Can you put cardboard and food packaging in an air fryer?
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
What the manufacturers actually say
The manufacturers do not always agree, and silence is not permission. Each row below is what one company’s own manual says — or, where it says nothing, the fact that it says nothing.
Russell Hobbs: Prohibits it
The manual's safety section states: "Do not place any of the following materials in the oven: paper, cardboard, plastic, or anything similar." It names no exception and no temperature at which it would become acceptable.
Russell Hobbs Express Air Fry Mini Oven 26680-56 — instructions (manufacturer copy) — read for a countertop oven with air fry
Ninja: Says nothing about it
No mention of packaging. The manual instructs the owner to remove and discard all packaging material before first use, which is about the appliance's own packaging.
Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK — Instructions
Instant: Says nothing about it
No mention of cardboard. The manual instructs the removal of all packaging material from in and around the appliance before use.
Instant Vortex 4-in-1 Air Fryer — User Manual
What can go wrong
The question arrives most often as reheating a takeaway in its own container, or leaving a frozen product in its cardboard sleeve. Both are the same problem: dry, light, unrated card in a small chamber with a hot element and a fan.
Can scorch or ignite when not covered by food
Take the food out of its packaging. There is no version of this that is made safe by a lower temperature or a shorter time.
Can be lifted by the fan
Not applicable, because the material should not be in the chamber at all. Cardboard is light enough to be moved by the fan and this is one of several reasons it is excluded.
Not intended for food contact
Packaging inks, adhesives and coatings are not intended to be heated in contact with food. Transfer the food to a suitable dish.
Can block airflow
Your manual governs
No manufacturer read for this catalogue permits cardboard in the cooking chamber, and Electrical Safety First's position that paper should not be used unless explicitly permitted covers it with nothing to lift it.
Food contact
Printed and coated packaging is not manufactured for heated food contact. Even where the card would not ignite, the inks and adhesives are not intended for it.
Evidence and confidence
- Applies to
- Applies generally
- Why this rating
- An absolute verdict, and it clears the bar for one: a national electrical-safety body's prohibition on paper, applied to a material that is lighter, drier and less heat-tolerant than anything the prohibition was written about, in a chamber whose manufacturers warn about both lift and element contact.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- No source read addresses cardboard by name. The verdict applies a paper prohibition to a paper product, which AirfryerHQ regards as within the scope of that guidance rather than an extension of it.
Sources (2)
Electrical safety advice for air fryers
Electrical Safety First — Electrical-safety authority or body (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: That paper should not be used in an air fryer unless the manufacturer's instructions explicitly permit it.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk
Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK — Instructions (PDF)
SharkNinja Europe Limited — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: That food contact with heating elements must be prevented, and that the fan lifts lightweight items.
AirfryerHQ's interpretation of what it says
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library, which mirrors the manufacturer's booklet for Argos product 952/3997. Not retrieved from ninjakitchen.co.uk, whose support portal redirected to an authentication gate.
Use this instead
- Baking parchment — Two manufacturers now prohibit it outright and one gives the mechanism. Sprint 2 recorded every manufacturer as silent; that is no longer true, and the verdict has hardened.
- Metal tins, trays and cookware — Explicitly permitted by one manufacturer for baking, and recommended by three others whenever a batter is involved.
- Oven-safe glass — Explicitly permitted by one manufacturer for baking. Thermal shock, not heat, is the thing to manage.
Looking for something not listed here? See everything we have assessed — and note that we do not reason by analogy. A plastic that resembles silicone is not silicone.