One of the most versatile kitchen devices available today is the air fryer. It can make perfectly cooked wings, crunchy fried snacks and quick dinners without requiring constant attention. However, that doesn’t mean every meal will taste delicious.
Take leafy greens, for example. Instead of cooking evenly, they tend to whip around inside the basket and burn before they’re edible. Shellfish can be just as tricky, going rubbery in minutes. Even a simple chicken breast is easy to ruin, drying out unless you coat or marinate it first. Add in ingredients that drip, splatter, or cook unevenly, and you’ve got a recipe for frustration instead of dinner.
If you’d prefer to skip the trial and error, it helps to know what foods just aren’t suited for the air fryer. Here are nine common ingredients better left to other cooking methods, and why trying them in your fryer will usually end in disappointment.
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1. Boneless pork chops
A perfectly cooked pork chop is a thing of beauty, but leaner cuts of the other white meat can dry out in a hurry. Bacon, bone-in pork chops and fattier cuts of swine can handle the air fryer, but lean, boneless pork chops and tenderloin tend to dry out when subjected to the blast of high heat. If you’re going to use the air fryer to cook pork chops, do so at a lower temperature and use some fat to keep things from getting too dry.
2. Spinach and leafy greens
Leafy greens are a big “no” when it comes to air-fryer cooking. The hot convection air will crisp most leafy greens such as spinach, kale and chard far beyond anything you’d want to eat. Solid veggies, including Brussels sprouts, squash and zucchin,i fare well in the air fryer, but leafy greens are best when sauteed, stewed or steamed.
3. Steak and most cuts of beef
Steak reheats well in the air fryer, but it’s not an ideal place to cook it for the first time. Air fryer baskets get hot but not hot enough to give the outside of your steak a proper sear. I’ve tried cooking steaks in the air fryer before. Even fatty, forgiving steaks don’t come out as well as when they’re cooking on a hot plancha, cast-iron skillet or grill.
The exception to the beef rule is burgers. Ground beef won’t get stringy, and the air fryer’s intense heat allows you to get a crusty sear without overcooking the middle. Here’s how to make a bacon cheeseburger in the air fryer.
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4. Boneless chicken breasts
Chicken wings, thighs and any bone-in pieces are perfect candidates for the air fryer. Boneless chicken breasts don’t have much fat and will dry out easily. Protect them with a little egg batter and breadcrumbs, and you’ll be OK, but bare chicken breasts cooked in the air fryer often emerge dry or rubbery.
5. Large cuts of any meat
Large cuts of beef, pork and lamb typically do best when cooked using a low-and-slow method such as braising or smoking. When cooking larger cuts of meat, avoid the air fryer’s hot blast of convection air and opt for the Dutch oven, slow cooker or pellet smoker.
6. Naked broccoli
If you wrap your broccoli in foil, you can use the air fryer to roast it (quickly). If you leave it uncovered and exposed to the hot convection air and you’ll end up with sizzled broccoli ends that are anything but delicious.
7. Shellfish
Shellfish such as clams and mussels need liquid to cook without drying out. They are also easily overcooked, which can lead to a chewy, rubbery morsel that you don’t want anywhere near your plate. Avoid the air fryer when cooking most shellfish.
8. Most baked goods
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You can certainly do some baking in the air fryer, but use caution since the air fryer’s super convection behaves differently than a normal oven’s convection heat.
Baking a cake or batch of cookies in the air fryer using the time and temperature called for in a recipe will often result in an overcooked, dry or burnt result. When baking in an air fryer, use recipes that are specific to an air fryer and don’t assume an oven recipe will translate.
9. Large casseroles or layered pasta
Because the air fryer cooks fast and the heat comes from above, deep casseroles and layered lasagnas may not cook all the way through before burning on top. If you are going to use the air fryer, set it to bake or a lower temperature than you would use to cook chicken wings or hot dogs.
If you’re looking for a great air fryer, here are CNET’s top-rated models for 2025. For more, these are the best air-frying toaster ovens for 2025.
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