How to Use Instant Pot Air Fryer – Full Guide

The Instant Pot air fryer has become an immensely popular kitchen appliance for its ability to quickly cook crispy, delicious meals with little to no oil. This versatile device combines the speed of an air fryer with the multifunctionality of an Instant Pot pressure cooker.

This comprehensive guide will walk through everything you need to know to get started with the Instant Pot air fryer, from unboxing and setup to choosing the right accessories and programs. We’ll also provide plenty of tips, tricks, and recipes to help you make the most of this amazing kitchen gadget.

Unboxing and Setting Up Your Instant Pot Air Fryer

When you first unbox your Instant Pot air fryer, you’ll find the main unit along with several useful accessories:

• Air fryer basket – This basket fits onto the heating element and holds your food while air frying. It’s made from dishwasher-safe aluminium.
• Multi-level air fryer rack – The rack has two levels, allowing you to cook two batches at once. It slides into the air fryer basket.
• Protective pad – Place this silicone pad beneath the air fryer basket to protect your counter or tabletop from heat damage.
• Air fryer tray – Use this tray underneath the protective pad to catch any drippings from the air fryer basket.
• Recipe booklet – Instant Pot provides a handy recipe booklet to give you air fryer cooking ideas.

Before using your air fryer for the first time, read the included user manual thoroughly. Make sure to remove any protective sticky film from the unit. It’s also a good idea to wash the basket, rack, tray, and protective pad with hot soapy water before the initial use.

When putting the air fryer together, place the protective pad on your countertop first, then set the tray on top. Next, insert the air fryer basket into the main heating element. The basket has arrows that should align with arrows on the Instant Pot base. Finally, add the rack(s) inside the basket.

Now you’re ready to plug in the unit and select your first recipe!

Key Components and Accessories

It’s helpful to understand the various parts and accessories of the Instant Pot air fryer before diving into cooking:

Display and control panel – The digital display shows cooking program settings. The control panel has buttons for selecting cooking programs along with adjustment buttons to change time and temperature.

Cooking programs – There are 7 built-in smart programs: air fry, roast, broil, bake, reheat, dehydrate, and keep warm. Each program is preset with recommended times and temperatures.

Temperature range – The air fryer has a wide temperature range from 82°C to 205°C allowing you to cook anything from vegetables to meats.

Cooking time – Set times from 1 minute up to 1 hour. The air fryer will automatically shut off when the cooking time is complete.

Adjustable rack positions – The multi-level rack has adjustable positions for cooking smaller or larger batches. Lower the racks to fit more food.

Dishwasher-safe parts – The basket and rack can safely be washed in the dishwasher for easy cleanup.

Rotisserie spit – This optional accessory turns your air fryer into a rotisserie oven for roasting chickens or other meats.

Cooking pot – Also sold separately, the stainless steel pot transforms the unit into a mini cooker or steamer.

Grill pans – Nonstick grill pans are available to give food sear marks as if grilled. They fit right in the air fryer basket.

Now that you’re well acquainted with the Instant Pot air fryer’s features, let’s explore how to operate the programs.

Using the Air Fryer Programs

One of the Instant Pot air fryer’s convenient attributes is its preset smart programs that take the guesswork out of air frying. Each program optimizes time and temperature for perfect results.

Here’s an overview of the key cooking programs:

• Air Fry – Best for fresh or frozen foods like chicken wings, fries, vegetables, and more. Air fry provides crispy texture without loads of oil.
• Roast – Ideal for roasting meat, poultry, or vegetables by surrounding food with hot circulated air. Produces tender, juicy results.
• Broil – Cooks with intense top-down heat perfect for meats, seafood, and vegetables. Gets a nice char.
• Bake – Gently cooks with less intense heat great for baking cakes, cookies, cinnamon rolls from scratch or frozen.
• Reheat – Evenly warms up leftovers without drying them out.
• Dehydrate – Removes moisture slowly to dehydrate fruits, vegetables, meats into jerky with adjustable time up to 72 hours.
• Keep Warm – Holds cooked food at the ideal serving temperature for up to 10 hours.

Operating any of these presets is easy:

1. Place food into air fryer basket and insert basket into unit.
2. Select your desired cooking program like “Air Fry” or “Bake” using the control panel.
3. Adjust time and temperature as needed.
4. Press “Start” to begin cooking. The digital display will count down time.
5. Food is ready when the timer hits zero!

As you get familiar with each smart program, you can customize settings like reducing air fry temperature for frozen foods or increasing bake time for thicker cuts of meat. But the presets take away the complexity of deciding temps and times.

Handy Accessories to Enhance Air Frying

One of the pleasures of the Instant Pot air fryer is all the useful accessories available to help you get the most from this appliance. Here are some must-have accessories:

• Extra air fryer racks – Having multiple racks allows you to cook more food in batches. Racks are dishwasher safe for fast cleanup.
• Grill pans – These optional nonstick pans give you grill marks as if cooking on a barbecue. Pans come in round or square shapes.
• Rotisserie kit – Take your air fryer abilities up a notch by adding a rotisserie function for roasting whole chickens, ribs, roasts, and more.
• Baking pans – Bake cakes, cookies, pies, and more with aluminium round or square baking pans designed to fit the fryer.
• Silicone cooking pots – Replace the air fry basket with a silicone cooking pot to cook soups, grains, chili, and other foods that aren’t suited to air frying.
• Stacking racks – If feeding a crowd, stacking racks double your cooking capacity. Racks stack right on top of each other.
• Oil brush – A silicone brush makes it easy to lightly coat food with oil before air frying for crispness without excess grease.

Browse Instant Pot’s range of air fryer accessories to build your arsenal of cooking tools.

Tips for Using the Instant Pot Air Fryer

After unboxing your new air fryer and playing with the different programs, here are some useful tips to get the most from this multifunctional appliance:

• Get to know your model’s capacity and don’t overfill the air fryer basket – leave space for air circulation.
• Brush or mist foods with oil before air frying for crispiest results, but don’t soak foods in oil. Air frying reduces overall oil usage.
• Flipping or tossing food midway through air frying ensures even cooking on all sides. Use tongs to flip.
• Preheat the air fryer for 3-5 minutes when air frying frozen foods like French fries, nuggets, and fish sticks.
• For moist cakes and baked goods, use oven-safe ramekins or silicone cups inside the air fryer instead of baking pans.
• Arrange thinner foods like wings and asparagus around the edges of the air fryer basket where air flow is strongest for even crispness.
• Check food a few minutes early to prevent overcooking. You want veggies and meats cooked through but not burned.
• Let cooked foods rest for 5 minutes before eating to allow juices to redistribute.
• Clean the air fryer after each use to prevent food residue from burning onto the basket.

Keep experimenting with programs, accessories, and tips until air frying becomes second nature. The more you use your Instant Pot air fryer, the more creative you can get.