Someone told me I was overcrowding my air fryer basket and it changed everything

I used to just pile chicken thighs in there like a madman until they were touching... then my buddy Mike from work said I was basically steaming them instead of crisping. Now I do 4 thighs max in my 6-quart model and flip them halfway at 380 degrees. Anyone else get feedback that made them totally ditch their old method?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_anthony16d ago

Nah man, four thighs in a 6-quart? That seems low to me. I was doing like 6 or 7 wings in mine and wondering why they came out sad. Mike would probably lose his mind if he saw my old method of stacking them like a Jenga tower. Guess I gotta go buy more chicken just to test this out.

willow40716d ago

Wait, you were jenga stacking wings in that thing? How did you even get them to cook at all? I mean honestly I'm kind of impressed you got them to fit without breaking half of them. But yeah man, the whole point of an air fryer is that hot air needs to hit every surface to get that crunch. When you stack them you're basically trapping steam between each layer and then wondering why they come out like sad rubber chickens. I learned this the hard way too with my first batch of fries, I literally filled the basket to the top and ended up with soggy potato sticks that tasted like disappointment. Now I do smaller batches and wait the extra 10 minutes, way better trade off.