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AirfryerHQ

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 double capacity: the one manufacturer that publishes loads for its own two-level rack gives less food across two levels than across one.

  • Oven-safe dish

    It turns an air fryer into a small oven for the things that need a container. You almost certainly own one already, and the only real question is whether it fits with room for air round it.

  • 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.

  • Silicone baking moulds

    Useful if you bake in an air fryer, because a batter needs a container and small ones let the air between them. Not the same judgement as a silicone liner, for a reason worth understanding.

  • 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.

  • Disposable paper liners

    Sold to save washing up, and the one comparison we have read found they do not: grease goes through. Several manufacturers forbid paper in the basket altogether.

  • Reusable liner sheets

    A flat, flexible non-stick sheet that lies on the crisper plate. In the one comparison we have read it needed the most cleaning of any liner — which is the opposite of what it is bought for.

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

Cleaning tools

Handling and hand tools

Grilling and skewers

Racks and extra levels

Baking and dishes

Replacement parts

Liners

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.

Everything we have assessed

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 details of 38 replacement parts 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.

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.