That cheap silicone liner melted my chicken dinner

I bought a set of silicone air fryer liners for like $8 on an online deal last month. They looked great and I thought they would save me from scrubbing the basket every night. I used one for the first time to make some chicken thighs at 400 degrees and when I pulled the basket out, the liner had shriveled up and stuck to the food. The chicken was still edible but the liner was ruined and I had to throw the whole batch away. Turns out the package said it was only safe up to 350 degrees but I missed that in the tiny print. I ended up losing about $10 worth of chicken plus the liner itself. Has anyone else had issues with those cheap basket liners, or do you have a brand that actually holds up at high heat? I'm tempted to just go back to spraying the basket with oil every time but I hate the cleanup.

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mark_thomas10d ago

The 350 degree rating is more of a warning than a hard limit, honestly. Most of those silicone liners start breaking down around 400, but the cheap ones especially so. I bought a pack from a dollar store once and they all warped by the third use, even at 375. The issue is the silicone blend they use, the good ones have more pure silicone in the mix and can take the heat. You probably paid around eight bucks for a reason, the better ones run closer to fifteen or twenty for a two pack. But honestly, if you're cooking hot and fast, you might just want to skip the liner thing altogether.