The nonstick basket only stays nonstick if you're gentle with it.
Go Easy on the Basket
How to clean an air fryer, and why a soft sponge does more than hard scrubbing.
On a tired night, the air fryer is a small rescue. Toss something in, turn a dial, walk away. Afterward, it's just as easy to walk away from. The basket slides back in with a little grease in the bottom, and next time there's a little more.
Then one day you pull it out and really look. The bottom is dark and sticky. When you turn it on, the kitchen smells like last week's fries, and maybe a thin curl of smoke rises from it. It's easy to feel a little embarrassed, and to grab the roughest sponge in the house to make it all go away fast.
Put that sponge down. An air fryer doesn't need hard scrubbing. Hard scrubbing is actually the one thing it can't take, because the basket has a nonstick coating and rough tools wear it away. Hot water, a soft sponge, and a little time will do the job. Gentle turns out to be the faster way.
Give it time to cool
Turn the air fryer off and unplug it from the wall. An air fryer heats up fast and gets very hot, and the basket and the heating element stay hot for a while after cooking, often 30 minutes or more. So wait until it's cool to the touch, inside and out. The wait keeps your hands safe, and with the plug out, it can't turn on while you're reaching inside.
Take out the basket and plate
Pull the basket out of the air fryer. Inside it, there's usually a crisper plate or tray, a flat piece with holes that lifts the food up off the bottom. Lift it out. Some click in, so check your manual if it doesn't come loose easily.
Tip any crumbs and loose grease into the trash, not down the sink, where grease can harden in the pipes.
Let them soak
Fill the sink with hot water and a good squeeze of dish soap. Put the basket and the plate in so they're covered, and leave them for 15 to 20 minutes.
Hot, soapy water softens the grease so it lets go of the coating on its own. By the time you come back, most of it will wipe away.
Some baskets and plates can go in the dishwasher, and some can't. Check your manual first. If it doesn't say, washing by hand is the safe choice.
Short on energy?
Put the basket and plate in the sink with hot, soapy water, and stop there. Tomorrow they'll wipe clean with very little effort. That's enough for today.
Wipe the inside while they soak
The main part of the air fryer is electric. It never goes in water, and water never gets run into it. So the inside gets a cloth instead: dip a soft one in warm, soapy water and wring it out well, until it's damp, not wet. A barely damp cloth lifts the grease without dripping onto the heating element or into the parts that run on electricity.
Wipe the inside walls where the basket sits. Then wipe the outside and the handle.
Check the heating element
Now look up inside the air fryer, above where the basket sits. That metal coil or ring is the heating element. Grease can spatter up onto it and smoke the next time you cook.
Make sure it's fully cool. If you see grease or crumbs, brush them off gently with a soft, dry brush, like a clean pastry brush or an old toothbrush. For sticky spots, use a cloth that's barely damp and go slowly.
Some manuals say you can turn the air fryer upside down to reach the element more easily. Only do this if yours says so. Otherwise, reach in gently from below.
Wash the basket gently
After the soak, wash the basket and plate with a soft sponge. Get into the corners and the holes of the plate.
Most air fryer baskets have a nonstick coating, and it scratches easily. Steel wool, scouring pads and metal forks or spatulas can wear it away. Once it's scratched, food sticks more, and the coating can start to flake. The rough sponge that seems to help today only makes the next cleaning harder.
For grease that's still stuck, mix baking soda with a little water to make a paste. Spread it on the spot, leave it for 15 minutes, then wipe it off with the soft sponge.
Baking soda is soft enough to leave the coating alone, and it helps loosen the stuck grease.
Rinse everything well.
Dry it all the way
Towel the basket and the plate dry, then let them air-dry a while longer, until you're sure. Water likes to hide in the corners and the holes.
Once everything is dry, put the plate back in the basket, slide the basket into the air fryer, and plug it back in.
If yours is an oven-style air fryer
Some air fryers look like a small oven, with a door and racks or trays inside. The same steps work. Take out the racks, trays and drip pan, and soak them in hot, soapy water. Wipe the inside and the door glass with a damp cloth. Keep water off the heating element, and follow your manual for which parts can go in the dishwasher.
Before you reach for the steel wool
After tonight's fries
The easiest time to clean the basket is soon after cooking, once it's cool. A quick wash in hot, soapy water keeps grease from baking on. Add a quick wipe of the inside once a week and a look at the heating element now and then, and that's plenty for most homes.
When you take food out of the basket, use wooden, silicone or plastic tools. They're kinder to the coating.
A lighter touch
When something looks bad, the natural thing is to scrub harder. But some things wear out faster when we push, and the air fryer is one of them. A lighter touch, a little water, and a little waiting do more than force ever could. Go easy on the basket, and it will keep cooking for you on the tired nights.
Soft sponge, warm water, a little patience. The basket lasts longer that way.