The Most Costly Mistake You're Making With Air Fryer Meats

Your air fryer is, at its simplest, a very small convection oven. And just like your regular oven, you can put a wide variety of foods in your air fryer, including some you may have never thought of before, such as meats. While you may think of meats to be frozen chicken nuggets for the kids or heating up some leftover buffalo wings, many types of meat are perfectly safe for use in the air fryer.

Jet Tila, via Food Network, suggests using your air fryer to make miniature cheeseburger sliders, which can be made in under half an hour and requires very little effort in cleaning up. The Pioneer Woman offers a recipe to prepare chicken parmesan in the air fryer, which gets the breaded chicken crispy and golden and the cheese melted in a fraction of the time it would take to prepare in the oven. There's even a recipe for preparing char siu pork in your air fryer, demonstrating the appliances versatility.

But while your air fryer is pretty handy, you can't just toss in a piece of steak or chicken filet into the basket and expect it to come out perfect just like that. Like any kitchen appliance, there are some things you can keep in mind in order to get the most out of your air fryer.

While everyone loves a good rub on their meat, be it a dry rub on your chicken wings or patting down your pork with spices, it may not be a good idea to overseason your meat before you put it in the air fryer based on how the machine works.

According to ButcherBox head chef Yankel Polak, per Insider, when you put a piece of meat or vegetables that have been doused in seasonings in an air fryer, most of the spices and seasonings will just be blown off anyway. The circulation of hot air, which is what allows the air fryer to "fry" its food, will remove the seasonings from the surface. The meat in question will still be cooked, of course, but the inside of the basket will be covered in seasonings instead of the meat.

You can easily remedy this situation by allowing the meat to marinate before seasoning it and putting it in the air fryer basket. The wet surface will help the seasoning adhere better to the surface of the meat and won't be blown off so easily by the circulation of air. The Recipe Critic also suggests using oil, such as olive oil, to coat the meat before adding your choice of seasoning. 

But while a steak with a light coating of olive oil and seasonings may fare well in the air fryer, certain meats with more "liquid" coatings may not be the best choice in your air fryer either. 

If you're a fan of corn dogs, batter-dipped chicken, or any meat that's been drenched in a batter, you may have the idea to use your air fryer to make them. After all, if an air fryer does what a normal oil fryer could do without all the prep work or all of that boiling greasy oil, it would work just fine, wouldn't it?

According to Reader's Digest, unlike dipping your corn dog or battered chicken in a standard deep-fryer, your air fryer would not only make a mess but also completely ruin the item in question. The circulating air will most likely blow off the wet batter and it won't "fry" it so much as make it a mess of hot clumps. It would be like holding a hot dog dipped in the batter to a fan of hot air — it may warm the hot dog up, but it won't cook the batter.

Now, you could make batter-dipped foods in the air fryer provided they are pre-battered and frozen, such as frozen corn dog bites. Aside from that, Reader's Digest recommends using a much drier and more cohesive breading of breadcrumbs or eggs and flour to get a satisfying crunch on your meat. While it may not be the same as enjoying a fresh corn dog or a piece of chicken dipped in a honey batter, it'll save you a whole lot of time in cleaning down the road.