Question about preheating - my buddy swears it ruins the coating on his basket after 6 months, I've never bothered and everything comes out fine

Had a conversation with my neighbor Mike last Tuesday who said preheating an air fryer is pointless because it just bakes on grease and wears out the non-stick faster, but every recipe I see online tells you to preheat for crispy results - which side are you guys on?

3 comments

3 Comments

simon_carr3d ago

Preheat mine every single time for the last 3 years and my basket still looks brand new. Never had any peeling or flaking at all. The crispy factor is noticeably better for things like wings and fries if you let it get hot first. I think the coating issues might be more about how people clean them or what temperature they're running at, not the act of preheating itself. My buddy uses the hard plastic scrapers and wads of paper towel on his while it's still hot and his basket looks terrible now, so user error plays a bigger role than people want to admit.

alice_allen54d ago

Oh man, 100% agree with you. I used to preheat mine every single time because that's what all the fancy bloggers said, but after a year my basket got all flaky and gross. Stopped preheating cold turkey about 8 months ago and honestly my fries come out just as crispy. Plus my basket still looks brand new, no peeling or anything. It's way less hassle too, just throw the food in and set the timer a couple minutes longer.

nina_hall484d ago

Yeah my aunt had this whole thing where she'd preheat her air fryer for exactly 5 minutes like it was some kind of sacred ritual... and then her basket started peeling around month 7. She blamed the dishwasher but like... she never ran it through the dishwasher so that's weird. Anyway she switched to just tossing frozen chicken tenders in cold and adding 3 minutes to the timer and honestly they come out identical. My neighbor Rick preheats his every day for like 2 years and his basket is still fine though so maybe it's a batch thing with the coating itself.