Can you use air fryer without basket

Cooking food without an air fryer basket is a possibility, but to remove the basket would see difficulty in its own making, so it won't be ideal.

You should never remove the basket out of your air fryer compartment to cook, as the basket - as you'd soon find out is an essential piece of equipment to air fry. Air frying depends on you constantly shaking the food while tossing it over, which is not a possibility without a compatible basket in use.

I've come to personally experience the use of a purpose made Ninja air fryer with no basket in use, and believe when I say it renders the air fryer useless.

Reasons being the basket is not only used to shake and toss the food, but it allows you to evenly distribute the hot air through the food as its cooks.

With no basket in use, you'll only see the food pressed on the bottom with air frying made for more difficult in terms of even cooking.

Not only that but just watch as the food now sits on the base of the basket compartment, on a build up of fat or grease - or indeed leftover food from the night before.

To cook food in an air fryer the basket is an essential piece of equipment, used to not only shake the food, but to keep it elevated to allow hot air to circulate.

An air fryer without the use of the basket it comes with can be made hard to shake and toss the food, as well has emptying the food onto your dinner plate as the oil on the base would simply fall through, spoiling your food.

You can go without an air fryer basket then, but I truly recommend you use your basket at all costs - as you'll soon find out how useless an air fryer is without a basket.

Update March 2022: Not included in this original article is an issue I haven't previously noticed until now. That is if using an air fryer without a basket; the handle usually attached to the basket will make it difficult - if not dangerous - to operate in safety when you can't pull out the container if there's no handle to grab.

Depends on food in air fryer

To remove the basket out of your current air fryer that is intended to be used with the available basket, is a must and should be used with the basket at all times.

Air fryers are just that, with the need for hot air to blow around the internal basket compartment to cook the food evenly. This is not a possibility if the food is not resting on any type of basket, or indeed what is known as a crisper plate.

Making use of an air fryer without its basket that would be included would so far more difficult to cook, with no real benefit to not using the basket.

Food within the air fryer cannot be shaken, tossed or actually be made accessible when its time tip it out, unless the basket is present and in use.

You can use an air fryer without a basket but remember the outer compartment is not made to be used to hold food directly, so staining or sticking of food is a real concern.

Continue to use your air fryer with the basket that is included or else you'll soon realise how much you've come to rely upon the basket - as I believe air fryers with baskets are the best type of air fryers you can buy.

Difficulty in shaking food

One major concern when removing your air fryer basket which is intended to always be used when you cook food, is the inability to shake food.

Air fryers are designed with a basket so you can shake the food for even cooking, and believe me when I say the more you shake and toss your food within the air fryer, its going to see far better results.

Now to tip your food directly into the basket compartment with no basket in use, the ability to shake food not once, but several times over the course of its cooking time would become a real hassle.

Cooking food without the basket can be done if you were to toss the food with a silicon tip kitchen utensil such as a tong for example, to prevent damaging the air fryer, but it is time consuming.

Air frying is all about shaking the fries, chicken nuggets or anything imaginable providing you can shake them as they're cooking in the basket as often as you can.

One thing to remember food is always going to taste better with far tastier results if cooked in the basket.

Less crispy, more soggy

The whole point of an air fryer is to allow hot air to dry the food on the outside, all while crisping it up as it cooks food all the way through.

Its therefore hard to air fry food if it doesn't allow hot air to circulate around.

Without a basket in use it then forces the food to pile on, pressed on the bottom of the air fryer pan with little to no gaps or spacing for air to pass around.

And herein lies the trouble when not using an air fryer with a basket.

Whether it be crispy fries or crunchy nuggets you intend to cook, the batter on breaded chicken nuggets will be soggy, and so to would be the fries.

Your air fryer is designed to throw hot air around the internal basket compartment, all while allowing the air to pass through the open gaps in the basket to reach every bit of the food that is cooking.

To simply place food in the bottom of the basket container, it simply becomes too dense and compact, thus hot air is not allowed to flow 100% around the food.

Food sits in FAT without basket

If you haven't realised already you'll soon find out later once your remove the basket from the air fryer in use.

That is what ever food you indeed to cook up in the air fryer, its bound to release fat, grease and even water as its cooks.

Its therefore likely the food cooking at the bottom of the air fryer compartment will be swimming in the most disgusting grease you can imagine - a puddle of nasty fat.

Not much good for your health for sure but the ability to crisp up food becomes a near impossibility.

For this reason alone you should never cook food in an air fryer without a basket as the food will sit in a pool of fat the whole time.

Furthermore, now imagine you have to tip out the food onto your dinner plate, followed with the puddle of grease landing on your plate, and therefore on top of your food... and believe me I've done it many of times.

Longer cooking time needed

Less of an issue but still a problem if you are used to the fast cooking response of an air fryer, is it will take much longer to cook food without the basket in use.

That is due to the basket allowing the food to be shaken and tossed around on a regular basis, whereas no basket would see you do this manually or indeed give it a little shake without throwing up fat or moisture of any kind sitting on the bottom.

You can only expect to see extended cooking times in your air fryer, regardless of what you may be cooking.

On top of that, cooking instructions or indeed previous times while cooking your favourite food will be obsolete: as cooking with no basket in the air fryer can change cooking times from one session to the next.

Cooking times in an air fryer in not really an issue, but it is more trouble than its worth.

Whilst you'd be forced to cook longer for reasons being the food has become one big chunk, it would need extra time for the heat to penetrate the food in question.

Elevate food on grill

If you insist on cooking food in an air fryer directly in the compartment the basket sits in, then understand all food must be elevated off the base.

As it happens you can buy what is known as a crisper plate that sits on the base of the air fryer, whilst the basket compartment acts as the basket container.

Understand the outer compartment that held your basket would see staining build up in due course, and quite possibly damage done to the inner sides.

This method is still not a solution because food still must pile on the base of the outer basket compartment, thus its difficult for hot air to access food via the sides as you continuously shake it in the process.

Indeed you can cook certain foods without a basket, like fish, eggs or potatoes, but as most people cook fries or breaded or battered food more often, its this type of food that is not compatible in an air fryer with a basket in place.

To summarise

You can use an air fryer without a basket for sure, even though the one you bought is intended to be used with a basket.

All you need to do is place the food in the basket holder or container and use that as an alternative. That is certainly something to consider if your basket breaks or is out of service - otherwise I cannot emphasise how much a basket is important to use.

Do use an air fryer if your one comes with this useful device, as the basket is used to continuously shake, toss - and when your done - empty your food onto the plate.

Food cooked in an air fryer without a basket will be limited in its purpose, as the air fryer cannot circulate the hot air to cook the food evenly.

On top of that, depending on the food you're cooking, it will only sit in any fat, grease or leftover food that hasn't be washed out from the day before.

Air fryers can be bought without a basket in use, so instead replaced with a crisper plate, so that can be considered.

Having said that, my own no basket air fryer is a nightmare to use, for the only reason it doesn't use a basket - which I know now is the most important device on an air fryer.

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