Shoutout to the person who told me to stop preheating my air fryer

I was at a potluck last month and this older guy named Dave saw me waiting for my air fryer to preheat before tossing in some wings. He laughed and said 'you're wasting 10 minutes, just put them in cold and add 2 minutes to the cook time.' I thought he was nuts but tried it that weekend. Honestly changed how I use the thing - saves time and the texture comes out fine. Has anyone else tried skipping the preheat or do you swear by it?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonk981d ago

Cut the preheat time by the 2 minute rule and you're basically splitting the difference between patience and laziness, which is my favorite cooking style. Most stuff turns out fine as long as you remember to shake the basket, since that seems to fix 90% of air fryer problems anyway. Guess I owe Dave an apology next time I see him, assuming he's still hanging around potlucks giving out unsolicited advice to strangers.

richard_young801d ago

My buddy Mark tried the no preheat thing last week and it backfired hard on him. He threw some frozen egg rolls in cold and they came out soggy on the bottom, like they just steamed instead of crisping up. I told him he probably needed to shake the basket halfway through and maybe add a few extra minutes. But honestly it worked fine for my chicken strips so I think it depends on what you're cooking. Dave might have been right for wings but not everything.

shanec611d ago

Tried the no preheat deal with some frozen chicken tenders and it worked pretty well. But then I threw in some breaded fish fillets cold and they came out a little sad, soft on the bottom just like your buddy's egg rolls. So now I split the difference. I let it heat up for maybe 2 minutes while I'm getting the food ready, then toss it in. That way the basket itself is warm but I'm not standing there for 10 minutes waiting. The key is shaking or flipping halfway through no matter what you do.