Can You Put Aluminum Foil In An Air Fryer?
One of the first questions we all ask ourselves after buying our new Air fryer is whether we can put aluminum foil into it.
As a general rule, yes, you can use foil in your air fryer, but you need to know a few things before doing so.
Is aluminum foil recyclable?
Aluminum foils are 100% recyclable, but not if covered by food residue. Some recommend washing your foil with water before recycling, but it overuses water, so the environmental impact of this option is not very positive.
As a result, we do prefer to avoid foil in our recipes. Unfortunately, foil it’s not an environmentally friendly option.
Instead, we prefer to add perforated parchment paper in our air fryer if needed.
Is cooking with aluminum foil dangerous for your health?
Before answering this question, remember that there are many foods that we use that contain aluminum. One of the most common is baking powder!
Cooking with aluminum obviously releases some aluminum particles into your food, but it’s so small that it’s not considered dangerous to cook with aluminum foil.
The only issue with aluminum foil or cookware is their reaction with acidic food like:
- Tomatoes
- Vinegar
- Citrus – lemon, orange
When in contact with acidic food and heat, aluminum dissolves slightly, adding aluminum particles to your food.
So it’s better to only use aluminum with non-acidic sauce or to wrap cold food.
Things to know about foil and air fryer
Like for oven baking, you can use some foil paper to air fry food. To do so, always remember that you must:
- Put foil on the air fryer basket only, leaving the basket edges free from foil to let the air fryer work its magic and flow air around your food. If you block all the holes in the basket, the food will never cook.
- Add food on top of the piece of foil. Aluminum foil paper is light and can easily fly away from the basket. If this happens, it will get sucked into the heating element, and your air fryer can cause a fire!
- Never add foil to the bottom of the air fryer. It means that the foil paper should never be in contact with the air fryer tank that is under the basket. In fact, this is where the hot air circulates, and placing the foil here will block the airflow. It also increases the risk of the paper being trapped in the heating element and cause a fire.
- Keep the airflow going around the basket, don’t cover all the basket with foil.
Alternative to foil
As mentioned above, we never use foil in our air fryer or in hot cooking, mainly because of environmental reasons. It’s easy to recycle aluminum that is clean and wrap a bowl of cold food but much more difficult to recycle a used piece of foil.
So, before using foil in your air fryer, try some of the alternatives below:
- Parchment paper – cut a disc or a shape that matches your air fryer basket shape, leaving the edges of the basket untouched by the paper. Then, punch holes in the paper to let the airflow through the basket and food.
- Ovenproof dish – any oven-safe baking tin or pan is safe to use in the air fryer. If yours doesn’t match the size of your air fryer, refer to your air fryer brand that often sale special air fryer pans that allow you to bake cakes, brownies, and more.
More air fryer recipes
Below I listed our most popular air fryer recipes for you to try
Disclaimer
This article gives you tips only and is not responsible for any damage or issue you could encounter with your kitchen appliances. Before adding foil paper to your air fryer, always refer to your manufacturer’s instructions for safety.