If you want fast, clean and healthy meals, an air fryer is a great choice. These small machines make bacon, fries, chicken and more perfectly crispy without the mess of greasy splatters. Whether you're a beginner or use one every day, a few smart tips can take your cooking skills to a much higher level. It's a tool that truly changes how you handle dinner. But you still need to know how to actually use it. 

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That's where we come in. We're going to help you know exactly what you're doing when you make that air-fried dinner you've been dreaming of. From must-have accessories to rookie mistakes to avoid, these expert-backed hacks will help you squeeze every last bit of crispy, juicy goodness out of your air fryer.

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1. Buy an air fryer that's the right size

If you haven't bought an air fryer yet, the first decision to make is arguably the most important: What size to get. Air fryers are often measured in quarts, the smallest being around 2 and the largest about 8.

Because of the wide range of sizes, before buying, check the air fryer's measurements and make sure you have the counter space and wall outlets to accommodate it.

2. Invest in the right air fryer accessories

When you're cooking french fries in the air fryer, it'll do its best work if each piece of potato is a uniform size. Cutting by hand can be challenging, so my advice is to buy a cutter that'll help you out. It's one of the fastest, easiest-to-use tools you can add to your kitchen. 

Additional air fryer accessories, such as tongs, silicone basket liners, meat thermometers and olive oil sprayers can elevate your air-frying experience. 

3. Don't forget to shake and flip

For making fries or something similar (tater tots, chicken fingers, brussels sprouts, and so on), you'll want to give the basket a good shake at least once during the cooking process. This will move the food around and ensure nothing sticks to your air fryer. 

If you're cooking something like chicken wings, make sure to flip them halfway through the process so they end up perfectly crispy on all sides.  

4. Don't overload or layer

Remember, your air fryer is essentially a little oven. If you were cooking, let's say, chicken breasts in a regular oven, you wouldn't stack them on top of one another, would you? No, so it's the same deal here. You'll want to spread them out as best you can, and don't overload the basket. And never, ever layer your chicken wings, tenders or anything of the sort. 

If you want more room in your air fryer, you can purchase metal racks that can give you double the amount of cooking space. 

Overloading the air fryer will cause your food to heat unevenly, knocking down the quality of your food. If you're cooking a lot of food, doing it in batches is best to ensure quality.

5. Adapt oven recipes

If you want to make an old favorite in your air fryer, there's an easy way to adapt nearly every oven recipe for air fryer use.

Typically, you'd lower the cooking temperature by about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. If the oven recipe says 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 Celsius), the fryer gets set to 325 degrees (160 Celsius). Similarly, you'll need about 20% less cooking time, though this can certainly vary, depending on the kind of food, the cooking temperature and so on.

If you need help with the math, this air fryer calculator is here to help. It'll convert standard cook times and temperatures.

6. Don't forget to clean this part of your air fryer 

Though the air fryer can occasionally seem like magic, there's one task it can't handle: cleaning itself. Unfortunately, that step is solely on you, but we've rounded up our best air fryer cleaning tips to help you out, including information about how to clean one of the most forgotten areas of your air fryer. 

7. Go easy on the oil but don't ignore it

One big selling point for air fryers is that food cooked in them requires less oil that other methods. That's good news but it doesn't mean you won't need any oil. I find that certain foods such as chicken, vegetables and fish benefit from a gentle mist of olive oil, but be careful not to soak food in oil since the superconvection heat has a way of supercharging whatever fat and oil is in the basket.

The best way to spread a light and even coating is with a cheap $8 oil sprayer or this. 

8. Think outside the box

Yes, fries and chicken wings are some of our favorite air fryer staples, but you can make many other foods as well. CNET has a rundown of some of the best air fryer foods, and if you want specific recipes, we have those too. Below, I've gathered seven additional recipes you'll definitely want to try:

• Chicken thighs
• A whole chicken
• Salmon
• Baked potato
• S'mores dip
• Brussels sprouts
• Cheeseburgers

The top 10 air fryer mistakes and how to avoid them

Air frying can save time – and the food can be tasty – but if you’re making these common mistakes you might not be getting the best results.

Has any other kitchen appliance achieved cult status in recent years quite like the air fryer?

Judging by the millions of recipes online, hundreds of cookbooks dedicated to this appliance, the abundance of accessories available, and the new brands entering the market, its popularity shows no sign of waning.

But if you’re making these common mistakes you won’t be getting the most from your air fryer and you might think all the hype is nothing but hot air.

We chatted to CHOICE’s home economist and resident air fryer expert Fiona Mair to find the most common air fryer mistakes and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1. Skipping the preheat with fresh foods

Most people know that air fryers are great for heating pre-cooked foods, but if you’re cooking fresh fare such as meats, fish, vegetables or potatoes, preheating ensures you don’t end up with a soggy, disappointing result.

“It’s important to preheat your air fryer when cooking these types of foods so it’s the correct temperature at the start,” says Fiona. “That way, food starts to cook and crisp immediately.”

Mistake 2. Trying to cook food in a wet batter 

This mistake is a consequence of calling what is essentially a small oven a “fryer”. Unlike a conventional deep fryer, your air fryer won’t handle wet batters (like tempura) and putting these foods in your air fryer can have disastrous consequences. Far from the crisp crunchy coating you’ll get from deep frying, the coating will simply slip through the basket and you’ll end up with a disappointing mess.  

You can now buy many different types of air fryer liners to help limit crumbs or cooking fats dripping down into your air fryer, so these can be a clever option when cooking messier foods. (See point 5, below, about cleaning your air fryer properly!).

Mistake 3. Overfilling the basket

If you need to cook up a big batch of chips, you might think filling the air fryer basket to capacity will mean you get to dig into those crunchy treats as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, less is more when it comes to getting the result you want and overfilling is a big no-no. 

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Ensuring ingredients have space allows air to efficiently circulate, resulting in crispy, rather than steamed, food.

“Overfilling the basket causes uneven cooking and browning, as well as uncooked soggy areas,” warns Fiona. “It also limits the shaking process during cooking. Overcome this by cooking in batches.”

Mistake 4. Not shaking things up

Air fryers often promise an easier cooking experience than traditional cooking methods, but it isn’t a case of just switching it on and walking away. 

Fiona says turning larger items such as schnitzel or fish and giving smaller-sized food such as chips a swift shake is key to getting golden, evenly cooked creations. “Some air fryers have a programmed setting that beeps to remind you to shake the food,” she explains. “If not, you’ll need to set a timer to remind you to shake the basket every five minutes.”

Mistake 5. Not cleaning it properly

For some reason, many air fryer owners think their appliance doesn’t need to be cleaned after every use and this can create some quite serious problems. Residue or crumbs can burn the next time you use it and leftover oil can smoke. That’s going to affect your food’s flavour, stink out your kitchen and it could even pose a fire hazard. 

“After each use, clean around the fan and wipe inside the unit with a microfibre cloth,” advises Fiona. Doing this while it’s still warm makes cleaning easier, too. Don’t forget to check the manual to see whether the accessories are dishwasher-safe or need to be washed by hand.

Mistake 6. Not giving the appliance proper space

Since air fryers are essentially small versions of wall ovens in fan-forced mode, they require space and ventilation during use. “Always allow airflow around your appliance – never put it into a cavity,” says Fiona. 

Air fryers should also be positioned on a stable, heatproof surface when in use, so keep an eye on your benchtop to prevent potential damage. “You may want to invest in a heatproof board the air fryer can sit on,” she adds.

Mistake 7. Adding oil when it’s not needed

Air fryers promise tasty ‘fried’ foods without the oil – especially for precooked items. “Any packaged frozen foods such as chips, chicken or fish don’t require oil as it’s already in the coatings,” says Fiona. 

For fresh ingredients though, like homemade chips or meat, a little oil can encourage browning. 

“Use an oil spray so you get a light amount – the purpose is to reduce the amount of oil you’d use when frying,” she adds. 

As a guideline, you’ll only need up to one tablespoon of oil for one kilogram of fresh food.

Mistake 8. Not patting food dry

Moisture is your biggest enemy when it comes to air frying, says Fiona. “Any moisture left on the food will cause it to steam and reduce the crispness of the food,” she says. 

To encourage browning and crisping, pat dry anything unbreaded before cooking, such as meat, vegetables or fish.

Mistake 9. Hiding it in a cupboard

Storing your air fryer in your kitchen cabinet means added faff to get it out and put it away each time. More faff equals less chance of using it – not exactly good bang for your buck. 

“To get the most out of your air fryer, you might want to leave it out permanently,” advises Fiona. “This of course depends on you having the space on your kitchen counter, particularly given air fryers can be quite large, bulky appliances (you may not even have room in your cupboard, so keep that in mind before you buy!). 

“And be aware that top-opening models could be out of the running if you have restricted space above the kitchen bench.

Mistake 10. Buying the wrong-size air fryer

In our latest testing, CHOICE experts found that air fryers are getting bigger, and while that may present challenges for storage, it also means you can cook big quantities in fewer batches. 

“In air fryers that have drawers, we have seen an increase in the basket capacity for many models, which is perfect for larger families or when you want to cook a greater amount of food,” says Fiona. 

“These larger-capacity baskets can accommodate something as large as a 2kg roast meat joint or a kilo of chips.

Carefully consider the ideal capacity for you before you buy – too big and it’ll be impossible to store, but too small and you’ll be forever cooking food in multiple batches.

“Larger families will benefit from a drawer airfryer that has a 5-litre capacity or more. If you are wanting to use the air fryer for baking cakes and cookies, then look for a larger capacity drawer,” she says.

But be wary of claimed capacity

Take the manufacturer’s claimed measurements with a grain of salt as the claimed capacity or volume can be misleading. 

Some manufacturers measure the whole space inside the air fryer rather than the actual useable capacity. For example, a lid-opening air fryer that states it has a 10-litre capacity may only accommodate 500g of chips in the roller basket accessory.

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