How to Clean an Air Fryer (It’s Easy, We Promise)

editor@purewow.com (PureWow)
·5 min read

An air fryer is a magical appliance that can satisfy any craving for something crispy and delicious in the blink of an eye, without the calories you’d typically rack up from a standard fried food fix. The only drawback? They can be a real pain in the butt to clean. Like every other appliance in your kitchen, these puppies will get quite gross unless you give ‘em some TLC from time to time. (Hint: The longer you wait, the bigger the chore.) Fortunately, we found out the easiest way to clean an air fryer, so you can cut the elbow grease along with the cooking oil.

How Often Should You Clean Your Air Fryer?

Anyone who has ever turned up the heat on a dirty oven knows that errant drips of grease and crumbs from feasts of yore can stink and smoke up your kitchen pretty quickly. Heads up, friends—the same is true of a filthy air fryer. So how often do you need to scour the thing? The best advice is to buck up and give the sucker a quick clean after every use so you can spare yourself a bigger job down the road—especially if you are using it for cooking crumby foods, meat, or anything that involves a sauce or marinade.

Tips For Cleaning Your Air Fryer

Now that you realize the error of your ways, it’s time to give your air fryer the attention it deserves. Good news: You can read on for a comprehensive guide on how to clean an air fryer—but before you do, we suggest you check out the following helpful tips to ensure that the cleaning process isn’t more arduous than it needs to be.

  • Line or grease the baking tray. Most air fryers boast non-stick baking trays, but when you’re routinely cooking with sauces and marinades, the material of said trays won’t always live up to that non-stick description. A pro tip, courtesy of the air fryer purveyors over at Hanabishi, is to lightly grease the baking tray with cooking oil that has a high smoke point. Better yet, simply line the tray with aluminum foil before cooking marinated foods and clean-up will be a breeze. Just make sure it doesn’t cover the entire basket or else you’ll prevent air from circulating.

  • Don’t overdo the breading. It doesn’t matter what make or model you own, all air fryers have one thing in common—a powerful fan. You can think of an air fryer as a super compact and powerful convection oven in that it’s the efficient circulation of hot air that makes your food come out so delightfully crispy. Alas, this same feature can, well, send things flying. One way to minimize mess is to avoid making more crumbs than you have to...and this tip is particularly prescient when it comes to cooking breaded foods. The air fryer experts at Hanabishi recommend that you dip your food in a good, edible glue (think: egg wash, mayonnaise or heavy cream) so that the breading adheres. Also, and this is important, be sure to tap off any excess breading before sending the food into your air fryer.

  • Get rid of grease. As we know, air fryers greatly reduce the need for added oil, but if you're cooking something that already has a lot of fat present (like bacon), smoke can still happen. As such, it’s a good idea to give your air fryer a paper towel pat down after cooking something fatty to remove excess grease from your appliance—you know, like you used to do to your pizza slice circa 1995.

How to Clean an Air Fryer

OK, so you haven’t been cleaning your air fryer after every use. Fear not—just follow these simple steps for deep cleaning an air fryer and it will be good as new in no time.

What You’ll Need:

  • Soft-bristle brush

  • Microfiber cloths

  • Dish soap

  • Baking soda

Step 1: Unplug the appliance. This one is pretty straightforward.

Step 2: Wash the baking pan. All air fryers have a tray to collect grease and it will become a major problem area if you don’t clean it. To do this, just pull out the drawer, remove the grease tray and use a paper towel to wipe away any excess oil before washing the tray in warm soapy water. Note: Some air fryers have dishwasher-safe components, so you can always consult the user guide to see if you can cut a corner here; otherwise, err on the side of caution and handwash.

Step 3: Wash the frying basket. Now that you’ve banished the grease build-up in the tray, it’s time to tackle the food debris that’s caked onto the frying basket. Fortunately, there’s not much to it: Clean the frying basket in hot, soapy water—a brief soak might be helpful—and use that soft-bristled (i.e., non-abrasive) brush to gently scrub away the caked-on food.

Step 4: Dry the removable parts. It’s important to promptly dry both the grease tray and frying basket with a microfiber towel before putting them back in place inside the appliance.

Step 5: Wipe down the interior. With that (now damp) microfiber cloth and a spot of dish soap, quickly wipe down the interior of the air fryer to remove any grease that’s been left behind after cooking. Next, grab a fresh microfiber cloth, get it damp and wipe the interior again to remove any soapy residue.

Step 6: Clean the heating element. The heating element itself can be cleaned with the exact same wipe-down procedure described in step five. However, if there’s actual food matter stuck to the heating element, you should remove that first by scrubbing it with a soft-bristled brush and a slurry of baking soda and water. When the scrub and wipe down is finished, dry the heating element with a clean cloth.

There you have it—everything you need to know about cleaning an air fryer. (And it really wasn’t so bad, was it?)

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