2024 was the year I switched to air fryers. My fryer of choice is Cosori’s TurboBlaze Air Fryer, which has a 5-quart capacity and a single drawer. Although I was eager to get stuck in, my husband was incredibly reluctant to give up the extra space on our kitchen counters. However, he has done a complete U-turn and now admits to the convenience of air frying. I must confess to being quite smug about that!
Since buying it, I've used this time-saving gadget daily. In fact, I use it more than my electric range, and I’m planning on using it to cook for a crowd this holiday season.
For quite some time, I used my air fryer without any accessories without giving them much thought. But over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying different accessories and realized how much easier they’ve made cooking with an air fryer. So if like me you've recently invested in an air fryer, here are the top three air fryer accessories I recommend.
1. Silicone baking cups
When you think of air fryers, you immediately imagine tucking into golden chips and other crispy fried foods. However, an air fryer can do so much more than creating the fried effect with less oil.
As a regular baker, I wanted to see which air fryer accessories could help me make cupcakes, which is why I tested OXO’s Silicon Baking Cups. Apart from baking sweet delights, they are also the perfect size to bake eggs in an air fryer.
I particularly liked that you can make individual portions, which I also found helpful when I tried baking a cake in an air fryer. I found baking smaller cakes easier to ensure the center was cooked through.
The OXO baking cups I tried also have a handy tab on each side, making them easy to handle and remove the cake from the non-stick case. Also, I appreciate products that are multi-functional, and the benefit of these silicon baking cups is that you can also use them in an oven.
2. Silicon Air Fryer Reusable Liners
Although cooking in an air fryer rather than a conventional electric or gas range creates much less of a mess, I still find washing the air fryer drawer awkward. So, I tried using a reusable air fryer liner to cut down on this chore.
There are plenty of choices on the market, but I used Froven’s Silicon Air Fryer Reusable Liners, which come in two packs and measure 8.5 inches square. These fit perfectly into my Corsori air fryer and are compatible with Instant Vortex, Ninja, and many other air fryer manufacturers.
Although the product is silicone, I found it to be robust and sturdy, with the container holding its shape. They also have two handles on either side, allowing you to place and remove the liner from your air fryer easily. What’s more, they are heat resistant up to 450°F and dishwasher safe.
The idea behind an air fryer is that the heat is distributed evenly around the food, including the underside, and for this reason, I was skeptical that the liners would slow down the cooking time. However, despite my reservations, I didn’t notice any particular difference when using the liners or not.
3. Disposable Air Fryer Paper Liners
Despite already recommending the silicon air fryer liners above, I also use paper liners. Although they are not as eco-friendly and can only be used once, I use them when I know the food will be particularly messy, such as when roasting a chicken — one of my favorite foods to cook in an air fryer. This means I can dispose of the residue much more easily, and the air fryer drawer isn’t filled with fat.
However, you have to be more careful when using a paper liner over a silicon liner, and they should only be placed in an air fryer with food. If you’ve put one inside the air fryer while preheating without food, the lightweight liners can lift off and fly onto the element, causing a fire hazard.
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