My buddy the chef talked me into preheating the air fryer and I owe him an apology

I always thought preheating was a waste of time and electricity for an air fryer. Then my friend Marco, who runs a kitchen downtown, told me I was ruining my chicken thighs by not letting the basket get hot first. He showed me a side-by-side test with wings - his came out crispy in 12 minutes, mine took 18 and were still soggy. Now I preheat for 3 minutes every time. Has anyone else noticed a big difference with preheating on certain foods?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora5351d ago

Yeah honestly I was in the same boat until I started messing around with frozen stuff. Tbh the biggest difference I noticed was with frozen breaded items like chicken tenders or mozz sticks. If you throw them in a cold basket the outside gets steamed before it crisps up and you end up with a sad soggy mess. Preheating for like 2-3 minutes at 400 makes the basket hot enough that the frozen coating sets right away. Same goes for fries too. I do fries at 375 for 15 minutes total but that first preheat is what gets them crunchy instead of limp. Ngl I still skip it sometimes for things like reheating pizza or roasted veggies because it doesn't matter as much. But for anything breaded or frozen it's a game changer for sure.

wesley_grant331d ago

3 minutes of preheating for 18 minutes of cooking? my electric bill is already high enough, and I've never had a soggy issue just tossing stuff in cold and adding an extra minute to the time.