Had a talk with my neighbor about preheating air fryers and now I'm second guessing everything

My neighbor Carol (she's 72 and has owned an air fryer since 2018) stopped me at the mailbox yesterday and said I was ruining my food by always preheating. She claims she never preheats hers and gets perfectly crispy results every time. But every recipe I see online says preheat for 3-5 minutes. So which is it? Are we all wasting time waiting for the beep or does skipping it actually mess up cooking times? I tried her way with frozen chicken tenders last night and they came out okay but not as golden. Has anyone done a side by side test? Or is this one of those things where both ways work and it just depends on the food?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmafisher2d ago

My neighbor heated up her air fryer debate and now my chicken tenders are having an identity crisis.

reese_bell1d ago

Totally been there. My air fryer keeps yelling at me with its beeps. At this point I just tell it to chill.