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The whole preheat debate came up at a potluck last night
I was at a potluck in Denver last night and my buddy Dave said you should never preheat an air fryer because it dries out the food. His wife swore she always preheats hers for 5 minutes or the texture is off. I've been air frying for about 2 years now and never preheated once until last month when I tried it with frozen chicken wings. They came out way crispier but also slightly tougher. So which side is right? Does preheating actually make a big difference or is it just a waste of time? Has anyone done a side by side test with something specific like fries or fish?
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juliarodriguez1mo ago
Dave is wrong about preheating drying things out, at least in my experience. I ran a side by side with frozen waffle fries last month and the preheated batch came out noticeably crispier on the outside with the inside just as soft, took about 2 minutes less too. The toughness you got on those wings might have been from overcooking them once they hit the higher temp, not from the preheat itself. Try dropping the cook time by a minute or two when you preheat and see if that fixes it.
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the_thomas1mo ago
Whoa, hold on, I gotta push back on that idea that you just need to drop the cook time by a minute or two. In my experience, that's a guessing game that can mess things up just as badly. The real trick is to use a meat thermometer and actually check the internal temp, especially for chicken. Every air fryer runs hot or cold a little different, so a blanket rule like "drop two minutes" is asking for trouble. I've had frozen wings come out raw in the middle after reducing time, even if the outside looked great. Your mileage may vary, but I've learned the hard way that trusting a recipe's time over a thermometer is a gamble.
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