How Does an Air Fryer Work: Complete Guide

Air fryers are the newest kitchen gadget that everyone seems to need and there’s a good reason. Air fryers do make getting dinner together a bit easier for just about everything outside of soup.

And if you’re interested in how air fryers work, let’s dive into that a little more, look at the different components and how they work together to create such delicious results.

How Does an Air Fryer Cook Food

The term ‘Air Fryer’ is as instructive of a term as it is confusing. That’s because you can use one in ways that can somewhat recreate the results of a fryer with a small fraction of the oil, making for a much healthier meal. In fact, the more important word here is air as that’s what’s doing the work.

In essence, an air fryer is a convection oven with a fan. There’s a heating element that raises the temperature of the air around it and a fan that circulates that air to ideally cook whatever food is in the air fryer evenly.

Main Components of an Air Fryer

As mentioned, the air fryer is essentially made up of:

• The heating element is a metal piece, often a coil, that heats up similar to what you might see on an electric stove. In basket-style air fryers, you’ll find the heating element on top of the cavity where the basket goes, facing down towards the food. In oven-style ones, they’re typically in the back.
• A fan is situated behind the heating element and it distributes the heat from the heating element, so the food gets cooked evenly.
• The container — this comes in different shapes and sizes, depending on the type of air fryer. Basket-style air fryers have a basket that you pull out and put food in. In an oven-style air fryer, you’ll find multiple types of containers and accessories.
• A vented tray which allows the air to circulate under the food.

Does an Air Fryer Use Oil?

Despite the name, you don’t necessarily need oil to use an air fryer. Some air fryers can make toast. Some can dehydrate meat into jerky, or fruit into dried fruit. You can cook bacon in any air fryer.

Using oil in an air fryer is more about getting the right texture. With just a little bit of oil, food will cook a little quicker, not to mention that it will brown and crisp in the way that one would expect.

I’ve personally experienced this with breaded chicken. Having forgotten the oil, I made a batch and found the results to come out pale with the breading not really sticking to the chicken, often sticking to the tray.

However, with a bit of oil, I got that nice golden brown look as well as the expected crispiness one would want from fried chicken. I’ve cooked steak in an air fryer as well, and managed to get the Maillard effect, i.e. the browning on the outside from the proteins breaking down, by applying a thin layer of oil to each side of the steak.

So, oil is not a necessary ingredient to make an air fryer work. But, it’s an important addition depending on what you’re cooking and the recipe you’re using. Just be aware that you probably will need just enough oil to coat the food. Any more may result in oil collecting at the bottom of the air fryer, which will start to smoke if heated for too long.

Does It Cook Evenly?

By and large, air fryers cook food fairly evenly. The hot air circulating around is all at the same temperature so whatever food you’re cooking should be receiving the same amount of heat.

There are a few caveats to that.

First, air fryers come with trays for a reason. If you place breaded chicken, for example, on the bottom of the basket instead of the tray, or on top of aluminum foil (to save some time on cleanup), the hot air is not circulating there. So, while it might still get cooked, it might not reach the same temperatures and it will definitely not get as crispy.

Also worth noting is that the heating element and fan are coming from one direction. This is why some air fryer recipes suggest flipping the food halfway through cooking. If you’re cooking something that’s stacked on top of each other like fries, you might have to shake them around so they get evenly cooked.

And if you have an oven-style air fryer where the heating element is in the back, you’ll have to rotate the food instead of flipping it.

How Is an Air Fryer Different from an Oven or Deep Fryer?

Air fryers might be more like an oven than a conventional deep fryer, but they’re still plenty different.

An oven almost always has a much larger capacity. On top of that, ovens use radiant heat, meaning heating elements inside heat up the air but don’t do anything beyond that. That means that ovens take longer to heat up because the hot air passively expands to the rest of the oven’s capacity.

If you want to cook a recipe meant for an oven in an air fryer, you’ll have to adjust the temperature and cooking time. I recommend lowering the temperature by 25 °F / 4 °C and cooking time by 20%.

Air fryers are essentially smaller convection ovens, which use a fan in conjunction with the heating elements to circulate the hot air. But since air fryers have a smaller capacity, they preheat and cook quicker. Also, air fryers can fit on top of a counter, whereas convection ovens are basically the same size as a conventional oven.

Now, air fryers are called fryers because you can cook similar foods to a deep fryer and get somewhat similar results, while being much healthier. You also don’t have to use a whole vat of oil, which then needs to be disposed of after a few uses.

However, a deep fryer cooks much quicker once you get the oil up to temperature and retains a taste that air fryers can get close to but not quite replicate. It won’t replicate the same amount of cholesterol either. A batch of fries might take less than five minutes in a deep fryer, but could take up to 20 in an air fryer.

How Long Does Cooking in an Air Fryer Take?

While it can take up to five minutes for an air fryer to heat up, cooking times in air fryers are usually quicker than elsewhere. So, if you’re just getting started with an air fryer, it’s better to check on your food early until you’re used to it.

Cooking times in an air fryer vary depending on the type of food, its size or thickness, whether it’s fresh or frozen, and the specific air fryer model you’re using. However, air fryers are generally faster than conventional ovens due to their rapid air circulation technology and compact size.

Here are some general guidelines:

• Preheating: Most air fryers heat up quickly and don’t always require preheating, but preheating (about 3–5 minutes) can help ensure consistent cooking results, especially for dense meats or baked items.
• Batch Size: Overloading the air fryer basket can increase cook times and reduce crispiness. Arrange food in a single layer and cook in batches if needed.
• Flipping/Shaking: For even browning, flip or shake the food halfway through cooking.

And here are cooking ranges for different types of food.

Proteins

Vegetables

Frozen Foods

Baked Goods and Snacks

Additional Tips

• Use a Thermometer: For meats, use a digital thermometer to verify internal temperature and avoid overcooking.
• Use Oil Sprays Sparingly: A light coat of high-smoke point oil (like avocado or canola) enhances crispiness.
• Avoid Wet Batters: Traditional wet batters don’t cook well in an air fryer; instead, use dry breading or dredge in flour before air frying.
• Reheating Leftovers: Most leftovers can be reheated at 350°F for 3–5 minutes for a crisp finish, versus microwaving, which often makes food soggy.

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