I'm doing the initial burn in on my wife's new air fryer.
Wife wanted an air fryer for X-mas. Sure, it's a bit on the "stereotypical gender roles" side of gift giving, but who am I to deny her what she wants?
I unboxed it for her and it says to do a 30 minute cook with no food in it to get rid of the burning plastic smell, so I cleaned everything and now it's baking away the extra plastic.
The kitchen smells like burning plastic.
I can't wait for some crispy fries and other assorted foods.
I have an air fryer, but I dislike using it because it's annoying af to clean and I'm lazy.
If I microwave something, there is either no mess or I can chuck the plate or whatever in the dishwasher. If I use pots and pans on the stove, I can chuck them in the dishwasher (blah blah blah Teflon I get it but whatever, it's just me).
For an air fryer? I can't exactly chuck it in the dishwasher and it seems to need to be cleaned after every single use or else it's disgusting. I have been using those circular pieces of parchment paper which do help loads but still.
I have an air fryer as well that's a pain in the ass to clean. The whole basket is one piece (including the handle) and I hate cleaning it but the results are worth it. I thought that was par for the course.
Then I used my parents' air fryer and.....damn, same quality food without the painful cleanup. Separate basket means if stuff is stuck, I can just toss it in the sink with shallow water while I eat. Separate drip tray only requires cleaning if stuff actually drips. It's so damn easy.
I couldn't tell you the model of either but...I just wanted you to know that messy cleanups aren't part of every air fryer setup. And that I totally get where you're coming from because I was basically there a few years ago, too.
? It's not once in a while. It's every time you use it. And I don't know about yours, but the most common ones have a metal shelf/grille with a large metal and plastic basin with tons of holes in it. Both the shelf/grille and the large basin have holes and nooks and crannies everywhere for the crumbs to find themselves stuck to/hiding in and then the water won't drain out of the basin great because of this either. It's not "a bit of plastic". It's nothing like cleaning a simple plate, pan, dish, mug, etc.