Can I put foil, baking paper or a liner in an air fryer?

Air fryer manuals are vague on this and the internet is contradictory, largely because the real constraint is not the material at all. An air fryer works by moving a lot of air very fast through a perforated basket. Anything that blocks that airflow or is light enough to be picked up by it is the problem.

Safety

Step by step

1. Understand the two failure modes.First, a liner lifted by the fan into the exposed heating element, where it scorches and can ignite. Second, a liner that seals the base of the basket, so hot air can no longer pass through the food from below and everything steams instead of crisping. Every rule below follows from those two.
2. Weigh anything down with food.Put the foil or paper in, put the food on it immediately, and only then start the machine. An unloaded sheet in a running air fryer is the single thing not to do. If you are preheating, preheat the empty basket and add the lined food afterwards.
3. Keep the holes clear.Cut the liner smaller than the basket base, or use a perforated one. Leaving a margin all round lets air circulate, which is the entire mechanism. A sheet cut to the exact size of the basket and pressed flat turns your air fryer into a small, slow oven.
4. Use foil for wet and sticky things, paper for dry and delicate.Foil is best for marinated meat, anything with a glaze, and for making a loose parcel so juices do not go through the basket. Baking paper is better for breaded food, small items that would stick, and cakes and bakes. Neither is needed for chips or wings, which crisp better on the bare basket.
5. Avoid foil with anything strongly acidic.Tomato-heavy sauces, lemon slices and vinegar-based marinades react with aluminium in prolonged contact, pitting the foil and putting a metallic taste into the food. Use paper or a dish for those.
6. Never put anything in the drawer under the basket.The drawer catches fat and its clearance is designed for airflow. Lining it, or putting paper or foil in the bottom, restricts the air path and creates a place for grease to pool and smoke.
7. Consider a silicone or metal insert instead.A perforated silicone basket or a small metal tin sized for the machine gives you a contained cooking surface, is reusable, and cannot be lifted by the fan. It is the tidiest answer for anything saucy, and it goes in the dishwasher.

Tips

• If your air fryer has a visible element at the top of the cavity, treat the gap between the food and that element as the danger zone — nothing loose, and nothing piled that high.
• Bare basket beats any liner for crispness, every time. Use a liner because you want to save cleaning or contain a sauce, not because you think it improves cooking.
• Pre-cut perforated paper liners sold for air fryers are convenient but expensive per use. A sheet of baking paper cut with a few holes punched through it does the same job.
• Smoke coming from an air fryer is much more often burnt fat in the drawer than a problem with your liner. Clean the drawer between fatty cooks.

Common mistakes

• Putting paper in and running the preheat cycle empty — The fan lifts it straight onto the element. This is the most common way people set fire to something in an air fryer.
• Lining the basket completely so no air passes through the base — The food sits in its own steam and never crisps, which removes the only reason to be using the machine.

Questions people ask