My sister's air fryer tip finally made sense

She kept saying to preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes before putting anything in. I thought she was just being extra. Tried it last night with chicken thighs and they came out way crispier than usual. No more soggy skin. Has anyone else noticed a big difference with preheating?

4 comments

4 Comments

brian_hart9d ago

Whoa wait you pat them dry with paper towels too? I thought I was the only one being that extra! I mean, that's seriously a game changer though. I always thought it was just me being weird but now I'm convinced it's the secret to that golden brown crunch. And flipping halfway through, I always forget to do that because I get distracted. I need to start setting a timer on my phone or something.

mason.drew9d ago

Preheat for 5 minutes" yeah that was my exact reaction too. I used to just throw stuff in cold and hope for the best. But then I forgot to preheat once for frozen fries and they came out like sad little limp noodles. Now I let it heat up while I'm seasoning whatever I'm cooking. I also started shaking the basket halfway through like I'm a line cook at a diner and that helps too.

caleb_bell59d ago

And a quick spray of cooking oil on the basket first makes cleanup way easier too.

black.oliver9d ago

3 minutes is my sweet spot for preheating. I timed it once with my Cosori and noticed the difference right away with wings. Ngl, I also started patting my chicken thighs dry with paper towels before seasoning them and that combined with the preheat gives you that crunch like they were deep fried. Tbh the real game changer was flipping them over halfway through the cook time too.