An air fryer is a blessing for households fond of cooking healthy meals quickly, with less or no oil. But one thing that many people complain about is air fryer food tastes like plastic, especially when they cook food in a brand-new air fryer.
Though it is inconvenient for homeowners to find their new appliance stinking of plastic, there is nothing to worry about.
No, it is nothing like wires melting and causing the fire, as many of you might have thought. You may also like to check the best air fryer oven combo and the best air fryer for baking.
How To Get Rid Of Plastic Smell From Air Fryer? [2023]
To remove the air fryer plastic smell, take an oven-safe bowl. Make a mixture of distilled vinegar and lime juice in equal quantities, one tablespoon each. Place the bowl in the air fryer basket and run it at 350F for 3-5 minutes. Let the bowl stay inside the air fryer until it cools down.
The steam made with lime and vinegar will coat the inside and absorb all the Toxic air fryer plastic odor.
Later you can wash the air fryer basket and clean the inside with a piece of a damp cloth. Once the process completes, you will see that all the air fryer stinks are gone. You may also like to learn our findings on does air fryers cause cancer.
Why Does My Air Fryer Smell Like Burning Plastic?
The major reason is the protective coating lining the inside of almost all the air fryers. When you cook food, this coating gets exposed to high heat, burns off, and emanates a plastic odor.
Those who have been using air fryers for some time know that the air fryer does not smell like plastic after cooking food in it multiple times. Once gone, even your veggies cook with their perfect taste intact.
- RELATED: Can You Put Plastic In An Air Fryer?
Alternate Ways To Remove Air Fryer Plastic Smell
Curious enough to know about a few more tricks to neutralize the plastic smell from the air fryer? Here you go!
Season Your Air Fryer
You can remove the plastic smell from the air fryer by seasoning it from the inside with olive oil or other cooking oil. Wipe all the pull-out racks, trays, and baskets of your air fryer with oil and run the air fryer at the max temperature (400F) for 10 minutes.
Wash the racks, clean the inside and repeat the process a few times. You will get rid of the stench that some would like to call the “new air fryer smell.”
Avoid using can spray oil as it often contains Soy Lecithin, which is not suitable for the non-stick coating of your air fryers.
Leave Air Fryer ON with No Food Inside
Overall, the more plastic your air fryer has, the longer it will stink like plastic. But the good part is that eventually, the smell will subside.
Leaving the air fryer on for twenty to forty minutes at max temperature (400-150F) does the job too. Repeat this process a few times, and bingo! You won’t find the smell again.
Note: Air fryers with more metal parts smell less strongly, and the smell does not linger for too long, either.
But when you do that, make sure to open the windows for ventilation or use the air fryer in the backyard. Otherwise, your whole house may reek of burning plastic fumes. Besides, breathing into the same air shared by toxic plastic fumes is not healthy either.
Wash Air Fryer Before the First Use
Electric appliances may look shiny and clean when you unbox them, but you can never be sure of their handling during manufacturing.
Therefore, give your air fryer a good wash with a strong dishwasher and a sponge. Scrub away all the dirt and grease or the protective coating invisibly covering the appliance.
Clean all the air fryer parts and the inside of the oven a few times before use.
Cleaning up your air fryer after every use is a good practice, too. It can keep the grease, dust, and bacteria from growing. These elements can interfere with the taste of the food and make it unhealthy.
Use Charcoal to Remove the Burning Plastic Smell
Using charcoal is a prudent way to remove the plastic-like smell from your air fryer. Put the charcoal sticks in the air fryer basket and leave it there for 24 hours.
Charcoal has a natural tendency to absorb odors without using any harmful chemicals. So, the charcoal can remove the plastic-like smell, and you can cook in your air fryer without any hassle.
On some occasions, your air fryer may start acting abnormally, like shutting off itself. For such issues, you must check our detailed guide on how to fix the air fryer that keeps turning OFF
Is there an air fryer without a plastic smell?
Dreo Air Fryer – DR-KAF002 is the best air fryer with no plastic smell, ready to use right out of the packet. It has a sleek design, a compact body, and an extremely attractive price tag. So why not go for it and spare yourself the hassle?
But there are people who love their old air fryers and are not ready to part ways with them. Therefore, I took this upon ourselves to help them find ways to remove the air fryer smell. But before that, let’s learn why your air fryer smells like plastic.
Why I can’t remove the plastic smell even after using it multiple times?
Manufacturers have fast turnaround schedules, so they do not have time to repeatedly heat and cool the plastic to deodorize the air fryer to remove the smell. Moreover, heating elements, fans, and other components have a short break-in period. Bearings emit an offensive smell, and the heating element’s electric soldering smells until everything settles at its right spot. Therefore, it takes time until the unit stops smelling.
Will the food be safe if my air fryer smells like plastic?
The scent is inconvenient, but it does not interact with your food. So, it is not a cause for concern, and the air fryer smell goes away after a few rounds of cooking.
How long does it take for the plastic smell to go away air fryer?
In most cases, the bad smell goes away after you give a good wash to all the racks and trays accompanying the air fryer. So, make sure to clean the air fryer when using it for the first time. It is seldom that you need a few cooking attempts to remove the smell entirely.
Wrapping Up!
Nonetheless, you cannot think of ruining your food with the plastic smell many new and old air fryers give off. Therefore, I recommend you use the easy peasy lemon squeezy tricks to keep your air fryer ready for cooking without any awful stench ruining your food. Hope you will like the odor removal techniques for the plastic smell in the air fryer. Don’t forget to share your experience in the comments section.
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