A cleaning guru has divulged her clever trick to keeping your air fryer in top shape as UK energy bills soar – many choosing this gadget over traditional ovens for Christmas feasts.
With its cost-effectiveness, especially when serving a smaller crowd, an air fryer is a savvy choice. However, it may need several uses on the day, leading to considerable mess.
To prevent damage and keep it ready for cooking over the Christmas holidays, a pro tip comes from Nancy Emery at Tap Warehouse. She suggests a thorough clean between each use to avoid stubborn residue that could alter tastes and become a chore to scrub off later, the Mirror reports.
Nancy advises: “If you’re cooking multiple dishes on the same day like you would at Christmas then you want to clean your air fryer properly in between recipes. This is because the fat, juices or crumbs that naturally occur during the cooking process can impair the flavour of the dishes you cook after.
“But also if left in the tray while you cook another dish, they will burn, harden and become really difficult to remove.”
To avoid a tough cleaning job later, Nancy suggests using liners in the gadget to catch any oil or fat, making it easy to bin the mess. For those without liners, Nancy has a “foolproof” method to clean your air fryer once the Christmas chaos is over.
How to clean your air fryer properly
Firstly, switch off your air fryer and let it cool down. Then, fill your sink with hot, soapy water and put the tray from your air fryer and any other accessories into the sink to soak.
Wipe around the basket with kitchen paper to remove any food and grease, then wash it with warm soapy water and a sponge. Once the basket is clean, use the sponge on the tray and accessories that were soaking in the water and wipe them with a clean, soft cloth.
You can also wipe around the heating element of the air fryer, as long as it’s completely cooled off before doing so. And for those who’ve received a brand new air fryer for Christmas, Nancy has a tip for getting rid of that new, plastic smell before you use it for the first time.
She said: “Take a normal oven-safe dish and fill it with white vinegar and lemon juice, then place the bowl inside the basket and run it on a high heat – around 220 degrees – for 10 minutes and that should do the trick.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter.