Air fryers might be the new and trendy thing right now, but for many people they’ve been a life saver. You can cook healthy and crispy food without using oil or turning on the oven.
But what you might not know is that when you’re air frying something like fish sticks, there’s smoke involved. It’s all part of the process. Keep reading to find out why air fryers make smoky products and how to stop it from happening in your own kitchen!
Why does my air fryer smoke?
Here’s why: when you use an air fryer, the hot air circulates around whatever you’re preparing – usually dehydrating it in order to get a golden brown appearance and crisp exterior – similar to a convection oven. It’s just that the heating element in air fryers is much stronger than a regular oven, so it can get your food crispy without using oil or frying it.
So what exactly is smoke?
Smoke arises when something burns and releases an invisible gas called hydro-carbon (think of all the things you’ve ever burned – like toast, marshmallows, cardboard). As this burn takes place, it also emits smoke particles into the surrounding environment. You could be burning natural gas or propane coming out of your stovetop to cook up some bacon; you could be cooking anything inside your kitchen oven where heat has always been applied to release these smoky fumes; even making fire with lighter fluid will produce smoke!
It’s all about the heating element – or, more specifically, a lack thereof. Make no mistake: an air fryer is not a deep fryer . It doesn’t use any oil. Instead of submerging items inside hot fat, it heats them up with the power of hot air and circulates it around whatever you’re cooking. This can lead to some smoke as things burn inside your kitchen appliance.
How to stop smoke from happening
There are actually two different reasons why you might be getting smoke when using an air fryer: 1) your food is burning and 2) there’s residue on the machine itself that’s creating smoke as it burns off (or starts to burn). Here’s what you need to know:
1) Food might be burning inside your air fryer
If you’re making baked goods like banana bread, this is going to produce a lot of smoke because the outside of whatever you’re making will get extremely hot while the inside of whatever you have cooking in there stays relatively warm. You might notice that interior of whatever’s cooking isn’t getting crispy or starting to burn after a few minutes of cooking, but the exterior is becoming dark brown and almost crispy too soon. This is why it’s likely food is burning on the inside before it has had time to properly cook.
This can be especially true with things like frozen fish sticks. The fat content in frozen fish tends to melt at a slower rate than other foods that contain more carbohydrates (like mashed potatoes, for example) and this can result in a finished product that seems nice and crispy on the outside but has a mushy interior.
To solve this problem, be sure that whatever you’re cooking is as dry as possible before putting it into your air fryer. Here’s the trick: bake your items first. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake whatever you want to cook until it is golden brown and crispy all over (you’ll probably lose 5-10 minutes of actual time because preheating will take some time). Then transfer your food from the oven tray directly into your air fryer basket so that they finish crisping up together! This helps ensure both sides of your food receive evenly without burning anything.
2) There’s still residue on your air fryer that is producing smoke
If you’ve just finished using your air fryer, don’t turn it off right away. Wait 30 minutes. This should be enough time for the appliance to completely cool down so you can easily wipe out whatever may have spilled inside. Do not use water to clean; simply use a damp cloth and any kind of kitchen cleaner (like Dawn dish soap). Air fryers are super easy to clean but high heat can make it tricky – this will ensure everything is nice and dry before putting back into storage or using again!
Hope these tips help with understanding why your air fryer might be making smoky products! Remember: cooking food in an air fryer is actually pretty healthy and will result in a crispy-crunchy finish that’s actually better than deep frying while also eliminating several hundred calories from your meal.
Read more: https://reviewlog.org/best-air-fryer/
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