Can an Air Fryer Rotate Food? Yes, But Only These Models Do It
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So you were in the market for an air fryer. You’re probably wondering, “What have I not seen in air fryer able to do?” Sure, a typical air fryer can steam, pressure cook, slow cook, seer, bake, roast, broil, dehydrate, Etc. But what is it missing?
Wouldn’t it be next level if your air fryer can flip your food over automatically? Well, this isn’t something new. And oftentimes you and I know this as the rotisserie method.
Air fryers do come in models with rotisserie functionality. These models are often designed within oven-style air fryers. Even though air fryers do an exceptional job at evenly cooking the food all around, it doesn’t get into every crevice of every area of the food. With rotisserie functionality, your air fryer can literally spin the food around in circles throughout the entire cooking process. This makes for an even more hands-off even cooking experience.
Does the air fryer basket rotate?
If you’re wondering if an air fryer basket actually rotates, then the answer is no. These are actually baskets with handles that are placed into your air fryer but they don’t have any featured mechanism that rotates them during the process of cooking. They are built simply to hold and contain food.
Do you need to flip food in your air fryer?
Traditional style air fryers actually don’t have a rotating basket feature. As effective as circulating hot air around the food, it doesn’t provide a completely even cooking all around. The part of the food that is directly facing the heating element will still always be cooked a little bit more than the side that’s facing away from the heating element. In addition to that, whatever tray or grill that your food sits on may also block the circulated hot air from gaining access to that area.
As a counter-measure, what a user would do is manually remove the basket and flip the food over somewhere midway into the cooking process.
Some air fryers have a rotisserie function
Fortunately for those who love rotisserie chicken, there are oven-style air fryers with built-in rotisserie functionality. These air fryers can do almost everything a regular air fryer can do but it also has the ability to spin your food while it’s cooking.
The way it works is that there is an extra motor that is built into the air fryer. This motor helps spin a spoke that is located on the center-left and right side of the air frying chamber. These spokes will usually connect to a rotisserie accessory that the air fryer will come with.
What accessories does a rotisserie air fryer come with?
There are usually two different types of accessories that come with a rotisserie air fryer.
- Rotisserie basket – this is actually a mini chamber with a door latch. It’s for certain types of loose foods that you want to cook in rotisserie Style. These would be great for things like french fries. It would continuously spin your French fries and cook them evenly.
- Rotisserie spit and forks – this is basically a stick that goes straight through the center of your food from one side to the other. Something like this would be great if you wanted to cook an entire chicken. The spit would go from the bottom of the chicken write out the other end. And these ends would connect to the rotating motor.
Why should you rotate food when cooking?
Rotating your food inside an air fryer oven adds to even more even cooking. If you thought that a fan circulating hot air would do the trick and make a perfectly even cook throughout all your food, then you are wrong.
There are still areas of your food that are either touching a surface or not directly under the heating element that can cause a bit of uneven cooking.
With the addition of a rotisserie feature in combination with hot circulating air, you are almost guaranteed to cook your entire meal evenly. You will get that crispy texture throughout the entire body of your food.
If you use the rotisserie basket to cook french fries, then every single french fry inside the basket will be nice and crispy. You won’t even be able to tell the difference between these reheated french fries and the ones that just came out of a deep fryer.
If you use the rotisserie’s spit and forks, your resulting chicken will be crispy all over its body.
These are the best rotisserie air fryers out there
- 8-in-1 functions
- Overheat protection
- Dishwasher safe accessories
- Fast preheating
- 150 to 400ºF temperatures
- 11.6-quart capacity
- 7-in-1 functions
- EvenCrisp Technology
- One-touch smart settings
- Fast preheating
- Wide range temperatures
- 10-quart capacity
- 1500W
- 19 + N functions
- EvenCrisp Technology
- Touchscreen
- Fast preheating (Double Glass Door)
- Wide range temperatures
- 32-quart capacity
- 1800W
How to use an air fryer rotating basket
- Start off by adding a drip tray to the bottom of your air fryer.
- Open the latch door to the Rotisserie basket.
- Place your small loose foods like french fries into the basket.
- Use the rotisserie fetch tool to hold both ends of the rotisserie basket and carefully set them into the air fryer.
- When setting in the rotisserie basket and connecting the ends to the rotating slots, there may be a switch you have to move to open up the rotating slots so that you can push be rotisserie basket ends into.
- Close the door.
- Set it to air fry, the appropriate temperature, time, and then pressed rotate.
- Don’t forget to check your food every once in a while. Use a temperature thermometer if available.
How to use an air fryer rotating spit and fork
- Again, make sure your drip tray is at the bottom of your air fryer.
- With the spit and fork, unscrew one of the forks and stick the other end from one side of your food all the way through until it reaches the outside.
- Reattach the fork back onto the other side of the spit and make sure the forks Pierce into the food to hold it in place.
- Use the rotisserie fetch tool to hold the ends of the spit and forks (now with the food in the middle) and carefully place it into the air fryer.
- Similar to the rotating basket, pull the lever and set it into place connecting up with the motor spokes.
- Close the door.
- Set it to air fry, make sure you have it at the appropriate temperature, and time, and then press rotate.
- Don’t forget to check back regularly and use a temperature thermometer if you have one.
Can you layer food in an air fryer with a rotating basket?
If you want to layer food in an air fryer with a rotating basket, you can. However, one important rule you need to abide by is not to put too many things into the rotating basket. Anything you put inside the rotating basket has to be loose so that it can continually move inside the basket and become evenly cooked.
Depending on how large a layer of the food is, it’s important that you don’t put too many as this will end up potentially leaving some undercooked areas in the middle between all the layers.
If you have multiple layers of food, we recommend that you cook them in different batches.
If you must cook them all in a single run, then we recommend that you lower the temperature and cook for a longer period of time.
How do you rotate a basket in an air fryer?
Unless you have an actual air fryer with the built-in rotisserie spinning feature then you won’t be able to use a rotisserie basket.
If you do have an air fryer with a rotisserie feature, then you can simply place your food into it, and then place the basket into the air fryer.
If you do not have an air fryer with a rotisserie function, then your only option is to pull out the food in between cooking and flip the food over so that the other side of your food can be evenly cooked.
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