What You Definitely Need To Avoid When Cleaning Your Air Fryer

Air fryers have quickly become a mainstay amongst popular kitchen appliances, and for good reason. The fast-acting "fryer" is a modern marvel that truly does crisp up everything from homemade French fries to deliciously homemade dried fruit. For all the important steps you shouldn't skip while cooking with your air fryer, there are just as many to follow when it comes to cleaning. You are not in the minority if you only give your air fryer a scrub every so often. But when you do get around to cleaning it, there is one thing you definitely need to avoid, and that's harsh chemicals, including heavy-duty degreasers.

Most air fryer baskets are actually non-stick, so super-charged cleaners can harm that coating, causing it to wear off — and leading to your food getting stuck inside. These types of cleaners can also contain heavy chemical mixtures that are not food-safe. As a good rule of thumb, you should never use disinfectants on appliances where your food will be touching, and that definitely includes your air fryer.

It's also a good idea to not use scrubbers like steel wool, metal spatulas, or other abrasive utensils to scrape stuck-on food off the basket, as that can also hurt the non-stick coating. And as a final note, while we're telling you what not to do: Don't submerge the main body of your air fryer (the part that you plug in) in water — that's a quick way to ruin your appliance and/or electrocute yourself.

To give your air fryer a good deep clean, you'll first want to make sure it's unplugged and free of any recent food debris. Remove the basket and pan components and take them to your sink, where you'll use warm soapy water and a soft sponge to wipe away any grease and gunk that may be present. If there is some seriously baked on stuff that won't come off with gentle scrubbing, give those parts a soak in soapy water, or spray them down with a gentle yet effective food-safe cleaner, like this Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray. You might be able to toss certain components of your air fryer into the dishwasher depending on your particular model, but it is best to double check if the basket and tray in your specific appliance is dishwasher-safe before giving them a spin.

Now, the main body of the air fryer obviously cannot get too wet or it might short-circuit. But grease can disperse on the sides and even the "ceiling," so what you want to do is take a damp — but not overly wet — fabric or paper towel and carefully wipe the inside of your air fryer. Don't forget to wipe the top part of the interior where the heat comes from. As long as you do this regularly, it should keep grease splatter to a minimum inside the machine.

Of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or in this case, having to deep clean your air fryer too often. As much of a hassle as it can be to wait for your air fryer to cool down and then remember to come back to it, it does help if you give it a quick wipe down after every use. To keep the basket as clean as possible, you can also invest in liners. This handy tool comes in single-use parchment, as well as many-use silicone varieties, and they really go a long way toward keeping things from getting super-baked onto the bottom.

Finally, if you have an issue with dust accumulating on top of your air fryer, reconsider your storage placement. You can keep the appliance in a kitchen cabinet or your pantry when it is not in use — but only when you're not actively air frying anything, because it does matter where you place your air fryer when it's in use. If you do use the kitchen gadget often enough to merit an allocated place of honor on your countertop, drape a cloth towel over the top between uses to keep dust and other kitchen grime like oil sprays and food splatter from gunking up the outside.