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All guides
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How to bake in an air fryer
What you can & can’t bake
Baking times & temps chart
Reference
Baking conversion chart
Using silicone molds
Accessories for bakers
Technique
How to avoid dry bakes
How to prevent burning
Care & troubleshooting
Troubleshooting baking
Cleaning your bakeware
Foil or parchment paper
Air Fryer Baking Guides
Twenty six guides, in the order you actually need them: what the machine does to a batter, the times and temperatures, which model to buy, what to bake in, and what to do when the top burns before the middle sets.
26 guides
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What You Can and Cannot Bake
Find out what you can and can't bake in an air fryer, from cakes to cookies, plus tips, tools, and recipe ideas for perfect results.
Start here
Baking Times and Temperatures
Air fryer baking times and temperatures for cakes, cookies, breads and more, in both °F and °C.
Charts and reference
Oven to Air Fryer Conversion
How to convert oven baking recipes for an air fryer. Drop the temperature by 25F, scale the pan down to what fits the basket
Charts and reference
The Air Fryer Baking Glossary
Every air fryer baking term in one place, from case hardening to carryover. Plain definitions, the temperature that goes with each one
Choosing a machine
Basket vs Oven-Style
Oven-style air fryers bake better, mainly because they let you move the pan away from the heating element and fit real bakeware.
Choosing a machine
Air Fryer vs Toaster Oven
A toaster oven bakes better cakes, breads and pastry because it has gentler airflow and a bottom heating element.
Choosing a machine
Air Fryer Oven vs Conventional Oven
A clear, honest comparison of air fryer ovens and conventional ovens on speed, crispiness, energy, capacity, baking, and health
Choosing a machine
Best Air Fryer for Baking
What to look for in an air fryer for baking, five strong models compared, basket vs oven style, accessories
Pans, liners and oils
Accessories for Bakers
The essential air fryer accessories for baking: cake pans and barrels, silicone molds, springform and loaf pans, liners
Pans, liners and oils
Using Silicone Molds
Silicone molds are safe in an air fryer up to about 446F, but because silicone insulates rather than conducts
Pans, liners and oils
Foil and Parchment Paper
Whether foil and parchment paper are safe in an air fryer, the safety rules, when to use foil vs parchment vs silicone, the wax-paper warningBest Oils for an Air Fryer
The best oils for an air fryer, reorganized around how the machine actually works: two bottles cover everything
Technique
Do You Need to Preheat?
Yes for anything with a chemical leavener, because baking soda and powder release their lifting gas on a clock and a cold basket wastes it.
Technique
How to Make Bakes Crispy
A wet surface cannot brown, because evaporating water holds it near 212F while Maillard browning needs about 285F.
Technique
How to Avoid Dry Bakes
Air fryer bakes dry out for two separate reasons: overbaking, and evaporation from moving air that a still oven does not cause.
Technique
Baking Puff Pastry
The beginner's first puff pastry bake: one thawed sheet cut into 9 squares, egg washed on top only
Fixing problems
Troubleshooting Air Fryer Baking
Fixes for every common air fryer baking problem: burnt tops and raw centers, soggy bottoms, dry cakes, cookies that spread, sunken muffins
Fixing problems
Common Air Fryer Mistakes
Common air fryer mistakes diagnosed backwards from the symptom: why food comes out soggy, burnt outside and raw inside, smoking, pale
Fixing problems
How to Prevent Burning
Ten tested ways to stop your air fryer burning food, the foods that scorch fastest, what to do mid-cook, how to stop grease smoke
Fixing problems
Why Your Air Fryer Smokes
Air fryer smoke is almost never the food you are cooking. It is old residue on the heating element, fat pooling in the drawer
Fixing problems
Why Cakes Sink in the Middle
Air fryer cakes sink because the top sets into a crust before the middle has any structure.Cleaning Your Bakeware
The brown film on an air fryer basket is polymerized oil, chemically the same seasoning layer people build on cast iron on purpose
Store-bought shortcuts
Boxed Cake Mix
Times and temperatures for baking any boxed cake mix in an air fryer, by format rather than by brand.
Store-bought shortcuts
Frozen Cookie Dough
How to bake frozen cookie dough in an air fryer straight from solid: times by ball size from mini scoops to bakery-style balls
Store-bought shortcuts
Refrigerated Cookie Dough
Air fryer times and temperatures for Pillsbury and any refrigerated cookie dough: 320F for 6 to 8 minutes for Ready to Bake squaresWhere to start if the air fryer is new
Read how to bake in an air fryer first, then keep the times and temperatures chart open while you bake. Almost every problem past that point is one of four things, and each has its own guide: the top browns too fast, the crumb comes out dry, the cake sinks, or the basket smokes.
Converting a recipe you already own is a separate job. The air fryer calculator does the arithmetic, and the conversion guide explains why the flat twenty five degree rule fails on anything with a batter.
The recipes these guides sit behind
Every technique here was worked out on real bakes. The full index is at all recipes, with the two biggest collections at air fryer cakes and cookies and bars. The four calculators live under tools.