I stopped preheating my air fryer and never looked back

For like 3 years I always let my air fryer run empty for 5 minutes before adding food, because every recipe blog swore it made things crispier. Then one night last October I was half asleep and just threw frozen fries in cold, figuring whatever happens happens. Honestly, they came out just as golden, and they took exactly the same time as the preheated batches. Now I only preheat if I'm doing something thick like a whole chicken breast, and even then I'm lazy about it. It saves me maybe 10 minutes a day, which adds up when I use it almost every weeknight. Anyone else ditch the preheat and see no real difference, or am I the only one who thinks it's a myth?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade_hall1mo ago

My buddy Dave swore by preheating until his kid started crying one night and he just chucked some chicken nuggets in cold to deal with the meltdown faster. He texted me later all shocked they came out perfect, same crunch, same color. Now he only preheats if he's reheating something that's already cooked, like a slice of pizza. Even then he half-asses it and just turns it on for a minute while he's doing something else. Save the energy, man.

richard_shah1mo ago

Man, I gotta push back on the "same crunch" thing. An air fryer needs that hot blast from the very start to lock in the outside, otherwise you're basically steaming the nuggets before they crisp up. Your buddy got lucky, or his kid was so worked up he didn't notice they were a little off. I've done the cold start thing twice with fries and they came out sad, kinda chewy on the outside. Preheating is like thirty seconds of waiting, not worth rolling the dice on a whole batch.