior. Then I’m going soak the basket because the dishwasher is not doing an amazing job of cleaning the basket. It’s just not as good. So I’m going to soak this up, and I’m going to also clean the grill inside. And that’s, I’m pretty sure, what’s causing the smell. The grill inside. Because I never clean it. And I had it for two years, so I definitely need to clean it.
Of course, I already unplugged it, so make sure that’s the first thing. And to be honest, I should vacuum this thing, because there’s a lot of… What is this? It’s like crumbs, everything. It’s like build up here on the top of it, so I think I’m going to vacuum it. But first I’m going to wipe this down because it’s very sticky. And what I’m going to use… I’m just going to use a microfiber cloth and all-purpose cleaner. So this is my microfiber cloth, and I’m going to just use this all-purpose Method cleaner, which is like the cheapest natural all-purpose cleaner which I found. So that’s what I’m going to use. And I’m going to spray this cloth with this first. Sometimes I’m lazy and I spray it all over the machine, but I don’t advise that. Spray first on the cloth, because you don’t want to get this where you should know.
This is very dirty. Not going to lie. You know, you always see these videos online how to clean air fryer and it’s like brand new air fryer, and it’s like, “Why do you even clean it?” Like it’s obviously brand new. But this one is dirty. (silence) Okay. So I wanted to vacuum this part, but my husband is not really excited, so I’m just going to pass on it.
Yeah. This part with all the crumbs is just like full of fat and crumbs. So we don’t want to ruin our new Dyson. So I guess I’m just going to skip that part and try to take as much as I can with the cloth. Let’s see if it’s going to work. You know what? I’m going to focus on cleaning grill, because that’s the part that stinks. And it’s dirtiest. Let’s see how dirty it is. Hmm. Surprisingly, not as dirty as I thought it would be. But there’s gunk here, so. Okay. I’m going to clean this part with a damp sponge. Well, this is pretty stuck here. Very greasy. Easier to clean with this side than the super soft one. I’m just going to clean quickly this part.
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