How to Season a Breville Air Fryer? (The COMPLETE Guide!)
Ready to learn how to season a Breville air fryer? We’ve got you covered with this comprehensive guide. We’ll walk you through the process of seasoning your air fryer, and we’ll give you tips and tricks along the way.
If you’re looking for the best way to season your Breville air fryer, this is it!
Do you need to season a Breville air fryer?
Seasoning a Breville air fryer is indeed recommended for several reasons. By seasoning the air fryer, you can make the basket non-stick, which helps prevent food from sticking to it during cooking. This not only makes cleaning easier but also ensures that your food cooks evenly without any residue left behind.
Seasoning adds an extra layer of protection to your air fryer, acting as a protective coating against potential damage. Moreover, the type of oil you use for seasoning can enhance the flavor of your food, making it even more delicious.
How to season your Breville air fryer?
Step 1: Start with your choice of oil and a paper towel
It’s important to have your oil and paper towel ready before you begin seasoning your Breville air fryer.
To avoid burning your oil when preheating your air fryer, you should choose a high-heat-resistant kind.
If you have a nut allergy, canola oil is an excellent replacement, and peanut oil is OK if you don’t. Most people who like to air-fry choose refined coconut oil because it has a milder flavor.
Step 2: Clean and dry your air fryer basket
The next thing to do is to thoroughly clean the basket of your air fryer.
Food residue and any oil or lubricants used in production should be cleaned off before use.
The basket and all other cooking accessories, if any, should be washed thoroughly.
Before seasoning the basket with oil, make sure it is totally dry since any excess moisture will prevent the oil from sticking to the surface.
Step 3: Preheat the basket to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes
The next step is to heat the basket to 400 degrees for 5 minutes. By doing so, the deeper pores will open and it will expand ever-so-slightly, allowing oil to penetrate deeper, bonding tightly to the metal surface.
Step 4: Dip the paper towel in oil and spread it over the Breville air fryer basket (be careful, it’s hot!)
The next step is to spread a thin coating of oil evenly over the air fryer basket using a paper towel.
Fold up the paper towel a few times and dab it into the oil. Then, brush it across every inch (top and bottom) of the heat-exposed parts of the basket.
Some Breville air fryer models will come with a stainless steel tray to set your food on top of inside the basket. I recommend you season this tray as well.
It is also recommended that you use oven mitts or safety gloves to avoid burning your hands on the hot air fryer basket.
Step 5: Put the basket back into the air fryer and cook it for another 3 minutes
Return the basket to the air fryer and keep the temperature at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for an additional 3 minutes.
This will help the oil get into the air fryer, making the oil harden and stick to the surface of the basket.
Step 6: Repeat the process 3 to 4 more times
If one layer is sufficient, no more layers are required. However, I recommend you repeat the process more than once to add more protection to your basket.
If you want your air fryer to be very non-stick and your coating to be thick enough to handle most meals, you can repeat the process 3 to 5 times more.
This will help build up the layers of seasoning and will help guarantee that the air fryer basket will be fully resistant to sticks and to anything soaking into it.
Does the Breville air fryer come with non-stick?
Most modern Breville air fryers have a non-stick coating that is sprayed on. This makes it easier to take food out of the basket after it has been fried.
This is a conventional nonstick coating, like that found on most cooking utensils. It’s OK, but it wears out over time and becomes ruined if you use the incorrect tools on it.
If you add your own spices, it will be even less likely to stick to the pan and less grime will build up in the air fryer.
What is the non-stick coating made of in a Breville air fryer?
The basket of the Breville air fryer is made of non-stick PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), which is, to most people, known as Teflon. This coating is normal for air fryer baskets and is what you can expect to see on the baskets of most air fryers.
Even though PTFE or Teflon is frequently used as a coating, alternatives with a ceramic coating that does not include PTFE are also available.
It has been said that Teflon could potentially harm you if you ingest it. This is yet another compelling argument for the idea that seasoning your air fryer and forming a barrier between your food and the Teflon material inside could be extremely beneficial to your health.
Advantages of seasoning your Breville air fryer
Here are some of the best reasons why you should start seasoning your Breville air fryer right away. It has three primary benefits.
If you grease the frying basket with oil before you put the cheese in, it might help the cheese slide off the basket and make it easier to clean. But if you want to enjoy the full benefits of seasoning, you should season it with many layers. Every added layer improves the non-stick potential. I always recommend at least 3 to 4 coats.
Second, it safeguards your Breville air fryer’s manufactured non-stick coating. Your Breville air fryer has a non-stick coating, as I’ve described previously. The air fryer’s non-stick coating will wear off after some time. One day, it might even wind up on your plate.
Putting a protective layer of seasoning on top of the non-stick coating will make it last longer and is safe to eat if it gets eaten by accident. In fact, it’s just cooking oil! As was already said, most nonstick coatings on air fryers are made of Teflon, and seasoning your basket can keep it from coming off and being accidentally eaten.
Finally, it aids in maintaining a clean and flawless basket. Food can’t make direct contact with the metal. Therefore, seasoning the basket may reduce the likelihood of rust, corrosion, and stains.
The Breville air fryer will benefit from this in the long run. Just trust me on this!
Disadvantages of seasoning your Breville air fryer
The fact that you have to put in more effort to season your Breville air fryer is one of the main drawbacks.
Even though an oil layer has all the benefits of a safe basket, it needs to be taken care of all the time. If you accidentally scrape it off with a fork, you’ll have to reapply a few layers. If you heat up your air fryer too high, you’ll have to reapply a few layers. If it has been a few months since you seasoned your air fryer, you will need to do it again. Even soaps and detergents that are considered too hard are a threat to the protective film.
Therefore, you should take care while cleaning the basket of your Breville air fryer. abrasive sponge. If you use strong chemicals or a rough sponge, you might remove the oil layer by accident.
Don’t even think of putting your basket in the dishwasher. The coating is almost certain to come off in there. When you season your air fryer, you might get an oil coating that gives off odors and smoke. Air fryers may be turned up to temperatures beyond 500 degrees Fahrenheit, although doing so may cause the oil to smoke.
When oil reaches its smoke point, it begins to chemically degrade and emit smoke. When it comes to heat, various kinds of oil have varied heat tolerances. To prevent this, it’s best to use an oil with a high smoke point.
Refined coconut oil (not the standard coconut oil), which has a smoke point of roughly 400 degrees Fahrenheit, is the oil I’d go for.
What if you don’t season your Breville air fryer?
If you don’t season your food first, there is a good chance that it will stick to the air fryer basket. It will ruin the flavor, make the food soggy instead of crispy, and may even harm your air fryer if you try to scrape and scrub off the stuck-on food.
When an air fryer has not been seasoned, cleaning may be more of a hassle, and you may even have to deal with a broken basket that makes it difficult to prepare food. Your Breville air fryer could get damaged and scratched if it hasn’t been used before. The same thing could happen if you hit the sides of the basket with a metal spoon.
Extreme heat from an air fryer could wear away the paint on your basket, which would make the basket’s natural non-stick coating less effective. Even the harsh chemicals and detergents we use every day may damage your protective film, leaving it vulnerable to rust and corrosion. When cleaning a used air fryer, it’s important to use non-abrasive cleaners so you don’t damage the basket.
Fortunately, if you have your seasoning right, you will not have to use too many tactics to get rid of food from a previous meal. The food should slide right off with little effort.
Also, if you are worried about Teflon getting into your food, a coating of seasoning may keep Teflon from touching your food at any time.
How often should you season your Breville air fryer?
You should only need to re-season the basket with a few layers 2 or 3 times a year if you use your Breville air fryer regularly.
But be sure to give your basket a gentle and thorough cleaning after each use. A multilayer cover for the basket of your Breville air fryer is stronger and will last longer.
If you are the kind of person who uses your air fryer almost every day like me, then you’ll likely have to re-season many more times a year. To get the most out of your seasoning, I suggest seasoning your basket three or four times in succession.
In my situation, I season my air fryer as often as every two months because I’m always using it daily-sometimes twice a day!
When should you re-season your Breville air fryer?
- You accidentally scratch your seasoned layer off
- You haven’t seasoned your basket in more than 6 months
- You first take your air fryer out of the box
- You accidentally washed your air fryer in the dishwasher
- You accidentally burned your food in the air fryer
- You are using extreme heat to cook (over 450 degrees Fahrenheit)
If you scratch the surface of the layer on your Breville air fryer basket, you might want to re-season it. From time to time, before and after cooking, take a really hard look at the inside surface of your basket.
Sometimes it may be due to you pressing down on the sponge too hard, utensils scraping on it, or the cooking temperature being too high. A properly seasoned surface should look shiny. It should also have a slightly darker brown or black color.
If you see any areas or spots on the surface of your basket that seem dull and even feel rough, then it might be time to re-season your air fryer. Chances are that those areas are without a well-seasoned layer.
Do you still need oil after seasoning a Breville air fryer?
After seasoning a Breville air fryer, the need for additional oil depends on the purpose and personal preference. If the main goal is to prevent food from sticking, the seasoning process itself helps create a non-stick surface in the air fryer basket. Therefore, adding extra oil may not be necessary for that purpose.
However, it’s important to consider that adding oil can bring additional benefits. Firstly, oil can contribute to the overall flavor of the food. It helps to enhance the taste and adds a desirable richness to the dishes prepared in the air fryer.
Furthermore, oil plays a crucial role in achieving a crispy outer crust on certain foods through the Maillard reaction. This reaction occurs when heat interacts with proteins and sugars in the food, resulting in browning and the development of complex flavors. Adding a small amount of oil can facilitate this reaction and help create that desirable crispy texture.
Whether or not to use oil after seasoning a Breville air fryer depends on personal preference and the specific recipe being prepared. Some dishes may benefit from a light coating of oil, while others may not require any additional oil at all. It’s recommended to refer to the specific recipe instructions or experiment with different amounts of oil to achieve the desired results.
What kind of oil should you use to season your Breville air fryer?
1. Refined coconut oil
In order to get the most flavor out of your Breville air fryer, refined coconut oil is your best bet. It’s not to be confused with regular coconut oil which has a smoke point of about 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Refined coconut oil can tolerate high temperatures (about 400 degrees Fahrenheit) without catching fire. As an added bonus, coconut oil has no discernible flavor and won’t change the way your meal tastes. Coconut oil is also the most popular oil to use for greasing and seasoning your air fryer basket.
2. Grapeseed oil
We recommend using grapeseed oil as a healthy alternative to oil. Grapeseed oil contains vitamin E and is naturally high in antioxidants. It’s also a light oil with no taste or smell, so it won’t change the way your food tastes. Grapeseed oil has a smoke point of up to 420 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Extra virgin olive oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is one of the healthiest oils you can use to season your Breville air fryer. This type of oil is high in monounsaturated fats, which are known to be heart-healthy and can help lower the body’s total cholesterol levels.
Extra virgin olive oil also has antioxidants that help keep your cells from getting hurt. The only drawback is that extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point of about 350 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s a bit trickier when dealing with cooking temperatures in your Breville air fryer.
4. Vegetable oil
Vegetable oil is ideal for flavoring your Breville air fryer.
Vegetable oil is safer than other oils since its smoke point is higher than average (about 400 degrees Fahrenheit).
Vegetable oil is a neutral oil and won’t change the taste of your dish in any way. It’s standard oil that doesn’t break the bank. Plus, it’s also widely available everywhere!
5. Canola oil
Canola oil has a high smoke point (between 375 and 450 degrees Fahrenheit), which means it can withstand high temperatures without burning.
It’s obviously one of the oils in this list with the highest smoke point. This makes it ideal for seasoning your air fryer. Canola oil is also a healthy option, as it is low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat.
Cleaning a seasoned Breville air fryer
After you have seasoned your air fryer, it is important to learn how to properly clean it so that you do not remove the seasoning when you are cleaning it. For the most part, if you really did clean it properly, you are not going to have to do a ton of scrubbing to remove anything from the basket.
It is easy enough to remove the food from the basket if you have it seasoned well, so, at the most, you should be able to clean it with warm, soapy water and a soft sponge.
Can you put a seasoned Breville air fryer in the dishwasher?
The dishwasher is not the best place to clean your air fryer’s basket after you’ve seasoned it. In fact, it’s not even recommended to clean your air fryer basket in a dishwasher to begin with.
Even if the company gives you the OK, claiming that the Breville air fryer parts are dishwasher-safe, putting the basket into the dishwasher will only shorten the longevity of your air fryer.
To begin with, the chemicals from the detergent, the high heat, the extremely hot water, and the jets will all be violently detrimental to a well-used basket in the dishwasher, not to mention the seasoning layer on top of it. Don’t forget, there are other pieces of cookware and utensils inside the dishwasher as well. If any of these other pieces bang into your basket, it could damage it as well.
However, if you want to start over and reapply your seasoning from scratch, using this method might work well. You can quickly and simply get rid of your seasoning. A dishwasher is an excellent choice if you want to get rid of the seasoning you’ve already applied and maybe apply it again.
You should wash it by hand if you merely want to clean it so you can reuse it. I know it’s easy to throw it in the dishwasher, but only do so if you don’t care about ruining the Teflon or ceramic covering.
Is it too late to season your Breville air fryer?
If you didn’t season your Breville air fryer before your first use, you can still season it now and enjoy all the benefits of seasoning your Breville air fryer. In fact, it’s never too late unless your Breville’s basket is so worn that the paint inside has already begun to chip and peel off.
One thing you should do is to make sure you thoroughly clean and remove any debris, including rust and corrosion, that might have ended up on the surface of your air fryer basket.
If there is any type of rust or corrosion on your air fryer basket, then we recommend using a combination of natural ingredients such as mixtures of baking soda, lemon, and vinegar. Using these natural ingredients will not only be effective against corrosion but will also help protect the manufactured non-stick coating that is already on your Breville air fryer basket.
Also, make sure your Breville air fryer basket is completely dry before attempting to season it for the first time.
When it comes to peeling of the paint or non-stick coating, the only solution may be to apply a strong layer of seasoning to your basket. However, you’ll have to determine whether or not how much damage or how much peeling is going on. If the non-stick coating on your basket is pretty much flaking off, then it might be beyond seasoning and beyond repair.
To season your Breville air fryer, simply coat the inside of the basket with cooking oil. Then, run the air fryer on its highest setting for about 30 minutes. Allow the basket to cool completely before using it. Seasoning your Breville air fryer is easy and only takes a few minutes. It’s worth it to do this step so that you can enjoy all the deliciousness that comes with air frying!
Using parchment paper after seasoning your Breville air fryer
Using parchment paper in your Breville air fryer can be a helpful option to ensure that your food doesn’t stick during cooking. While seasoning the air fryer helps create a non-stick surface, parchment paper provides an extra layer of protection and convenience.
By placing a sheet of parchment paper in the air fryer basket, you can further prevent food from sticking and make the cleaning process easier. It acts as a barrier between the food and the air fryer surface, allowing for a seamless cooking experience.
However, if you have properly seasoned your Breville air fryer, sticking should not be a major concern. The seasoning process creates a non-stick coating, reducing the likelihood of food adhering to the basket. In this case, you can confidently proceed with cooking without needing to use parchment paper.
Using parchment paper is a personal choice and depends on your specific needs and preferences. It can provide an extra layer of assurance, especially when cooking foods that are prone to sticking.
Safety precautions when seasoning your Breville air fryer
There are some safety things that you need to keep in mind when working on seasoning your air fryer basket.
First, the basket is going to be very hot. You need gloves or a pot holder to help keep your hands from getting burned. Hot oil and hot metal can quickly burn you. You also need to keep in mind that if you use an oil that has a low burn point, you may end up with smoke, which can be bad for you to breathe and can also make your smoke detectors go off. Make sure you protect your hands and stay close during the seasoning process.
How does seasoning your Breville air fryer affects your food
Seasoning your Breville air fryer generally does not have a significant impact on the flavor or texture of your food. While there may be some debate regarding the influence of different types of oil, the general consensus suggests that seasoning itself does not alter the taste or texture of the food.
When you season your air fryer, the seasoning becomes baked on and forms a protective layer that is tightly sealed to the air fryer surface. If done properly, this seasoning layer is unlikely to come off and transfer onto your food during cooking. Therefore, you can enjoy your meals without any concerns about the seasoning affecting the flavor or texture of the food.
It’s important to note that the primary purpose of seasoning is to create a non-stick surface and provide added protection to the air fryer. The seasoning process helps prevent food from sticking and makes cleaning easier, ensuring a smooth cooking experience.
The best temperature to season your Breville air fryer
Most people season their Breville air fryer basket at a temperature between 375 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Most experts will usually recommend 400 degrees Fahrenheit as the standard.
However, it’s not always that simple. The temperature you should keep your seasoning at should also depend strongly on the type of oil you’re using as well. If you’re choosing to go with refined coconut oil, then 400 degrees Fahrenheit should be perfectly fine to season your air fryer.
However, oils like standard coconut oil wouldn’t be able to withstand temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit for very long since their smoke point is closer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, it’s refined coconut oil that has a smoke point of 400 degrees Fahrenheit, so use that instead. Neglecting these smoke points will end up in disaster if your oil begins to burn.
In this situation, what you want to do is lower the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and increase the cooking time by a few minutes.
The goal is to create a slippery layer of waxy and slippery oil on the surface of your Breville air fryer basket. And the only way to do something like this is to use high heat. But if the type of oil you’re using cannot tolerate heat levels beyond 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then I recommend lowering the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and adding an extra 2 minutes to the cooking process.
How long should you leave your Breville air fryer on to season it?
The first thing you’ll have to do is make sure you pre-heat your Breville air fryer basket before spreading oil all over it.
Generally speaking, you’ll want to set it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5 minutes. Once your Breville air fryer basket is at temperature and ready for seasoning, you’ll want to leave it in the air fryer for about 3 minutes.
Don’t forget to adjust the temperature and time according to the smoke point of the oil. After three minutes, you can take it out, spread more oil onto the basket’s surface, and put it back into the air fryer for an additional three minutes to create a second layer.
I suggest doing this up to four times to make a thick, non-stick layer on the outside of the Breville air fryer basket.
Other ways to prevent food from sticking to the Breville air fryer?
Aluminum foil
Aluminum foil is an option, but it might not be the best. Aluminum foil is going to get hot in the air fryer, which means it is going to change the temperature while the food is cooking. This also means that if you are wrapping your food in foil or you have lined the basket in foil, your food may burn.
Keep in mind that a sheet of aluminum foil can block airflow, which could make the food you’re cooking less crispy. Air fryers rely heavily on airflow to evenly cook and create a crispy exterior texture to your food. So, you can use foil, but be careful where you place it.
Parchment paper
You can also use parchment paper. This is a great option as it is not going to change the heat of the air fryer or how fast the food cooks, and it is not going to really make a huge difference in the overall airflow.
As long as you don’t use too much parchment paper and only enough to lay directly under your food, then you’ll be fine. You can cut the parchment to fit the basket or just to fit under the food.
Disposable paper liners
One of the best options for your air fryer is to use paper liners that are designed to work with the air fryer. These liners are going to be designed with the air fryer in mind and are going to be great if you want a liner that is easy to use and that is not going to damage the air fryer.
Paper liners, which can be thrown away after use, are gaining favor among people who use air fryers. The real benefit here is that it makes cleaning even easier, and it’s highly cost-effective. In conjunction with a well-seasoned basket, this will almost guarantee no food gets stuck to your air fryer.
Silicon baking mat
If you are environmentally conscious, you can use a reusable silicone baking mat instead. These are, again, not the best because they do block the airflow.
If you are using a mat, you want to make sure you use a very small one that does not block the airflow to the food.
The benefit here is that silicone baking mats are highly resistant to heat. The material doesn’t stick to food and is strong, so you can easily wash it by hand or in the dishwasher to get rid of any leftover food.
You’ll be able to reuse this over and over again and never have to pay for replacements unless it gets damaged.
Spray oil
PAM and other cooking sprays use a substance called lecithin. Even though lecithin is safe to use on most cookware, it has the undesirable property of sticking to a nonstick coating. It sticks so well that it builds up and becomes hard to get off. Over time, it damages the cooking surface and makes food stick to it.
I recommend purchasing an oil mister, which is basically like a regular bottle spray that is built for oils. You can add in your own oil and spray as you please.
If you want to keep the coating that the air fryer came with, you might want to avoid using spray oil. If you season it properly, you can avoid using any sort of oil or any other non-stick items to keep food from sticking.
Can you preheat a seasoned Breville air fryer?
You can preheat a Breville air fryer that has seasoning on it.
The seasoning is going to be baked on and is going to be semi-permanent. In most cases, the seasoning is not going to come off unless you are intentional in taking it off.
You can use this seasoning to keep the food from sticking, and your air fryer is going to be easy to use. If you’ve done everything correctly, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about it.
If you don’t heat up your Breville to more than 450 degrees Fahrenheit, the seasoned layer will stay in place. Seasoning your basket again may be necessary if you haven’t done so thoroughly or if you’ve only applied a very thin layer. All things considered, it should work out fine.
What temperature is too hot for a seasoned Breville air fryer?
The type of oil you use to season the basket of your Breville air fryer will have a big impact on how hot you can cook with it.
With that being said, the maximum temperature that you should set your Breville air fryer to is probably going to range around 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for most types of popular cooking oils.
Going beyond 450 degrees is probably going to be OK a few times, but doing it often may require that you re-season your basket more often as well. It’s true that the seasoning on the surface of your air fryer is more tolerant of higher temperatures, but it may not last long under heat that surpasses its designated smoke point.
Remember that oil’s smoke point is the temperature at which its quality starts to change and it starts to smoke. At this temperature, the chemical bonds in the oil start to break down, which can make your kitchen smell terrible. Your seasoning efforts on your basket’s surface will be wasted if the oil you’re using to season it is burned off in the process. Plus, your kitchen will have an acrid, pungent smell for hours.
You don’t want your oil to vaporize and leave the surface of your Breville air fryer basket. Before reaching the smoke point of your oil, you want it to dry and adhere to the basket’s surface.
I suggest that you keep the temperature just below the smoke point to make sure that your oil polymerizes and hardens completely on the surface.
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