Never cook these things in an Air Fryer

In the last few years, Air Fryers have become very popular as well as an essential kitchen appliance. Essentially an amped-up countertop convection oven, it is quite frequently recommended by cooking experts to prepare frozen food, bake cookies, and even fry bacon, chicken and other meats. Air frying is healthier than frying in oil. It cuts calories by 70% to 80% and has a lot less fat. This cooking method might also cut down on some of the other harmful effects of oil frying.

Though Air Fryer comes in handy quite often, there are a few things you should not cook in it. If these foods are cooked in it, they will turn out dry, overcooked or will taste bad. Here are a few foods that you must not cook in your Air Fryer.

Air fryers aren't meant to handle wet batter or coating. Inside a dry air fryer, there isn't anything to set the wet batter. Instead, the traditional batter will just drip off while the food cooks. So you might be preparing fried fish or pakoras for your family, but will end up with a complete mess.

Air fryers can allow some foods to turn dry while cooking. Broccoli without any oil might even result in a completely burnt dish. It is advised to toss the broccoli with powdered spices instead of fresh to avoid burning. After that, add one tablespoon of water to the bottom of the air fryer so that the broccoli stays tender and doesn’t burn.

If you put a whole chicken in an air fryer, the side closest to the heat source will dry out or burn well before the other side cooks thoroughly. The chicken will end up dry with a hard exterior. Hot air needs to circulate in order for an air fryer to work. To correctly cook chicken in an air fryer, you will need to cook a few pieces at a time instead of placing the entire bird inside at once.

Melting a classic grilled cheese or making homemade jalapeno poppers in an air fryer can cause issues. Similar to the wet batter, the melted cheese makes a big mess. Fresh cheese is especially problematic for an air fryer.

Grains such as rice and pasta can crisp nicely in an air fryer, but they have to be cooked on the gas first. Air fryers are intended to dry cook food, so trying to cook something that needs to be immersed in water to cook properly won’t work.

An air fryer doesn't have the crisping power over raw produce. The results tend to be soggy and unappetizing regardless of the temperature. Thus, frozen vegetables are a better option for an air fryer.

It is recommended to use an alternative to olive oil when air frying because other oils have a lower smoke point. One reason for skipping out on oils with low smoke points is that your food can taste weird after coming out of the air fryer. Thus, it is advised to use vegetable oil, canola oil, and peanut oil as they are all high smoke point oils.