Do you actually need this?
Air fryer accessories are sold hard, and most of them are optional. This section says which ones genuinely change what you can do, which are a convenience, which cost you the crisping you bought the machine for — and what you probably already own that does the same job.
AirfryerHQ takes no commission on anything here. There are no affiliate links, no sponsored placements, no brand recommendations and no rankings. Every verdict below was reached from what the accessory does physically and from what manufacturers publish about it, and several of them are “you probably do not need this”.
Worth owning before anything else
Instant-read thermometer
The only accessory that changes what you can do rather than how comfortably you do it, and it costs less than a delivery.
Genuinely useful
Non-scratch sponge
Named directly by manufacturers, and the thing it replaces — a scourer — is prohibited by every manual in this catalogue that mentions the subject.
Oil sprayer
Good for coating food evenly with very little oil. At least one manufacturer forbids spraying it into the chamber, and aerosol cooking sprays damage non-stick coatings.
Silicone-tipped tongs
The accessory that protects the most expensive part of the appliance, and manufacturers are unusually united about it.
Soft-bristled cleaning brush
Reaches into perforations and grooves that a sponge cannot, without doing what a scourer would.
Useful for a specific job
Grill plate
Ridges give contact marks and a different surface. If your machine came with one, use it; buying one separately is a narrower call.
Leave-in cooking probe
Excellent when the appliance was built for one and awkward when it was not, because the drawer has to close.
Multi-level rack
It adds a level. It does not add capacity, and one manufacturer states plainly that only one level may be used in air-fry mode.
Replacement basket or crisper plate
The part that decides how long an air fryer lasts, and the one whose availability almost nobody checks before buying the machine.
Skewer rack
Genuinely good at the one job it does, and that job is narrower than the packaging suggests.
A convenience, not a capability
Heatproof gloves
A convenience unless you cook on multiple levels or lift hot inner baskets, in which case it stops being one.
Works, but costs you results
Silicone basket insert
The most-sold air fryer accessory and the commonest way to make an air fryer cook worse. It works; it costs you the thing you bought the machine for.
You probably do not need this
Dehydrating rack
Only useful if your machine goes low enough to dehydrate at all, and most of them do not.
Or browse by what it is
The same pages, grouped the way a shop would group them, for when you know what you are looking for.
- Thermometers and probes (2)
- Cleaning tools (2)
- Handling and hand tools (3)
- Grilling and skewers (2)
- Racks and extra levels (2)
- Replacement parts (1)
- Liners (1)
Thermometers and probes
- Instant-read thermometer — Worth owning before anything else
- Leave-in cooking probe — Useful for a specific job
Cleaning tools
- Non-scratch sponge — Genuinely useful
- Soft-bristled cleaning brush — Genuinely useful
Handling and hand tools
- Oil sprayer — Genuinely useful
- Silicone-tipped tongs — Genuinely useful
- Heatproof gloves — A convenience, not a capability
Grilling and skewers
- Grill plate — Useful for a specific job
- Skewer rack — Useful for a specific job
Racks and extra levels
- Multi-level rack — Useful for a specific job
- Dehydrating rack — You probably do not need this
Replacement parts
- Replacement basket or crisper plate — Useful for a specific job
Liners
- Silicone basket insert — Works, but costs you results
Things that are a material question, not a shopping one
Foil, parchment, tins, dishes and skewers are covered under what can go in your air fryer, because the useful question about them is whether they are safe rather than whether they are worth buying. Several have answers that manufacturers disagree about.
Replacement parts
The basket and the crisper plate are the wear items in an air fryer, and whether you can buy another one decides how long the appliance lasts. AirfryerHQ holds 11 part records read from manufacturer manuals — and not one of those manuals publishes an order code, which is a finding about the category rather than a gap in our reading.
- What can be replaced, and what to ask for — including where to find the model and serial numbers you will be asked for.
- Replacement baskets and crisper plates — when replacing is worth it and when the machine has reached the end.
- Find your model — the parts we hold for a machine are listed on its own page.
Before you buy anything
Two of the most useful things you can do for an air fryer cost nothing at all.
- Cook half as much at a time
Crowding is the single commonest cause of disappointing results, and no accessory fixes it. Most of them make it worse.
- Clean it more often than you do
Accumulated grease is what smokes, and then what burns. It is also what makes an old machine seem worse than it is.