It’s hard to remember what we even did before air fryers. They’ve totally changed the game when it comes to making crispy bacon, golden fries, and juicy chicken thighs, all without splattering grease or heating up the whole kitchen. If you’re the proud owner of one (or just joined the club), you already know how easy they make weeknight cooking. But here’s the secret: a few small tweaks can take your air fryer game from “pretty good” to “how did I ever live without this?”

Whether you’re still figuring out the difference between 350 and 400 degrees or looking to level up your go-to recipes, there are some simple tips, tricks, and tools that make a huge difference. From choosing the right accessories to avoiding common mistakes, these expert-backed pointers will help you get the most out of your favorite countertop MVP.

1. Buy an air fryer that’s the right size

If you haven’t purchased an air fryer yet, the first decision to make is arguably the most important: what size to get. Air fryers are often measured in quarts, the smallest being around 2.75 and the largest about 8.

Because of the wide range of sizes, before buying, check the air fryer’s measurements and make sure you have the counter space and wall outlets to accommodate it.

2. Invest in air fryer accessories

When you’re cooking french fries in the air fryer, it’ll do its best work if each piece of potato is a uniform size. Cutting by hand can be challenging, so my advice is to buy a cutter that’ll help you out. It’s one of the fastest, easiest-to-use tools you can add to your kitchen. 

Plus, additional air fryer accessories, such as tongs, meat thermometers and olive oil sprayers, can elevate your air frying experience. 

3. Don’t forget to shake and flip

For making fries or something similar (tater tots, chicken fingers, brussels sprouts, and so on), you’ll want to give the basket a good shake at least once during the cooking process. This will move the food around and ensure nothing sticks to your air fryer. 

If you’re cooking something like chicken wings, make sure to flip them halfway through the process so they end up perfectly crispy on all sides.  

4. Don’t overload or layer

Remember, your air fryer is essentially a little oven. If you were cooking, let’s say, chicken breasts in a regular oven, you wouldn’t stack them on top of one another, would you? No, so it’s the same deal here. You’ll want to spread them out as best you can, and don’t overload the basket. And never, ever layer your chicken wings, tenders or anything of the sort. 

If you want more room in your air fryer, you can purchase metal racks that can give you double the amount of cooking space. 

Overloading the air fryer will cause your food to heat unevenly, knocking down the quality of your eats. If you’re cooking a lot of food, doing it in batches is best to ensure quality.

5. Adapt oven recipes

If you want to make an old favorite in your air fryer, there’s an easy way to adapt nearly every oven recipe for air fryer use.

Typically, you’d lower the cooking temperature by about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. If the oven recipe says 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 Celsius), the fryer gets set to 325 degrees (160 Celsius). Similarly, you’ll need about 20% less cooking time, though this can certainly vary, depending on the kind of food, the cooking temperature and so on.

If you need help with the math, this air fryer calculator is here to help. It’ll convert standard cook times and temperatures.

6. Don’t forget to clean this part of your air fryer 

Though the air fryer can occasionally seem like magic, there’s one task it can’t handle: cleaning itself. Unfortunately, that step is solely on you, but we’ve rounded up our best air fryer cleaning tips to help you out, including information about how to clean one of the most forgotten areas of your air fryer. 

7. Go easy on the oil but don’t completely ignore it

One big selling point for air fryers is that food cooked in them requires less oil that other methods. That’s good news but it doesn’t mean you won’t need any oil. I find that certain foods such as chicken, vegetables and fish benefit from a gentle mist of olive oil, but be careful not to soak food in oil since the superconvection heat has a way of supercharging whatever fat and oil is in the basket.

The best way to spread a light and even coating is with a cheap $8 oil sprayer or this. 

8. Think outside the box

Yes, french fries and chicken wings are some of our favorite air fryer staples, but you can make many other foods as well. 

CNET has a rundown of some of the best air fryer foods, and if you want specific recipes, we have those too. Below, I’ve gathered seven great recipes you’ll definitely want to try:

Are you sold on the air fryer magic but still don’t know which fryer to buy? Here are the best air fryers of 2025, ranked by CNET’s resident expert, to help you decide.