My friend swore by preheating the air fryer for 5 minutes before adding food, I always just tossed it in cold, which method actually gives better results?

He stood there in his kitchen last Thursday, bacon halfway in, and told me I was ruining every crispy texture by skipping the preheat, but I've been doing it cold for 2 years and nothing seems any different to me, has anyone actually tested this side by side?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler5161mo agoMost Upvoted

Preheating is one of those things people swear by but honestly most of the difference is in your head. The air fryer is basically a tiny convection oven so it heats up fast, like within a minute or two. Tossing food in cold just means it takes an extra minute to get up to temp, which isn't ruining anything unless you're cooking something super thin like a single layer of fries. I've done side by side tests with chicken wings and honestly the texture was basically the same, maybe the preheated batch was slightly crispier on the outside but not enough to notice once you eat them. Your friend is overthinking it, save the 5 minutes and just throw it in cold.

skyler5161mo agoMost Upvoted

Air fryer chicken wings are my go-to test too. Preheated vs cold start, the difference is like 2% better crunch on the preheated ones. But the cold start ones are still damn good. I save the time and just toss them in.