Chefs have shared the common foods you should never put in the air fryer

Ahh, the air fryer.

One of the 21st century's most highly-acclaimed and wholly reliable inventions, this nifty cooking aid propelled in sales after air fryer-specific recipes began going viral on TikTok.

Since then, every man and his dog have tried to rustle up some succulent homemade halloumi fries, or a speedy baked potato.

But, what you cooking connoisseurs might not be aware of is that, as well as the huge array of dishes that can be quickly whipped up, there is an equally long list of foods that should NEVER see the cool interior of the air fryer.

That is, according to Buzzfeed - who collated opinions from a handful of globally- renowned chefs and best-selling cookbook authors.

So, let's get into the worst foods you can cook in an air fryer.

One that may surprise you is the humble burger.

"Unless you like your burgers well done, leave them out of the air fryer," declared Anna Vocino, the author and recipe developer of Eat Happy Kitchen.

Pexels from Pixabay

Vocino continues: "Air fryers are not ideal for grilling red meat. You’d be able to get the inside of a burger to medium rare, but the outside wouldn’t get that ‘char’ that you want on a burger. Plus, it’s really messy."

The same notion goes for wet batters, apparently.

Despite hundreds of TikTokers showing off their delicious-looking baked eggs juicy frittata recipes on social media, one cook says that home cooks should not mistake air fryers with having the same use as deep fryers.

"Foods that have wet batters, like onion rings", says Trisha Pérez Kennealy, a culinary educator and owner of the Inn at Hastings Park in Lexington, Massachusetts.

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She adds that air frying batter makes it trickier 'to set and become crispy', being that the result is often a texturally-unsatisfying bite and a sticky mess of batter all over your cooker.

The same rule naturally applies when it comes to cheese.

"An air fryer is actually NOT a deep fryer. When you make something like a mozzarella stick in a deep fryer, an instant outer crust is formed," says Yankel Polak, the head chef and culinary director of ButcherBox.

“In an air fryer, this does not happen, and you’ll instead end up with a gooey, cheesy mess.”

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And it may sound like an obvious statement, but chefs also advise that no fresh greens should ever be used an an air fryer.

And no, they don't just mean lettuce and cucumber.

Despite the surge in healthy food vloggers promoting things like kale chips, Polak also told the publication that the convection oven-style air circulation in air fryers will cause 'greens like kale or spinach to fly all over the place and cook unevenly.'

It is for that reason, that he recommends users 'stick with a normal oven'.

The last dish that experts say should be avoided at all costs when using an airfryer is bacon strips, due to their fattiness and size.

Phoua Vang from Pixabay

"Bacon is a fatty food," said Brenda Peralta, a recipe developer for FeastGood.com. "When it is cooked in an air fryer, the fat can drip down and cause smoke or splatter."

"This can make the bacon difficult to cook evenly, and it can also produce a lot of smoke and odours.”

Brenda also explained that because a bacon strip is a 'small and delicate food', it can sometimes be difficult to 'flip or remove from the air fryer basket without breaking it'.

"The air fryer basket may not be large enough to accommodate a large quantity of bacon. This can make it difficult to cook a lot of bacon at once, which can be inconvenient if you are cooking for a group."

The more you know, eh?