Can you put plastic containers and tubs in an air fryer?

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: Prohibits it

  The manual states that accessories must not be placed in a microwave, toaster oven, convection oven, conventional oven or on a hob, and restricts accessories to those the manufacturer recommends.

  Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK — Instructions

What can go wrong

The question usually comes from reheating: the leftovers are in a plastic tub, the tub goes in the microwave, so why not the air fryer. The answer is that a microwave heats the food and an air fryer heats the chamber, and a container rated for one is telling you nothing about the other.

• Can exceed its temperature limit

  Transfer the food to metal, oven-safe glass or a heat-rated silicone dish. There is no plastic-specific technique that makes this work.

• Can migrate into food

  Do not heat food in plastics beyond their rated temperature. Softening or deforming is a sign the limit has already been passed.

• Not intended for food contact

  Takeaway tubs and single-use containers are not rated for oven temperatures at all. Neither are most reusable food storage boxes.

Temperature limit

Around 100°C.

A deliberately conservative figure standing in for the wide range of domestic food-storage plastics, most of which soften well below any air fryer's operating temperature. It is not a specification for any particular product and no manufacturer read this sprint publishes one.

It depends on your appliance

The answer is not the same in every machine. Where the element sits relative to the food, and how hard the fan blows, change what this material does.

• Combination microwave with air fry — Depends on your model

  A combination appliance running a microwave-only mode is a microwave, and a microwave-safe container is appropriate to it. On air-fry or convection modes it is not. This is the one architecture where the answer depends on which button was pressed.

Your manual governs

Food contact

A microwave-safe marking indicates suitability for microwave heating and says nothing about radiant or convected heat. The two are not interchangeable ratings.

Evidence and confidence

Use this instead

• Oven-safe glass — Explicitly permitted by one manufacturer for baking. Thermal shock, not heat, is the thing to manage.
• Metal tins, trays and cookware — Explicitly permitted by one manufacturer for baking, and recommended by three others whenever a batter is involved.
• Silicone liners and moulds — Heavy enough not to be lifted, and rated above the temperatures these appliances reach. The airflow question is the one that remains.
• Ceramic and stoneware — One manufacturer prohibits it for air frying outright. That single prohibition is why this answer depends on your model.