Air Fryer Basics: Can You Put A Glass Bowl In An Air Fryer?

Today, we’re going to address a widely popular question among air fryer users worldwide: Is it possible to use a glass bowl in an air fryer? Our goal is to settle this debate once and for all. So, the big question is, can you safely use your glossy glass ovenware or Pyrex dishes in your air fryer? Is there a risk of the glass shattering due to the intense heat? And, will food cook effectively in a glass bowl? I aim to provide answers to these inquiries in this article. Let’s dive in.

Can You Put A Glass Bowl In An Air Fryer?

The simple answer to this question is as long as your glass bowl or cookware, be it Pyrex or another brand, states that it is oven proof, it should also be technically suitable to go in your air fryer. If you notice, I said technically because there are a few caveats that you will want to consider while doing this.

The first being that the temperature of an air fryer changes much faster than a regular oven. These rapid temperature changes could cause your glass cookware to shatter in your fryer. So, though they may be oven safe, it may be smart to run a couple of durability tests on them before going all in.

How To Do A Glassware Durability Test In Your Air Fryer

If your glass bowl is, indeed, oven-safe I would suggest that you run a few durability tests on them without any food in it, to see if it holds up to the heat, before actually cooking any food in it. To do this:

1. Place the empty glass bowl into your air fryer.
2. Set the fryer to the maximum temperature.
3. Allow the air fryer to run for the same time as the dish you will be preparing in it first to see if it holds up.

You will want to carry out this test several times to ensure that the dish remains durable throughout all the temperature changes.

Now that you know how to run a durability test let’s take a look at how to tell if your glass bowl is oven safe.

How Do I Know If My Glass Bowl Is Oven Safe?

The easiest way to check if your glass bowl is oven safe is to look for any manufacturer stamps that may be stuck unto the container that the cookware came in or on the glass bowl itself. These stamps are often pretty clear. They typically read “oven-safe” or have some form of oven-safe symbol. If it is on the glass bowl, it would generally be on the bottom.

Another way to tell if your glass bowl is oven safe is to check on the manufacturer’s website. These websites typically have product listings that say the specifications, benefits, and reasons to buy a specific product. In the rare event that the manufacturer does not have the product on the website, or does not have a website, you can choose to check their social media or shoot them as a quick message. Most large companies how social media teams that monitor their profiles for questions or comments regarding their products. So, if you ask a question, you should expect a response within 24 to 48 hours (in most cases).

Can I Still Get Crispy Food If I Put A Glass Bowl In An Air Fryer?

Now that we’ve confirmed that it may be technically possible to use glass bowls in your air fryer, let’s explore another question. Is it necessarily smart to use glass bowls in an Air Fryer when seeking crispiness on your foods? If you’ve used the air fryer for any length of time you know that the two most important rules are to never overcrowd your basket and to shake or flip as your food cooks.

Both these rules are because your air fryer needs proper airflow to produce the crispier finish and juicy meets that we have grown to love. The air fryer depends on proper hot air circulation throughout the cooking compartment in order to properly cooking foods. My fear is that by putting a glass bowl in your air fryer you would potentially be blocking the airways.

My Suggestion

So I would suggest that for dishes that you are looking for a crispy finish such as your French fries, hot pockets, or even those chicken wings that you love so much don’t use a glass bowl. Recipes like those are best prepared cooking directly in your fryer basket or tray depending on your air fryer model.

With this being said, however, other recipes may benefit well from the solid surface of a glass bowl. Most recipes that are not typically fried per se. The most obvious one that comes to mind is of course the cake. Cakes can, in fact, be baked in an air fryer along with many other pastries. Seeing that your cake batter would typically be in a baking pan anyways, I could see this going well in an air fryer. Ensure you use an air fryer suitable glass bowl.

Keeping along these lines your glass bowl would also work for baking bread from scratch, pancakes, and all other recipes that enter the air fryer in a semiliquid state.

Bottom Line

Many air fryer companies state on their listings that their air fryers are capable of using ovenproof glassware. This may be technically true. However, there are a few cases where following this advice blindly may not be very smart. Always run durability tests on your glass bowls in your air fryer without any food in them to be sure that they don’t shatter from the rapid temperature changes in the air fryer while cooking your food.

Have you cooked anything in this air fryer in a glass bowl with successful results? If so, I would love to hear all about it below. Let us know what you cooked and what your experience was as sharing our experiments, failed or successful is how we grow together.

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