If at anytime you are experiencing too much smoke or scared of smoke coming out of your air fryer: STOP AIR FRYING. Just cook your high fat food on the regular cooktop or oven. We’ll discuss the reasons why your air fryer is smoking.

Why Air Fryer Smoking Burning on Air Fryer Recipes step by step

Why is the air fryer releasing smoke?

There’s could be many possible reasons for your air fryer having smoking issues. Fatty foods will release grease and splatter on the heating element. This causes the air fryer to smoke and release white smoke, often following by burning smells and burnt food. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t cook higher fat air fried foods. Here’s our guide and tips to solve problems with air fryer smoke.

Guide help you trouble shoot problems with smoking Air Fryers.

  1. Is the white stuff smoke or is it steam? If it’s steam, it’s part of the normal cooking process. If it’s smoke, then read more below.
  2. Excess grease on the food cooked at high temperatures (360F or higher) splatters on the hot cooking element which causes smoke. Most smoking comes from cooking meat at higher temps. Be prepared for it. Bacon and chicken thighs are two examples of food that can often smoke during cooking.
  3. Food Particles Burning. Sometimes it’s not just grease but also food particles splattering on the hot element can cause smoking. Is your food battered/breaded? was it sprayed down enough? If not, then the hot circulating air blows food particles around, particularly dried breading and that can cause burning and smoking.
  4. What if your food doesn’t have excess grease? Or it wasn’t battered? Then did you overcrowd the basket or rack? Don’t crowd your food because even if your food has little oil but you cook a lot at a time, that can still cause oil/food particles to splatter on heating element.
  5. Basket too small. Your air fryer basket might be too small for cooking at higher temps. Try cooking less in a small basket or get a larger one. Still make sure to not overcrowd the basket with food.
  6. Add water or slice of bread? Some people suggest adding water at bottom pan to help splattering. We have not tried this yet, but if it works for other people, it might work for you. Others have also suggested adding a slice of bread at the bottom of the basket to soak up the excess oil.
  7. Too High Temperature. Some air fryer cook really hot and some recipes might call for too high of temperature. Try cooking the food at the lower temperature for longer.
  8. Are you cooking in a well ventilated kitchen? If you’re in a small, closed kitchen then even the slightest steam or light smoke can be overwhelming. Open up windows, turn on your vent hood or try your best to ventilate your kitchen.

Still Problems with Smoke Coming out of Air Fryer?

  1. Still problems? then it must be a manufacturer issue. Call them and ask for help.
  2. Still more problems? then THINK about what it is that you are cooking and if it’s the same type of food, then you need to change the recipe or how you are cooking it.
  3. Stop Air Frying. Some foods don’t cook well in an air fryer. And if after all this trouble shooting and you still experience smoke, then cook it on the stove top or oven. Air Fryers aren’t great for everyone or for all foods.

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Want to Know More? Read our What is Air Frying info. 

What is Air Frying? A Guide to Healthy Air Fryer Recipes | @BestRecipeBox

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