Cleaning your air fryer takes 10-15 minutes and only requires a damp rag or sponge. I’ve outlined the steps below so you can get things cleaned up in no time!
How to Clean Your Air Fryer
- Unplug your air fryer from the outlet. While this might seem like common sense, it is worth mentioning.
- Let your air fryer completely cool down. There is no need to immediately clean it right after use. It is dangerous and you can easily burn yourself!
- Wipe the outside of your fryer with a damp cloth. The cloth should be wet enough to wipe away food or grease but you don’t want it dripping with moisture.
- Remove the baskets and gently scrub each basket with soap and water. Your basket should have two parts – an inner and an outer basket. Many new air fryer models have dishwasher-safe baskets!
- Wipe down the inside of your air fryer with a damp sponge.
- Wipe down the heating element with a damp sponge. You might need to gently turn your air fryer upside down to see it.
- Wipe down the vents with a soft bristle brush or damp sponge
- Let the baskets and the inside of your air fryer dry completely before putting everything back together.
Pro Tip
Use tinfoil to save on cleanup. Plus if you’re cooking meat or fish it helps retain some of the juices and flavor.
New to Air Fryers?
I highly suggest you check out our “Start Here” page to get more information!
Or, drop a comment below telling me what experience you’ve had cleaning your air fryer!
I see from the picture above that you added what looks like baking paper before adding the chicken. Obviously this prevents oil / fats from dripping through the basket. Is this recommended for all types of meat / fish?
Hi Rina! Yes I prefer to put down baking paper (parchment paper) or foil when cooking messy things. It helps to retain some of the juices/flavor within the meat and also it helps SO much with clean up. You can cut the foil or parchment paper to fit your air fryer basket. OR you can buy precut ones online from amazon: https://amzn.to/35bjRBY . I would recommend it for meat and fish 🙂
Thank you for that tip. I will try it when I do steaks but can I kee foil or paper in the bottom basket all the time? I know you are talking about the main cooking basket
You are so welcome!
I am looking for a cleaning agent for the inside of my air fryer. At first I did the light wipe down, but the grease wasn’t so apparent, so it’s apparent now and I can’t seem to be able to clean it, tried everything from dawn to Mr clean. Grease is in the heating vents & walls & looks awful. Please help.
Hello Jose, we had have a lot of people in our facebook group talk about Dawn Power Soap, so that is worth a try incase you were just using regular down. Others have combined baking soda and that dawn power soap to make a cleaning mixture with extra grit to help with the grease. Other readers like Dawn power wash, white vinegar and lemon juice. With it being on the inside of the unit you can’t submerge it so it make take a few times. Others have had good luck with using a magic eraser on the walls (but not the heating element) 🙂
Dawn Power Soap IS LIFE CHANGING!! Way better than regular Dawn, when it comes to grease! GAME CHANGER!!
Thank you Netra!! I appreciate that! We’ve heard wonder things about Dawn Power Soap!
I have a Cuisinart combination toaster over/air fryer. I never see any references to how to use these. I have limited space and thought the combination model
would serve me best. Can you give an overview of this model?
It is a good model, we have several people in our air fryer facebook group with them. I’ve noticed that they tend to run a bit hot so things will cook quicker depending on what recipe you use. That should be true for most of my recipes. I usually use a Cosori which runs a little cooler than yours. So just watch your food in the last few minutes incase you need to end cooking early 🙂
I have an Instant Pot Vortex Plus (6qt). I wiped it down after use for a month or two, but didn’t actually wash the drawer inside or the grate. Apparently wiping it out wasn’t enough, and I noticed a sticky build up that I couldn’t wash away.
I did a major cleaning with baking soda, vinegar, soaked overnight and then added boiling water with lemon. I did this twice with some significant scrubbing, and finally got it clean.
To prevent this buildup from happening again, after each use and once the basket is cool, I add hot tap water with some dawn, just to cover the insert, and leave it to soak. I’ll wash it down when I’m ready, let it dry, and this seems to have worked so far. It is no fun to clean that sticky cooked on grease, and this is easy enough.