Should Air Fryer Smoke?

When it comes to cooking, the air fryer is one of the safest mediums. Like the oven, it uses a closed compartment to cook your food. The food comes out perfectly cooked within a short time. Sometimes while cooking your air fryer, it may produce smoke. If you have encountered smoke while cooking in the air fryer, keep going through the article.

Below, we will let you know what causes smoke in the air fryer. Along with that, we will discuss what you can do to prevent the smoke. Keep reading the article to get everything you need to know about the smoking issues in the air fryer.

Should Air Fryer Smoke?

Yes, it is completely normal for your air fryer to produce smoke. However, your air fryer is not supposed to smoke all the time. The smoke should occur in certain situations. Such as when you are cooking some specific varieties of food, you may see the smoke. There can be different variations of the smoke which include blue, grey, white, etc. The color of the smoke will differ based on the reason that causing the smoke.

One of the main reasons behind the smoke is the leftover grease residue that you didn’t remove after cooking it last time. The grease usually sits on the pan that stays under your air fryer. When you turn on the device again for cooking something new, you may encounter smoke in the air fryer. The grease starts burning due to reheating and causes the smoke.

On the other hand, you can also encounter smoke while cooking some variations of the food. Such as while cooking the fatty foods, the melted fat may get down on the pan and start burning. This happens while cooking food that contains a large amount of fat.

The smoke might be frightening but you shouldn’t need to be worried about this. In most situations, the smoke will not cause any issues to your air fryer.

Why Smoke Coming Out of Your Air Fryer

As we discussed above, the smoke may come out from the air fryer for a variety of reasons. In the below part of the article, we will discuss a bit more about different reasons that can cause the smoke in your air fryer.

You are Cooking Fatty Foods

This is the most common reason behind the smoke occurrence in your air fryer. When you cook such foods, the fat melts down and they fall into the pan that collects or holds the grease. In some situations, the grease may start burning and releasing the white smoke. It mainly happens when you cook the food at a higher temperature. Every oil or grease has a specific burning point. When the grease reaches the temperature, it will start burning.

Sometimes the oil can also cause smoke by burning due to cooking in high heat. A different variation of the food has different smoke points. Smoke points mean the temperature where the oil will start burning. While picking oil for your air fryer, make sure to go for the one that has a higher smoke point. This will help to prevent smoke while cooking your food in high heat.

Just like the oil and grease, there is also a smoke point for your foods. Some specific foods can start burning at a certain temperature. However, the good news is most of the food is safe to be cooked at the air fryer’s average temperature. All you need to be aware of is picking food that has a higher smoke point. Some of the recommendations are avocado oil, rice bran oil, extra light olive oil, etc.

Fat Reducer Malfunction

Sometimes the smoke also occurs due to the malfunction in the fat reducer. Some of the air fryers currently arrive with a fat reducer accessory. Especially, the Phillips Air Fryer got one. If you don’t use the accessory in the correct manner, the fat may start burning and cause the smoke to come out from the air fryer. Make sure that you are positioning the air fryer in the correct manner to avoid such issues.

Light Ingredients

In case you don’t know, your air fryer uses hot air circulations to cook the food. While you put something like leaves or thick bread, they might start flying around the air fryer basket because of the air and pressure. Sometimes they get stuck in the heating element of the machine which is usually on top of the compartment. No wonder that the heating element will be very hot and it will start burning your food instantly as soon as the food comes in its contact.

So, if you see the smoke while cooking the light ingredients, this might be the issue. In such a case, stop the air fryer and let it cool down properly. Then remove the food that is stuck in the heating element of the air fryer. To prevent such issues, you can find some accessories for the air fryer which might be useful. And, avoid putting the foods that are very light directly inside the machine.

Note that this issue might also happen when you use parchment paper, aluminum foils, and other things while cooking the food. They might get removed from the food and touch the heating element. The same thing goes for the other things you use on the food such as oregano, breadcrumbs, etc.

Malfunction in the Air Fryer

If you are using the air fryer properly and still encountering the issue might happen because of the malfunctioned air fryer. There might be issues inside the mechanism of the device which is causing the smoke. In such a case, you need to be careful and stop using the air fryer. Contact the air fryer manufacturer to know what to do next.

Conclusion

As we discussed above, the smoke in the air fryer is something that usually happens because of the grease or the lightweight foods. If you find that it is happening for some other reason, you need to be careful and contact customer support.