Tips and Guides on How to Get Rid of Air Fryer Smell 2021
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Do you encounter air fryer smells for the first time cooking? Or do you want to know how to clean the odor smell of an air fryer? If so, then you should read this article. The blog spot will help you to discover why your appliance has unpleasant smells.
The air fryer is a kind of kitchen appliance which you can use to prepare food by the process called air frying. This machine usually looks like a deep fryer or oven, but it works much differently. Air fryers utilize thermal convection and hot air in order to produce crispy food outside and a moist center inside.
There is no oil or fat required for this process, so the food prepared with the help of an air fryer will be healthy and easy to digest. The appliance has a special basket where you can easily put your favorite ingredients. This is the one that can make your air fryer smell.
Air fryers are very safe because they have several layers of protection, so they won’t switch on until all parts are properly closed. This appliance is very easy to use, so you can get the most delicious food in just a few minutes.
If you’ve recently purchased an air fryer, or are considering buying one, there is a chance that the fryer will emit an unpleasant smell.
This can be caused by cooking oils which have not fully heated up to their smoke point, and also from the natural rubber parts of the machine. This problem is often solved with simple cleaning steps.
To learn more about how to get rid of air fryer smells please read on!
Different kinds of air fryer smell that you can encounter
Your family has recently become fascinated with the latest cooking trend — air frying! You’re thrilled that you’ll be eating healthier food.
But lately, everything seems to taste like it was cooked in this appliance, and now there’s even an unpleasant smell wafting throughout the house every time you cook something for dinner. It doesn’t seem so healthy after all.
There are several different kinds of this smell. Read on to discover what they are and why you encounter this problem.
New product smell
This is the newness of the machine and its environment. It is common for some people. A new air fryer has not been used before and will emit some unpleasant odors that come along with it while you are cooking food inside.
However, after using it a few times, the undesirable smell will vanish and your delicious tasting food smells like heaven!
Cooking oil residue
Cooking oil can leave residues on all parts of an air fryer machine such as hoods, heating coils, etc. This might cause odor to escape from these components when they get hot during operation time.
The reason why this kind of bad odor exists is that the excess burn-off of cooking which produces chemical substances such as butane, propane, etc. Those substances are not nice to smell no matter what!
Dirty air filters
The smell that comes from dirty air filters is just disgusting. Clean your air filter using a brush regularly. If you do not have time to clean it every now and then, change new ones immediately when you start smelling bad odor coming out of the machine during operation.
Bacteria
Every air fryer has a grease filter which helps in odor reduction and grease removal. After a few months/years of usage, the grease filter gets clogged up with bacteria from various food that had been cooked inside. This may result in causing an unpleasant air fryer smell.
These microorganisms have their own metabolism function which emits unpleasant odors when they get heated during cooking time. In order to limit this problem from happening, you can replace old grease filters more often or just buy new ones for replacement instead.
Old machine components
Od parts or components might also cause this problem because they are getting weaker as days go by. The part which releases cooking oil residue is the one with the most possibility of becoming older due to excessive heat at times.
The air fryer has a catalytic converter included in its design for reduction odors but after several years/years of use, it will lose its capability of doing so.
A tight seal on the dome lid
This is quite common actually because some people think that the more tightly they close the dome lid, the less smell comes out from the machine. This might be true but a much more unpleasant smell can be generated by the combination of a grease filter, old grease filters, and bacteria buildup.
The air fryer machine has a built-in fan for ventilation so if you close it tightly, it will affect its performance eventually due to less ventilation which might cause cooking oil residue to accumulate around the heating element.
Sour smell
This is another type of bad odor that can happen in your air fryer machine. This kind of air fryer smell comes out when the food inside the cooker gets overcooked or burn for prolonged periods.
You should take care not to cook intensively for a too long time because this might cause food to get baked/burned on the surface area after while the cooking process takes place before release from the frying basket.
Food gradually bakes/burns while they are cooking because of the heat-transferring process. If you cook food for a too long time, it will burn on the surface area and cause a foul odor to come out from the machine which is undesirable.
How to get rid of the air fryer smell
Now, let us see how to get rid of bad odors that may come out of the machine in order to get rid of this problem once and for all.
Cleaning the machine
You should clean your air fryer after each use because any bacteria growth will cause undesired smells to be released. Remove the heating element, take apart all parts which might contain cooking oil residues or old grease filters before cleaning them with warm soapy water.
This step is quite simple actually but you should take care even when removing small components so they don’t get lost. Just treat your air fryer as a piece of delicate equipment while disassembling it for thorough cleaning purposes!
Grease filters replacement
Air fryers have a built-in grease filter at the bottom side of the heating element area. This part is usually removable and can be taken off for cleaning after each use.
In case you do not have time to clean it every now and then, consider changing old ones more often or just buy new ones instead because these filters serve as a means for odor reduction.
Grease tray replacement
Each air fryer has a separate grease tray that collects cooking oil residues from food that gets cooked inside.
After several months of usage, this tray becomes full of bacteria growth due to prolonged contact with food residue/sebum during the cooking process so it needs to be replaced more often in order to reduce bad odors it causes when heated during cooking time.
Air filter replacement
There are air fryers which have an additional air filter that sits right next to the fan as a means for extra odor reduction.
After several months of usage, this filter becomes full of bacteria growth due to prolonged contact with food residue/sebum during the cooking process so it needs to be replaced more often in order to reduce bad odors it causes when heated during cooking time.
Switch off and unplug your machine!
When you finish using your air fryer for the day, make sure to switch off and unplug it properly because leaving this appliance turned on overnight for example is actually not harmful but still emits undesired smells from heating up all parts inside especially metallic ones such as a heating element or aluminum mesh sheet, etc.
Use a deodorizing machine cleaner
Your air fryer smell can be cleaned with vinegar or lime solution if you want to use natural and eco-friendly cleaners for your appliance.
Combine water and vinegar in equal parts and put them inside the cooking basket before turning it on to release steam containing the vinegar smell throughout the kitchen.
If you own an oil diffuser, consider using essential oils instead of vinegar/lime solutions which might not suit your purpose sometimes depending on the type of food residue that accumulates inside!
Odor absorbing charcoal filters replacement
If none of the previous steps have worked for you so far, consider buying odor-trapping charcoal filters you let sit right next to the fan for hours while they absorb bad odors coming from cooking oil fumes.
This step is actually the last resort when you do not want to clean your machine every day and keep changing grease filters/ trays too often because it adds up costs in the long run.
Switch off your fan or turn on blower mode
Most air fryers have dedicated buttons for using specific modes suitable for particular types of food that get cooked inside such as baking, roasting, and even toasting, etc.
If you do not know how to properly use your appliance, consider switching off the fan by pressing a button for 5 seconds or turning on blower mode which does not heat up parts inside but blows cold air only instead!
Do you want more tips about this? Let us know in the comments!
How to Clean Your Air Fryer Basket
From my perspective, this is the most important part when cleaning your air fryer smell. Here are the steps to clean the air fryer basket most efficiently:
Method 1: Oven cleaner method
This method is inexpensive, fast, and easy to do. Please be careful when using oven cleaner. Oven cleaner is a very strong chemical, please use gloves or oven mitts to protect your hands.
Otherwise, you may end up hurting your fingers or worse your skin burns off!! I would suggest you wear safety goggles too because the sprayer of the oven cleaner isn’t very stable. If it accidentally sprays into your eyes, you will hurt bad enough for sure!
Step 1: Place the dirty air fryer basket on a paper bag or sheet pan. Evenly spray oven cleaner onto the air fryer basket surface until it’s wet/saturated all over (be generous).
Since the area under the air fryer basket is large, I sometimes use a DRY paper towel to wipe & spread oven cleaner on the underside too.
Step 2: Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. The oven cleaner is doing its job now! You can see stains disappearing within 20 mins. Many people use this method to dissipate the air fryer smell.
At this point, you can take a clean paper towel and dry out excess oven cleaner from the air fryer basket. Take your time with the drying process as a wet surface will become slippery if not allowed to dry up properly.
Step 3: Place your air fryer into the oven using foil, or just place it on top of the sheet pan as well so that you don’t have to worry about caulking chemicals accidentally dripping onto other parts of your kitchen countertop when they are heating up!
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For oven cleaner instructions, please refer to your user manual. It usually takes about 30 mins for the oven cleaner to fully evaporate inside the oven.
Just keep checking on it every 10 mins or so until you don’t smell any more chemical odor coming from either the air fryer basket or your oven cavity.
Method 2: Vinegar method
This method is the second most common way I’ve done when cleaning my air fryer basket. The advantage of using vinegar is that it doesn’t leave chemical residues behind like how many people are concerned with oven cleaners to do (in their opinion).
But personally, if the air fryer basket is properly dried after cleaning & left wet/saturated, I don’t think there should be much chemical smell left because the oven cleaner evaporates quickly once it’s done doing its job.
Step 1: Place the dirty air fryer basket on a paper bag or sheet pan. Wet/saturate clean air fryer basket with vinegar until it’s wet enough to cover completely. Let it sit for 5-10 mins. Vinegar is doing its job now!
You can see stains disappearing within 10 mins which is pretty similar to what you saw when using the oven cleaner method above.
But since we are not using chemicals here, we need to take extra care when drying out the surface of our air fryer basket so that no water drips inside and damages our heating element nor any other parts of our air fryer unit.
Step 2: Take a clean paper towel and dry out excess vinegar from the surface of our air fryer basket. This is to ensure that the vinegar will not cause the air fryer smell.
At this point, you can also wipe down the bottom side of the air fryer basket to make sure there’s nothing left behind. Take your time with the drying process as a wet surface will become slippery if not allowed to dry up properly.
Step 3: Place your air fryer into the oven using foil, or just place it on top of the sheet pan as well so that you don’t have to worry about caulking chemicals accidentally dripping onto other parts of your kitchen countertop when they are heating up!
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For oven cleaner instructions, please refer to your user manual. It usually takes about 30 mins for the oven cleaner to fully evaporate inside the oven.
Just keep checking on it every 10 mins or so until you don’t smell any more chemical odor coming from either the air fryer basket or your oven cavity.
Personally, I think the vinegar method is just as good as using oven cleaner because both methods require very similar steps and results.
It’s just a matter of what type of chemicals we feel comfortable using to clean our own air fryer baskets at home since neither and nor wind up having much residue left behind.
What will happen if you don’t clean the air fryer smell?
Air fryers have a specific smell when you use them the first time. This is due to residues that accumulate after cooking oily and starchy food. If you don’t wash the machine thoroughly, these odors will stick to it and become permanent.
1) Aerosolized oils: if your oven heats up too much, some of the particles in the oil might explode and spread inside your kitchen. This creates an unpleasant odor. If not dealt with, this can cause problems for your respiratory system!
2) Bacteria accumulation: since air fryers are multi-functional devices that are used for frying, baking, or roasting food, they also get dirty easily because any other kind of food spills into unreachable parts really fast.
3) Allergic reactions: food spills will attract insects and they might get inside your machine. These insects produce an unpleasant air fryer smell that can cause allergic reactions in some people.
4) Burnt food particles: if you don’t regularly clean the plate where the oil is dropped, it will accumulate over time and start to burn at high temperatures.
This burnt smell will be pushed out of your machine and stay permeated in your kitchen for a long time after cooking with it! Using an anti-odor filter can prevent this from happening!
5) Metal corrosion: high temperatures might corrode the metal parts of your machine. This corrosion emits an unpleasant smell and represents a danger to your health if inhaled.
6) Mildew: it’s quite common to use damp towels when cleaning air fryers because this helps to remove grease better. Over time though, these damp towels create humidity, and mold spreads quickly! This is one of the most common problems I see in the customers’ appliances after 2 years of usage on average.
7) Plastic deformation: some plastics used in air fryers get softer at higher temperatures and start melting inside the machine during the cooking process. If you don’t clean them properly, they might stick to the metal part of your appliance and become one with it.
8) Worn out anti-griddles: these only offer a temporary solution because after a few uses they start releasing an unpleasant smell.
9) Colours fade: if you wash the colorful anti-griddles by hand, over time they will lose their color and turn yellowish-grey inside the machine! This is due to heat and humidity created during the cooking process, so be careful when using such parts, as they might also release chemicals into your food!
10) Metal odors: this can be caused by air fryer smell if you use unqualified stainless steel screws or other kinds of metal for assembling your air fryer. Remember that some metals react badly to high temperatures and might release different types of harmful chemicals.
11) Stale taste: if you don’t wash your machine properly, food particles will stick to it and create a stale taste after cooking with it! I recommend regularly cleaning your device with an air fryer cleaner or vinegar for removing leftover odors.
12) Dry food accumulates: this happens over time if you don’t wash the inside of your machine regularly. For example, sesame seeds are sticky by nature and they might dry up on the bowl’s surface, but also on other parts over time.
If you want to prevent this from happening though, make sure you clean all surfaces thoroughly at least once a week!
13) Clogged ventilation holes: dried oil accumulates in these holes after time and creates an unpleasant smell.
14) Foul-smelling food: if you cook fish, onions, or garlic in your machine, the smell will infuse into other types of food that you cook later. These foods might also start smelling bad.
15) Sour milk taste: it’s commonly known that leaving milk out at room temperature for too long can cause it to turn sour! The same happens inside your device if you don’t clean it properly – bacteria spread quickly!
If this isn’t dealt with quickly enough, other types of food will absorb these smells really fast through the air fryer’s inner surface.
Tips to maintain your air fryer without any air fryer smell
To maintain and protect your appliance from the unpleasant air fryer smell, I have compiled these tips below. Keep reading on to discover more about what you should do to keep your kitchen spotless.
1) Clean regularly
The first step to maintain your air fryer without any smell is to regularly clean it! Remember that the only way to get rid of the awful smell is by cleaning your appliance deeply.
For this purpose, use a solution made out of vinegar and water or simply rub the inside with lemon juice. Also, don’t hesitate to descale it regularly because mineral deposits can also cause bad smells to spread in your kitchen!
2) Use an anti-odor filter
As described above, one of the main reasons why appliances start emitting weird smells is due to melted oil accumulating on metal surfaces after cooking different types of greasy food! Oil fume can be harmful to your health so you should not risk it at all costs.
Therefore, if you want to quickly get rid of the unpleasant smell coming from your air fryer, I recommend installing an anti-odor filter. It’s cleanable and replaceable so it will provide protection for a reasonable amount of time!
3) Get yourself an air fryer oven that doesn’t heat up too much
If you’re buying a new machine, choose one with two separate heating elements so you can cook different types of food at the same time without mixing up odors! Also, opt for digital displays because they tend to be more user-friendly than traditional ones.
If you’ve got the money though, go for touch screens instead – they are easier to use and look better in general! Just remember that such features might come at a higher price, so be careful.
4) Wash your stainless steel parts regularly
If you’ve got an air fryer oven with separate heating elements like the Philips HD9240/90 one, make sure to clean any metallic parts at least once a week or more frequently if they’ve been used for baking fish or other types of food that smell really bad!
Other kinds of metal might also start rusting over time due to high temperatures and moisture, so try not to leave it unattended. This is an efficient tip to deodorize the air fryer smell.
5) Clean cooking oil residues thoroughly after each use
Remember that unqualified stainless steel screws or other types of metal can release chemicals into your food because these materials react badly when exposed to temperatures!
Using the right kind of oil is the best way to avoid that from happening. In addition, consider using a non-stick pan or at least a non-stick cooking sheet when frying or baking food in your appliance!
6) Dry cooking utensils thoroughly after each use
The inner surface of your air fryer can be made out of several different types of material: metal, ceramic, glass, etc. Each one reacts a bit differently to heat and moisture so you should always make sure they are perfectly dry before putting them back inside your appliance.
To do this quickly and effectively, I recommend placing them under direct sunlight for some time – it’s a method many chefs swear by because it works really well!
7) Use an anti-odor kitchen towel or wipes
If you don’t want to clean your air fryer every day, at least wipe the grease off using a kitchen towel moistened in vinegar. A better idea would be to spray it with an anti-odor solution made out of the water and baking soda. Just make sure the surface is not metal because this method can cause rusting!
8) Replace any scented candles you might have with unscented ones
Another way to reduce the air fryer smell is using scented candles. Having a candlelit when frying my food was always one of my favorite things to do in order to make my meals taste even better without putting too much effort into it.
However, if you’re trying to neutralize all sorts of odors inside your kitchen, go for scented candles instead! This way, you’ll make sure your house smells nice and fresh before cooking or eating something.
9) Install a cooking hood if possible
Cooking appliances like the Philips HD9240/90 air fryer use glass lids that tend to get cloudy over time because of moisture and high temperatures. Sometimes it even accumulates drops of condensation coming from humid air outside whenever you take it out!
To avoid this from happening, install a ventilation hood in your kitchen so it can trap hot air before allowing it to go outside. This should also help clear any other strange smells generated by heatwaves being trapped inside your home!
10) Clean all surfaces often
Just as with any other cooking appliances, it’s important to clean the exterior as well as the interior of your air fryer oven from time to time.
For example, you can wipe down every metallic surface using a mixture made out of water and cornstarch before scrubbing it properly or just rinse off excess grease with warm soapy water.
Remember that bacteria might grow inside these small crevices over time if they are not properly tended to!
11) Set the temperature higher than necessary
If you’re only baking something like an egg tart in your appliance, for example, set the temperature to at least 300°C or even 365°C/572°F! The resulting should be slightly brownish because of the excess heat. If not, your food won’t turn out as tasty and satisfying as you might’ve expected.
12) Get rid of odor air fryer smells with vinegar and boiling water
If you accidentally overcook meat or fish, for example, consider placing a bowl full of vinegar inside it instead! This should help absorb some of those strange smells that come from internal fat-melting onto metal surfaces at high temperatures.
Another good solution would be to pour boiling water all over those parts instead; just remember to do this over the sink because some steam probably slipped inside the appliance by now!
FAQs about Air Fryer Smell
Are air fryers toxic?
There are many opinions about whether air fryers are toxic or not. Also, it seems that they seem to be very dangerous for the health. To know if this is indeed true, I will try to explain how they work and what things could go wrong with them so you can decide if you want one in your home.
There are two main types of air fryers: hot air and cold air. Both use a rapid heating element to cook food at lower than normal temperatures – hence the term ‘frying’. However, since there’s little or no added oil involved, anyone hoping to lose weight may find these appliances useful.
The name ‘air fryer’ is actually just a marketing term used by manufacturers to differentiate their products from conventional deep fryers – and it’s not the claim that is rubbish.
Do air fryers make your house smell?
No. They do not produce oil, so there’s no smell of frying – the only air fryer smell you found out is of the food you’re cooking. In fact, some air fryers have a function to let out steam as they cook, which makes them even less likely to make your house smell!
Can I use metal spoons/picks/tongs with my air fryer?
In most cases, yes you can use metal utensils in your air fryer. However, to avoid damaging the paint on your appliance – which would void your warranty – make sure to never leave a metal utensil inside your appliance for extended periods of time.
We do recommend always using wooden or plastic tools when possible as these materials won’t scratch the coating on the interior walls of the unit. Also, ensure that the utensil isn’t sharp or jagged.
Is Air Fryer made of Teflon?
Teflon is the non-stick coating that makes food preparation easier. It can be found even in normal fryers but when talking about air fryers, Teflon might not be present just like other utensils.
That’s because Teflon is banned for use in cooking utensils but still, manufacturers try to implement them under different names like Diamond coat or Xylan, etc.
When these coatings get heated beyond 450°, they start to emit fumes which can lead to flu-like symptoms. Another reason for concern is the high amount of electricity consumed by such utensils.
Why does my air fryer stink up the house?
Like all cooking appliances, an air fryer does emit some odors while cooking. The unpleasant air fryer smells often come from the ingredients you’re using and can vary widely depending on your food choices. For example, frying fish may result in a stronger smell than frying potatoes.
If you notice a particularly strong odor when using a new dish with your air fryer for the first time or if you find that your kitchen starts to smell after cooking several times.
Please make sure to use fresh oil every time and clean the appliance after each use as instructed in your User Manual. In many cases, this should improve the odor problems.
Do all air fryers expose you to bisphenol A?
It depends on the air fryer. When you purchase an air fryer, be sure to check what materials it’s made of before you buy it.
Don’t worry about the Teflon coating, either. It’s safe for you to eat and doesn’t expose you to harmful chemicals when heated under normal cooking conditions.
If there is a scratch in your non-stick pan or any foreign material gets into it (e.g., metal), stop using it immediately. Discard this type of pain right away and get a new one – just like with any other cookware.
Is Air Fryer safer than microwave?
The microwave ovens and air fryers both seem like they can give you the food in a faster time period. However, I really need to know if one of them is safer than the other before I can claim which one is better for us to use.
The air fryer makes your dish by cooking through circulating hot air, whereas the microwave uses electromagnetic waves. Both of these are useful appliances that can help you cook delicious dishes within no time, but only if they are used properly.
Do air fryers use a lot of electricity?
The amount of electricity used by an appliance varies according to the model chosen. Generally speaking, running an air fryer costs between 80 cents and 1 dollar per month based on daily usage patterns and the cost of electricity in your area.
You can monitor how much energy your appliance uses through the power cord that’s included with each unit.
Conclusion about Air Fryer Smell
Air fryers are a great way to cook food, but they can leave your house with an unpleasant smell. There are many different kinds of air fryer smells – some worse than others.
If the odor is coming from inside the machine, you may be able to deodorize it by cleaning out any leftover foods that could have caused the bad smell and running ten minutes worth of vinegar through the unit before turning it on again (to help steam away any residual odors).
You should also make sure there’s enough space around your appliance so that airflow isn’t restricted. If you’re looking for ways to prevent future cooking disasters in your home kitchen or office breakroom, don’t forget our guides to get rid of the air fryer smell.
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