How to remove burnt-on grease
This is where most cleaning advice reaches for something abrasive and where doing so destroys the part. There are three published alternatives in this catalogue, from three manufacturers, and all of them work by softening the deposit rather than by removing it with force.
Questions this answers
- How do I get baked-on grease off my air fryer?
- Can I use oven cleaner in an air fryer?
- Does the baking soda trick actually work?
Why not oven cleaner
No manual read for this catalogue permits it, several prohibit strong solvents outright, and the surfaces involved are a nonstick coating and a surface that touches food. A caustic product formulated for enamelled steel is designed for neither.
The same reasoning rules out the popular trick of running the appliance with a cleaning solution in the basket. It appears in no manual, and it involves heating a chemical solution in a chamber with a live element directly above it. Where a manufacturer does publish an empty run, the chamber is empty.
The method, part by part
| Part | What is on it | How often | Dishwasher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basket | Burnt-on residue | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Basket | Stuck food | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Splatter guard | Greasy film | After every use | Dishwasher safe on the models we hold |
Basket — Burnt-on residue
Burnt-on grease on a basket or crisper plate
Burnt-on residue is where most cleaning advice online reaches for something abrasive, and where doing so destroys the part. The published alternative is chemical rather than mechanical: a mild alkaline paste that softens the deposit so it lifts rather than being scraped off.
- How often
- When it needs it
- Dishwasher
- Depends on your model — check the manual
What works
Baking-soda paste, left for fifteen minutes
Cosori's published method: mix 30g of baking soda with 15ml of water into a spreadable paste, spread it over the basket and crisper plates with a sponge and scrub gently, leave it to stand for fifteen minutes, then rinse and wash with soap and water before using. It is the only manufacturer-published method for burnt-on residue found in any manual read for this catalogue.
Published by Arovast Corporation (Cosori).Soak in hot soapy water for an hour, or overnight
Russell Hobbs publishes a one-hour soak in warm-to-hot soapy water for anything baked onto a rack or pan, followed by a sponge or a soft cleaning brush. Ninja publishes an overnight soak for the splatter guard. Both are the same idea: let water do the work that a scourer would otherwise do to the coating.
Published by Spectrum Brands (Russell Hobbs).A soft brush or the blunt end of a cleaning tool
Ninja supplies a cleaning brush and suggests using the opposite end of it as a scraper for baked-on sauces and cheese. A plastic scraper is not an abrasive and is the right tool where one is needed.
Published by SharkNinja Europe Limited.
What not to do, and why
Oven cleaner or caustic degreaser
No manual read for this catalogue permits it, several prohibit strong solvents outright, and the surfaces involved are a nonstick coating and a surface that touches food. A caustic product designed for enamelled steel is not designed for either.
Published by RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares).Metal scourers, wire wool or a knife
They will get the deposit off and take the coating with it. This is the single commonest way an air-fryer basket is ruined.
Published by Arovast Corporation (Cosori).Letting the appliance run empty with a cleaning solution in the basket
It appears in no manual read for this catalogue, and it involves heating a chemical solution in a chamber with a live element directly above it. Where a manufacturer publishes an empty test run, it is with nothing in the chamber at all.
- Your own manual is the governing document. Where it differs from anything here, follow it — this is a synthesis of what several manufacturers publish, not an instruction for your specific machine.
- The baking-soda method was published for one manufacturer's baskets. It is mild and unlikely to harm another nonstick coating, but that is reasoning rather than their instruction.
Basket — Stuck food
Food stuck to the basket or plate
Sticking and coating damage are the same problem at two points in its life: food sticks because the coating has worn, and the coating wears because stuck food was scraped off. Breaking that loop is the whole content of this record.
- How often
- When it needs it
- Dishwasher
- Depends on your model — check the manual
What works
Fill the basket with hot soapy water and leave it
Twenty minutes for ordinary sticking, overnight for anything carbonised. Every manufacturer in this catalogue offers soaking before it offers anything mechanical.
Published by SharkNinja Europe Limited.Use a plastic scraper or the blunt end of a brush
Ninja supplies a brush and suggests its opposite end as a scraper for baked-on sauces and cheese.
Published by SharkNinja Europe Limited.Prevent it: oil the food rather than the basket, and preheat where the machine wants it
Food goes onto a cold surface, sticks as its proteins set, and releases once it has browned. Tossing food in oil before it goes in does more than spraying the basket, and one manufacturer specifically warns against aerosol sprays because of the propellant.
Published by Arovast Corporation (Cosori).
What not to do, and why
Metal scourers, knives or wire wool
They remove the coating, which guarantees worse sticking next time. Prohibited by name in more than one manual in this catalogue.
Published by RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares).Putting a hot basket straight into cold water to loosen it
Thermal shock warps the basket and can craze a coating. Let it cool and then soak it in hot water instead.
- Your own manual is the governing document. Where it differs from anything here, follow it — this is a synthesis of what several manufacturers publish, not an instruction for your specific machine.
Splatter guard — Greasy filmThe splatter guard, and why it decides whether the machine smokes — The part almost nobody knows they have, and the one manual that documents it says failing to clean it puts oil on the element.
Evidence and confidence
- Applies to
- Specific to this type of appliance
- Why this rating
- Three published softening methods from three manufacturers, against a set of prohibitions two of them state explicitly. The absence of any published caustic method across fifteen manuals is itself the argument against one.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- Your own manual is the governing document for your appliance. Where it differs from anything here, follow it.
Sources (3)
Cosori Dual Blaze TwinFry 10L Air Fryer CAF-TF101S-AES — User Manual (PDF)
Arovast Corporation (Cosori) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The baking-soda paste method, with quantities and a fifteen-minute standing time.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 818/0764. The document covers several languages in one file; every figure recorded here comes from the English section.
Russell Hobbs Express Air Fry 12.6L Mini Oven 26680-56 — Instructions (PDF)
Spectrum Brands (Russell Hobbs) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The one-hour soak in warm to hot soapy water for anything baked on.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 564/2566.
Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK — Instructions (PDF)
SharkNinja Europe Limited — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: Overnight soaking to soften baked-on grease, and the ten-minute boil for a splatter guard.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 735/0124. The document identifies itself as revision AG551UKSeries_IB_MP_Mv1_200630_Mv1.