Please stop shaking your air fryer basket mid-cook

I see people doing this ALL the time on YouTube and in Facebook groups and it drives me crazy. You're not helping anything by yanking the basket out every 3 minutes to give it a shake. I did that for my first 6 months with my Cosori and my chicken always came out dry and my fries were never crispy. The air fryer needs to maintain a steady hot temp to cook properly and every time you pull that basket out you drop the temp by like 40 degrees. I finally learned to just flip things once halfway through using tongs and let the machine do its job. My food has been way better ever since. Has anyone else noticed a huge difference after they stopped over-shaking?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathana489d ago

Nah, shaking it keeps things crispy for me.

lee728d ago

Yeah but @nathana48, shaking actually lets the breading fall off if you're not careful. I used to do that with my fried chicken until I noticed half the coating was floating in the oil. Flipping it gently with tongs makes a huge difference, especially for something delicate like fish or veggies. I guess it depends what you're cooking though, a hearty chicken thigh can take a little jostling.

danielr948d ago

Oh man same, I lost so much batter shaking wings in a paper bag back in the day before I learned to just lay them in the oil.