The Overlooked Benefit Of Glass Air Fryers

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When is the last time you actually used your oven instead of the air fryer? Thanks to their versatility, speed, and ability to cook healthier foods, air fryers have become a kitchen staple for many home chefs. As they grow in popularity, air fryers continue to improve in design, and upgrading to a glass model is one of those air fryer hacks you'll wish you knew sooner. For one, you can say goodbye to the mistakes that everyone makes cooking frozen food in the air fryer, including overcooking and undercooking your meals. That's because one of the best things about a glass air fryer is that you can keep an eye on the food inside as it heats up.

A glass air fryer is also easy to clean. With many models, you can toss the glass bowl straight into the dishwasher. Plus, you can use that glass base for food storage in the fridge or even take on-the-go for lunch. Additionally, since most typical air fryers have aluminum baskets with nonstick coatings, there's potential for the coating to break down over time and possibly release harmful "forever chemicals" — though more research is needed. A glass air fryer takes this concern away.

Glass air fryers may look a bit different than other air fryers, but they work in the same way: they cook up food by circulating hot air. The biggest difference is that with some glass models, such as the Fritaire Non-Toxic Air Fryer or Ninja Crispi, the actual air fryer part looks more like a lid that you place on top of a glass bowl.  The glass bowl sits on a stand so that it doesn't put heat directly on your counter. These glass bowls are designed for double duty as food storage; most typical air fryers are lacking this useful feature. The Ninja Crispi even has two sizes of glass bottoms so that you can cook different amounts. Otherwise, glass air fryers still have the same sorts of cooking modes as a regular fryer, such as bake, air fry, and crisp.

Another big difference between the types is that typical air fryers can be particularly cumbersome to clean, as it's easy for oils and food particles to get stuck in them. There are tips you should know when cleaning your air fryer, but the Fritaire happens to have a really useful and unique feature that's rare for most air fryers: it's self cleaning. You just fill the glass bowl with soapy water, press the start button, and a hot air stream circulator rinses it out from the inside, saving you from the effort of scrubbing your air fryer basket, and of course, saving you time as well.