Can You Cook in Air Fryer Without Basket?
Is It Possible to Cook in an Air Fryer Without the Basket? The straightforward response is affirmative. Continue with the article for more details on this.
The air fryer has just become the most convenient way to cook things. Thanks to the special design and mechanism of the product. It allows you to cook the food without using a drop of oil to assure healthiness. The food comes out perfectly cooked and crispy just like your deep fryer. But there is a small inconvenience of the tool, which is you cannot cook a lot of food at once in this.
That is because of the small space inside the machine. The space becomes smaller with the air fryer basket. Talking about the air fryer basket, it is the most common part of this appliance and all the air fryer out there arrives with the basket. This assure that the food is cooking perfectly without burning or making a mess inside the machine.
Sometimes due to the limited space, you might want to take off the basket and cook the food directly. You can do this as long as you follow some precautions. Else, you will end up with a mess, undercooked food, or other serious issues. Keep reading the article to know further about this.
Can You Cook in Air Fryer Without Basket?
The air fryer basket is the accessory that holds your food while cooking them inside the machine. You might already know that the air fryer uses hot air to cook things. The air fryer baskets are specially designed to assure proper air circulation throughout the appliance to assure proper cooking and crispiness without using any oil. The design of the space also assures your food will be cooked faster than the other traditional methods of cooking.
If you are thinking about whether you can cook without the air fryer basket, you shouldn’t. Because you can smoothly cook without the basket. But before you do so, you must be concerned about the consequences. When you put the food without the basket, this might block the air circulation which will affect the cooking badly. Some parts of the food will be cooked properly while other parts will be undercooked.
On the other hand, your food might make a mess of the air fryer. Sometimes the foods can affect the inside mechanism of the machine, which can cause burn smell and smoke. However, this is not going to explode the device. There are might be some non-metal parts of the machine inside which can melt when you use the device without the basket. So, you need to be very careful while using the air fryer without the basket.
But what are the recommendations of the air fryer manufacturer about cooking food without the basket? As per most of the manufacturer, you shouldn’t cook food without the basket. That is because this might cause issues in the machine mechanism. Most of the manufacturer will not provide you the warranty service if you end up damaging the device because of using without the basket.
What to Use Instead of the Air Fryer Basket
While cooking the food without an air fryer basket, you shouldn’t directly put the food inside the machine. That is because the food can mess up the entire space and even sometimes malfunction the internal parts. To avoid such issues, you should use something to hold the food and separate it from the bottom. The good news is there are several things commercially available that you can use instead of the basket in the air fryer and air fryer ovens.
These include air fryer racks, baking pans, silicone molds, trivets, etc. Amongst them, the most preferable option is the air fryer rack which is made of steel and designed to stack foods in multiple layers. If you want to remove the air fryer basket to cook a lot of food at once, this should be the best option for you. Some of the air fryer manufacturer brands manufacture these additional accessories for the machine.
If such accessories are available from your air fryer’s manufacturer, you should go for them without any further thought. However, if it is not available from the manufacturer, you can go for the third-party manufacturers. Make sure that the accessories you are picking come in the right size to sit inside the machine properly.
Be very much careful about picking the wrong accessory as they might not be stacked inside your air fryer. Ideally, you will want to purchase something that comes in the same or smaller size as the air fryer basket.
When to Use Air Fryer Without Basket
There are a few situations when you will want to use the air fryer without the basket. One of these is while you want to cook food that is bigger than the air fryer basket. Such as when you want to roast a whole chicken or turkey. In such a situation, you might want to remove the basket. The issue is you cannot directly put the chicken inside the machine. You need to place something in the trivets with adequate space to assure proper airflow.
On the other hand, sometimes you will want to bake a cake inside the machine. In this case, you will require using something like the elevated pan that will assure proper airflow. Nevertheless, the mentioned recipes are not the only thing you can cook in the air fryer. The machine is actually more versatile than your thoughts.
One of the best things you should have for cooking the food without the air fryer basket is the stainless-steel rack. That will allow you to cook a lot of food without any issues inside the machine. You can also utilize the accessory for a lot of food in the appliance.
Conclusion
An air fryer is an excellent tool that can help you by making your cooking easy and faster while also being healthy. If you have been thinking about cooking the food in the air fryer without the basket, we hope this article will be helpful for you. As we discussed you can proceed to cook without the basket but you should be careful about the consequences we have discussed above.