I think preheating the air fryer is a waste of time for most stuff

My buddy who's a line cook told me he never preheats his air fryer at home (said it's just extra electricity for no real gain with smaller batches). I tried his way on some frozen chicken tenders last night and they came out just as crispy as when I preheat for 5 minutes. Am I missing something or is preheating just a habit we all picked up for no reason?

3 comments

3 Comments

abbyk101mo ago

Actually saw a YouTube video from an appliance repair guy who said preheating an air fryer is mostly for cooking times in recipes. He argued that since air fryers are basically small convection ovens, they heat up way faster than a regular oven so the preheat step is borderline pointless for most frozen foods. Tried skipping it on some frozen fries and they were fine, maybe even a tiny bit softer but nothing major. But I will say for stuff like raw chicken wings where you want that crispy skin immediately, the preheat might make a difference. What about stuff like homemade fries from scratch, have you tried skipping the preheat on raw foods?

cooper.viola1mo ago

I tried raw potato wedges without preheating once and they came out kind of sad and soggy on one side. That extra heat right at the start really does matter for scratch made stuff. For frozen stuff though I skip it almost every time now and nobody in my house has complained.

the_jana1mo ago

Wait, an appliance repair guy said that? That's wild, I never would have thought to just skip it entirely.