Your air fryer is undoubtedly the MVP of your kitchen, and it should be a lifesaver for liberating up oven house this Thanksgiving. However let’s be clear: Simply because it might probably prepare dinner meals does not imply it ought to prepare dinner every little thing.
In case you get too cocky and attempt to toss your whole vacation menu in that basket, you are heading for catastrophe. That intense, swirling warmth will flip delicate greens into burnt confetti, dry out your seafood appetizers till they bounce and splatter moist batter all over the place, filling your kitchen with smoke proper earlier than the friends arrive.
Do not let a kitchen gadget spoil the most important meal of the 12 months. Save the drama for the dinner desk and maintain these 9 meals distant out of your air fryer.
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1. Boneless pork chops
Boneless pork chops dry out too simply in an air fryer.
A wonderfully cooked pork chop is a factor of magnificence, however leaner cuts of the opposite chicken can dry out in a rush. Bacon, bone-in pork chops and fattier cuts of swine can deal with the air fryer, however lean, boneless pork chops and tenderloin are likely to dry out when subjected to the blast of excessive warmth. If you are going to use the air fryer to prepare dinner pork chops, accomplish that at a decrease temperature and use some fats to maintain issues from getting too dry.
2. Spinach and leafy greens
Crisped spinach and kale is not going to end up properly in an air fryer.
Leafy greens are an enormous “no” when air-fryer cooking. The recent convection air will crisp most leafy greens corresponding to spinach, kale and chard far past something you’d need to eat. Strong veggies, together with Brussels sprouts, squash and zucchini fare properly within the air fryer, however leafy greens are finest when sauteed, stewed or steamed.
3. Steak and most cuts of beef
Steak cooked in an air fryer might find yourself robust and rubbery.
Steak reheats properly within the air fryer but it surely’s not a great place to prepare dinner it for the primary time. Air fryer baskets get scorching however not scorching sufficient to provide the surface of your steak a correct sear. I’ve tried cooking steaks within the air fryer earlier than. Even fatty, forgiving steaks do not come out in addition to once they’re cooking on a scorching plancha, cast-iron skillet or grill.
The exception to the meat rule is burgers. Floor beef will not get stringy, and the air fryer’s intense warmth means that you can get a crusty sear with out overcooking the center. This is make a bacon cheeseburger within the air fryer.
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4. Boneless rooster breasts
Unbreaded rooster breasts aren’t the very best candidates.
Hen wings, thighs and any bone-in items are excellent candidates for the air fryer. Boneless rooster breasts do not have a lot fats and can dry out simply. Shield them with just a little egg batter and breadcrumbs, and you will be OK, however naked rooster breasts cooked within the air fryer usually emerge dry or rubbery.
5. Massive cuts of any meat
Pot roast sometimes wants low and gradual strategies of cooking.
Massive cuts of beef, pork and lamb sometimes do finest when cooked utilizing a low-and-slow methodology corresponding to braising or smoking. When cooking bigger cuts of meat, keep away from the air fryer’s scorching blast of convection air and go for the Dutch oven, gradual cooker or pellet smoker.
6. Bare broccoli
The air fryer will singe broccoli until you cowl it in foil.
In case you wrap your broccoli in foil, you should utilize the air fryer to roast it (shortly). In case you go away it uncovered and uncovered to the new convection air and you will find yourself with sizzled broccoli ends which are something however scrumptious.
7. Shellfish
Clams and mussels are higher for a pot as an alternative of an air fryer.
Shellfish corresponding to clams and mussels want liquid to prepare dinner with out drying out. They’re additionally simply overcooked, which may result in a chewy, rubbery morsel that you do not need anyplace close to your plate. Keep away from the air fryer when cooking most shellfish.
8. Most baked items
Cake and cookie recipes do not sometimes translate properly from the oven to an air fryer.
Learn extra: Finest Seafood Supply Companies
You possibly can actually do some baking within the air fryer however use warning as a result of the air fryer’s tremendous convection behaves in a different way than a traditional oven’s convection warmth.
Baking a cake or batch of cookies within the air fryer utilizing the time and temperature known as for in a recipe will usually end in an overcooked, dry or burnt end result. When baking in an air fryer, use recipes which are particular to an air fryer and do not assume an oven recipe will translate.
9. Massive casseroles or layered pasta
Lasagna and deep casserole-style dishes might not heat by earlier than the highest begins to burn.
As a result of the air fryer cooks quick and the warmth comes from above, deep casseroles and layered lasagnas might not prepare dinner right through earlier than burning on prime. If you’re going to use the air fryer, set it to bake or a decrease temperature than you’d use to prepare dinner rooster wings or scorching canine.
In case you’re in search of an amazing air fryer, listed below are CNET’s top-rated fashions for 2025. For extra, these are the finest air-frying toaster ovens for 2025.
