How to Clean Baked-on Grease from Air Fryer

While cooking or air frying, grease or oil from the food basket on the fryer splatters into the basket’s exit drawer of the air fryer. Splashing the grease and foodstuffs causes a build-up of grease and the food particles in the drawer. You’ll realize the excessive build of the grease from the smell while heating the fryer, which affects the food’s quality. Therefore, regular cleaning of the air fryer is essential in helping to maintain high food quality. This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to clean baked on grease from the air fryer.

Reasons for removing grease building up in your air fryers

Removing the grease build-up helps to improve the taste of the food you’re cooking. Are you wondering why your food has an awful smell? The accumulation of grease in the fryer can be the key reason. Thus, removing this build-up will be essential to help improve the taste of the foods you cook.

It helps to improve the performance of the fryer. Removing the grease build on your fryer will be essential in ensuring improvement in the air fryer’s performance. You’ll be able to cook faster than before, thus, helping to reduce the cost of cooking.

It improves the quality of food. While cooking, you’d want to have high-quality food, a pleasant aroma, and great taste. Making your fryer spotless will be essential to achieving the best quality of food.

Steps on how to clean baked on grease from air fryer

Removing the accumulation of grease from your fryer is not an easy task as it involves many procedures. You’ll need to be very careful when following the steps to ensure you get a complete clean-up of the fryer. Below is the stepwise process on how to clean baked on grease from the air fryer.

Material and tools you need

1. Sponge
2. Hot water
3. Microfiber clothing, if you’re cleaning the air fryer exterior
4. Silicone pad
5. Soft-bristled brush to remove the grease from the machine
6. Some soda

Process of removing the baked-on grease from the air fryer

Step 1. Unplugging the air fryer

Unplug the air fryer from the power source before proceeding with any step. Then take the basket and tray from the air fryer unit. The units might be hot; thus, it’ll be good to keep them for a while for them to cool off. It’d be great if you used a paper towel to clean the whole air fryer unit to eliminate the loose grease.

Step 2. Remove the grease inside the appliance

You’ll need to remove all the grease remaining in the appliance using a piece of wet cloth. While removing the grease onside the unit, use a sponge and hot water to remove the grease effectively. Clean the heating parts gently using a soft sponge and avoid using any abrasive material damaging the parts.

Step 3. Rub all the spots

The tray and other parts of the air fryer might remain with spots of grease. It’ll be essential to take some soda powder on your soft sponge and rub off the grease spots. Using a soft thistle brush will be necessary to help remove all the glued food and grease. The air fryer basket might be dirty, so you can also use this step to make it free from any dirt.

Step 4. Use warm water to remove the dirt altogether

If the processes above didn’t achieve your desired result from the cleaning, you could use hot water to clear off the dirt. Soak the appliance’s parts in hot water for some time. Research shows that putting the machine in hot water for 30 minutes will be enough. Soaking in hot water will be essential in helping to break down all the caked-on grease and food on the parts of the fryer.

Step 5. Wiping the outside and down of the fryer

Using a sponge, wipe the outside and downside surfaces of the fryer. Wiping the outside parts is essential in removing any germs and dust on the fryer’s surface. Most experts advise using a soft and damp cloth, which you should have soaked in a container with dish soap. If there are high grease levels on these surfaces, you can use an alternative all-purpose cleaner.

Step 6. Drying the parts of the air fryer

After taking out all the caked-on food leftovers and grease from the appliance’s interior and exterior, it’ll be good to dry them. It’ll be essential to dry out all the parts before reassembling them back. The drying of the parts will be necessary for preventing any form of rusting in any of the parts.

After drying the air fryer equipment, you can easily reassemble them to continue using your appliance effectively. While fixing back, ensure that you follow the correct procedure of re-installing the appliance.

You can also watch this video as a reference:

Alternative ways of removing dirt and grease from your air fryer

Alternatively, there are various other ways you can get your air fryer clean and free from caked-on grease. Most individuals use vinegar in cleaning the air fryer. This method is straightforward as you need to have a mixture of hot water and appropriate vinegar.

After getting the solution, soak or submerge the air fryer with grease in the solution. This method effectively breaks and removes all the grease that accumulates in all the air fryer parts. Additionally, the individuals may use a power washer to clean all the baskets and pans. The method becomes more effective when you combine it with a pressure washer.

Essential tips to consider when cleaning the air fryer

Avoid using steel wire brushes, abrasive sponges, or metal utensils to eliminate the machine’s grease traces of food particles when cleaning the air fryer. These types of equipment may lead to damaging the appliance’s non-stick coating.

Limit the dependency of using a dishwasher to clean the air fryer and wash the machine by hand. A lot of heat from the dishwasher might damage some cookware parts.

While cleaning the appliance, replace the strong detergents with water and dish soap alone. The strong detergent will damage the various parts, such as the cookware of the air fryer. Using water and dish soap correctly will be enough to remove all the stains and grime while deep cleaning the machine.

You can put some lemon in the air fryer machine’s basket. If your machine has some foul dour, cut a fresh lemon into two halves and place one half in the basket. Placing the lemon will be vital in helping to keep off the smell. It’d be better if you let the lemon sit in the basket for approximately 30 minutes before cleaning the basket.

Avoid submerging the fryer in either cold or hot water. Most of the parts of the machine have electrical components. When moisture gets into the parts of the electrical appliances, the appliances usually get ruined, thus reducing the lifespan of the machine.

Frequently Asked questions

How frequently can I clean my air fryer?

It’s always good to clean your air fryer regularly, especially once you realize some smell while frying. Keeping your appliance clean from any baked-on grease will be important to achieve high-quality food free from any funny smell.

Can I clean the air fryer parts by throwing them into the dishwasher?

Cleaning the air fryer is not like washing the other kitchen appliances and utensils. It’s not advisable to throw the parts and the air fryer unit into the dishwasher for cleaning to remove the baked-on grease or dirt. Throwing the parts or the whole unit into the dishwasher may lead to damaging these parts significantly. Thus, reducing the lifespan of the appliance.

What are the main signs that show your air fryer requires cleaning?

After feeling a funky or a different taste from the food you’ve been cooking earlier, then it’s a clear indication that your air fryer requires some cleaning. Check if the air fryer is producing some form of smoke while you’re cooking, as this may also illustrate the presence of grease. When the unit burns the grease, it removes the traces of smoke. Lastly, when you’ve got food gumming onto its basket base is a good indicator of the high levels of grease build-up. Thus, the need to clean the appliance will arise.

What is the best solution I can use for cleaning my air fryer?

People use a variety of solutions to clean their air fryers. However, the vinegar solution is the most popular and effective solution to clean your appliance correctly. The combination of vinegar and hot water will be essential in removing all the grease and food building up in the appliances parts. Using this solution will be beneficial in preventing damage to the parts of the fryer, including the cookware parts.

Final thoughts

It’ll be essential to clean your air fryer to remove any build-up of grease or food substances. The cleaning will help you get a spotless air fryer, which improves cooking efficiency, producing a high-quality meal. It’ll be essential to follow the above steps to guide you on how to clean baked on grease from the air fryer. Thus, you’ll achieve a clean and grease-free air fryer ready for cooking.