Can My Air Fryer Overheat? [+HOW TO AVOID IT?]

Welcome back to Air Fryer Bro. Today we are asking that question ‘Can my air fryer overheat?’, one that I keep hearing among people that own air fryers and use every day. Not only that, we will give you tips to avoid this potential problem. Heat is our friend for crispy air fried food! But too much heat could end in disaster! Anyway…..worry no more and read this simple article 🙂

The air fryer is booming! Widespread media coverage and social media chatter about air fryers have made it clear that the kitchen appliance is here to stay. Just look at the term ‘air fryer’ in Google trends and you will see that searches have gone through the roof over the last five years. As a result, air fryers have become a common sight in many more kitchens! Amazon has sold more than 1 million air fryers in the past three months alone.

The problem is that this amazing kitchen appliance is still new to many people! There are so many unanswered questions out there about air fryers. Today, we aim to tick one of these off the list 🙂

It’s a shame the above chart was not from a stock we had recently bought, or we’d all be rich 🙂 Now that I think of it, the chart reminds me of Bitcoin (cries into coffee!).

Can my air fryer overheat? How hot do air fryers get?

The short answer is, yes, air fryers can overheat. Air fryers work by circulating hot air around your food, hot air that can raise the cooking temperature of your air fryer to as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit (just over 200 degrees Celsius). This intense heat can lead to problems if not used properly.

However, air fryers always have a thermostat to regulate the temperature used for cooking, so the problem is not the actual air fryer that is overheating. It is more likely because of some ingredients that you put in there or doing something to upset the normal workings of the unit that might cause overheating problems.

What happens if an air fryer gets too hot?

If an air fryer gets too hot, it will start to smoke, and has the potential to cause a fire. At the very least, it could smoke out your house 🙂

What should you do when your air fryer overheats?

If you think your air fryer is overheating, turn off the unit and unplug it immediately. Do not attempt to pick up and move your air fryer at this time.

What causes air fryers to overheat? [+how to avoid it?]

The main reason is that there is excess oil in the bottom of your air fryer’s cooking compartment that has reached its smoke point. When this happens, you will see white smoke coming out of your air fryer. By only using oil with a high smoke point in your air fryer, this problem is greatly reduced. Just be aware that oil can drip out of some fatty foods when cooked too, which can lead to smoking as well.

It can also happen that you have accidentally blocked up the vents on your air fryer that then causes the inside of the appliance to overheat. This is unlikely to cause any serious issues, but is something to be aware of all the same. Always check that your vents have enough space after placing your air fryer on the countertop.

I have heard other people saying that overfilling your air fryer may cause it to overheat. However, in all my years of using air fryers I have never really found this a problem. You will just end up with a load of badly cooked food 🙂 So don’t overfill your unit, but not because of anything to do with overheating issues 🙂

If you are worried about air fryers overheating…..

Luckily there are more and more machines that have overheat protection. If you buy such a unit, you have much less to worry about.

With such an overheat protection, the temperature of the heating element and cooking chamber will be monitored more closely, giving you added peace of mind.

Below is an example of a Cosori air fryer oven from Amazon that has such a feature. Simply click the image to find out more over at Amazon.

There you have it, cook food in your air fryer machine without worrying about overheating. It’s easy as long as you follow our simple tips. And think about what the air fryer is replacing!

When you deep fry with hot oil there is much more chance of overheating and the resulting fire hazard! I know I was super happy when I could change out my deep-fat fryer for an air fryer!

And don’t get me started on exploding pressure cookers 🙂

If you have your own experience with overheating air fryers, please let us know in the comments section below 🙂

I have another whole article talking about whether air fryers are a fire risk. You may be interested after reading this article.