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Air fryer

Soils like an oven at a tenth of the size — and the manufacturer is most specific about the heating element, which is the part people are most afraid to touch.

Precautions

  • Disconnect from the power supply first
  • Check the manufacturer's instructions
  • Rinse thoroughly afterwards

Start here

What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.

Which part are you cleaning?

These parts take different answers. Cleaning one the way you clean another is a common way to damage this.

  • Air fryer basket

    Dishwasher safe and coated at the same time — which is why the rule that matters is not where you wash it but what you touch it with.

    Non-stick coating

    Things not to use here

The science behind this: Polymerised oil

In detail

An air fryer is a small fan oven that concentrates hot air and hot fat in a very small volume, which is why it soils faster than an oven and why the parts that soil are the parts you handle. The manufacturer's routine is unremarkable and worth following exactly: the removable pan and basket come out and are washed, stuck residue is loosened by filling the pan with hot water and washing-up liquid and SOAKING FIVE TO TEN MINUTES rather than by scrubbing harder, and fat that ordinary washing-up liquid will not shift is handled with a proper liquid degreaser used to its own instructions. The part people avoid is the part the manufacturer is most specific about. The interior and THE HEATING ELEMENT are cleaned with a soft sponge and hot water, or a soft- to medium-bristle brush for stubborn residue, with steel wire and hard-bristle brushes excluded. Nothing in that instruction involves spraying a cleaner into the appliance. And there is a final step that few other appliances call for: after cleaning inside, run the machine empty for a few minutes so anything loosened drops into the pan. The unit itself is never immersed.

Why

Hacks and claims involving this

Sources for this page

Sources

  1. How to clean my Philips Airfryer

    Philips · Manufacturer documentation

    Relied on for: Soaking the pan five to ten minutes in hot water and washing-up liquid for stuck residue, a liquid degreaser for fat stains, cleaning the interior and heating element with a soft sponge and hot water or a soft- to medium-bristle brush while excluding steel wire, running the appliance empty afterwards, and not immersing the unit. (states this directly)

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Parts that need different treatment

Advice given for the whole appliance is necessarily wrong about at least one of these.