The air fryer is smoking

What is happening

Smoke during cooking is common and usually benign, but the first question is not what caused it — it is what kind of smell accompanies it. Greasy smoke from fat is a cleaning problem. An acrid, plastic or electrical smell is not, and the two must be told apart before anything else.

Narrow it down

Each of these has an answer you already know, and each one rules something out.

1. What does it smell like?

   • Cooking — greasy, like a frying pan — Normal, and a cleaning question.
   • Acrid, plastic, or like burning electrics — Stop. See the escalation note below before doing anything else.
   • A faint chemical smell on a brand-new appliance

2. Were you cooking something fatty — bacon, sausages, chicken thighs?

   • Yes
   • No — Smoke with no fatty food is more likely to be residue or something on the element.

Why it happens

Commonest first. It is almost always the boring one, and a page that walks you through the exotic causes before the obvious one has given you a longer path to a fixed dinner.

1. Most common

   Rendered fat is dripping onto the hot surface under the basket

   Fat from the food falls through the basket onto the drawer below, which is close to the element and well above the smoke point of most fats. The fat smokes. This is the commonest cause by a wide margin and is not a fault.

   More likely in: Basket air fryer, Dual-basket air fryer

   What to do

   • Put a tablespoon or two of water in the drawer beneath the basket
   • Clean the drawer and basket after fatty cooks
   • Cook fatty food 10–20°C cooler

2. Common

   Old fat and residue has built up in the drawer or on the element

   Residue from previous cooks carbonises on each subsequent use. An appliance that smokes with food that should not produce fat is usually an appliance that needs cleaning above the basket as well as in it.

   What to do

   • Clean the drawer and basket after fatty cooks
   • Clean the element and the underside of the lid, once cool and unplugged

3. Occasional

   A piece of food or a liner has been lifted onto the element

   Anything light enough for the fan to lift can reach the element, where it burns directly. This is the mechanism behind the securing rules for foil and parchment.

   What to do

   • Stop, unplug, and look before doing anything else

4. Occasional

   The appliance is new and burning off manufacturing residue

   Protective coatings and oils from manufacture burn off during the first few uses, producing a smell and sometimes light smoke. It stops.

   What to do

   • Run a new appliance empty for ten minutes before its first use

5. Rare

   An electrical fault

   Acrid, sharp or plastic-smelling smoke, particularly with no fatty food present, is a different event from greasy smoke and is not a cooking problem.

   What to do

   • Stop, unplug, and look before doing anything else

The fixes in full

Put a tablespoon or two of water in the drawer beneath the basket

Water keeps the surface fat lands on below its smoke point. It is the standard remedy for cooking bacon and sausages and it works well. Check your manual first — a few manufacturers prohibit adding liquid.

Trade-off: Very slightly slower, and slightly more moisture in the chamber.

You will know it worked when: The smoke stops within a minute.

Clean the drawer and basket after fatty cooks

Residue carbonises and smokes more each time. Cleaning after cooking fatty food, rather than every few cooks, prevents the build-up rather than dealing with it.

Clean the element and the underside of the lid, once cool and unplugged

Fat spatters upward as well as downward. Unplug the appliance, let it cool completely, and wipe the element and surrounding area with a damp cloth. Never do this while it is plugged in or warm, and do not use water near the electrics.

You will know it worked when: No visible residue on the element housing.

Cook fatty food 10–20°C cooler

Bacon and sausages do not need 200°C. A lower set point renders the fat with far less smoke and produces a better result.

Run a new appliance empty for ten minutes before its first use

Run it at a high temperature with the window open and nothing inside. This burns off manufacturing residue in a controlled way rather than into your dinner.

You will know it worked when: The smell has gone by the end of the run.

Stop, unplug, and look before doing anything else

Switch off at the socket and unplug. Once it is cool, open it and look for anything resting on or near the element. If there is nothing there and the smell was electrical rather than greasy, do not use the appliance again — see the escalation note.

Evidence and confidence

Foods this affects

• Bacon
• Sausages
• Chicken thigh

Materials involved

• Aluminium foil
• Baking parchment

Equipment that bears on this

• Oil sprayer — Genuinely useful — 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.