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Everybody keeps overloading their air fryer basket like it's a microwave and then complaining about soggy food.
I tried cooking a single layer of chicken wings at 400 for 12 minutes last night instead of piling them in like I used to and the texture was actually crispy all the way through, so why does every recipe I see online show a basket stuffed to the brim?
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the_jessica4mo ago
The 400 for 12 minutes thing works great for wings, but I tried it with some frozen egg rolls last week and they came out burned on one side and cold in the middle. So a single layer isn't some magic cure-all for every food. Also, I think people cram the basket because they're feeding more than one person and don't want to cook in batches. Like, are we really supposed to stand there and cook four wings at a time for a family of four? That would take an hour. But yeah, the soggy complaints are mostly just bad expectations, not bad recipes.
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michael_williams4mo ago
A buddy of mine tried the same thing with frozen potstickers and said the bottoms got dark while the tops still had ice crystals stuck to them. He stopped trusting the single layer gospel after that, just like you're saying with those egg rolls @the_jessica. I think the real takeaway is that air fryers work great for some foods, but you still have to adjust for moisture content and shape.
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zarag174mo ago
Single layer works fine if the food is flat and dry, but frozen egg rolls and potstickers have moisture trapped under them that steams the bottom while the top gets blasted. I actually tried flipping them halfway through and that helped a lot with even cooking, though you still get some soggy spots. Maybe the real trick is to pat them dry with a paper towel before they go in, especially if they have any frost or ice on them. A little prep work beats blaming the air fryer every time.
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