Can you put wooden and bamboo skewers in an air fryer?

Only if all of these are true

• Must be weighed down by food. A skewer should be holding food, not travelling alone. An unloaded stick in the chamber is light enough for the fan to move.
• Must not reach the heating element. Keep the ends clear of the element. Exposed dry wood close to a heating element will scorch and, given long enough, char.
• Must fit with space around it. Skewers must fit inside the basket without propping the drawer open or touching the walls. Trim them to length rather than angling them.

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.

• Ninja: Permits it

  The manual advises securing loose lightweight food — its example is the top slice of bread on a sandwich — with wooden cocktail sticks.

  Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK — Instructions — read for a dual-basket air fryer

What can go wrong

Wooden skewers are the one material here that a manufacturer actively suggests using. The Ninja manual's answer to the fan blowing lightweight food around is to secure it with wooden cocktail sticks — a solution to a problem the same manual acknowledges. Longer kebab skewers are the same material doing a different job and carry the same caveat about the exposed ends.

• Can scorch or ignite when not covered by food

  Soak longer skewers before use and keep exposed ends short. Use them for cooks measured in minutes, not for a long roast.

• Can be lifted by the fan

  Only use them loaded with food. That is the purpose the manufacturer suggests them for and it is also what keeps them in place.

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.

• Basket air fryer — Safe only in specific conditions

  This is the architecture the manufacturer's suggestion was written for: the fan is directly above and the lift problem is at its worst, which is exactly when a stick is useful.

Your manual governs

Food contact

Untreated bamboo and hardwood skewers sold for food use are intended for direct contact. Avoid painted, varnished or decorated sticks.

Evidence and confidence

Things made of this, and whether they are worth owning

• Skewer rack — Useful for a specific job — Genuinely good at the one job it does, and that job is narrower than the packaging suggests.

Use this instead

• 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.