Yes, you can. Food Republic calls foil generally fine in an air fryer, with one rule above the rest: keep it away from the heating element and the fan. The delicious. magazine food team goes further and recommends a sheet of it as a drip tray.
The worry most people bring to the question comes from the microwave. An air fryer is a different machine. Taste of Home points out that it cooks with hot air moved by a fan, not with electromagnetic radiation, so foil does not throw sparks the way it does in a microwave.
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Where the danger sits
Look at how the machine is built. Food Republic describes it as closer to a powerful convection oven than a fryer, with a heating element at the top and a fan that drives the hot air round at speed. Both usually sit above the food. That is why the magazine says never to use foil as a lid over a dish, because a sheet up there can end up touching one of them.
The same fan can lift a loose sheet from below. Sarah Farmer, executive culinary director at Taste of Home, says foil must be pinned down by the food or fixed firmly to a ramekin, pan or silicone mould. Otherwise it can fly up to the fan behind the coil. Her shorthand for the failure is “foil on coil”.
Lynne Just, who runs the consumer test kitchen at Hamilton Beach, told Martha Stewart that foil touching the element could start a fire or damage the appliance. Erin Clarke of Well Plated adds a case people miss. She skips foil under light food such as tortilla chips, because the chips shift and can drag the foil towards the element.
Why a full liner spoils the food
The second risk is soggy dinner rather than fire. The delicious. team explains that an air fryer works by superheating air and blowing it round the basket, so food the air cannot reach will not crisp. Clarke makes the same point about foil. Placed badly, it blocks the airflow that makes the machine work.
So cover part of the basket, not all of it. The advice gathered by Martha Stewart is to leave a gap round the edges and to poke holes in the sheet. Food Republic adds a machine-level version of the rule. Keep the air fryer at least 6 inches from the wall so the vent at the back stays clear.
What foil is good for
Mess is the main reason to reach for it. The delicious. team puts a sheet of foil or baking paper in the base under the basket, so crumbs and oil that fall through lift out in one go. Clarke uses foil for sticky jobs such as marinated chicken or glazed salmon.
Just draws a line at battered or saucy food. She told Martha Stewart those are better cooked on a tray in a regular oven.
The delicious. team also offers a wider rule for anything you put in the basket. If a dish is safe in the oven, it is safe in the air fryer, provided it fits.
When parchment is the better choice
Tomatoes and citrus are the exception. Taste of Home, citing Insider, says acidic food can react with foil and break down the aluminium. Farmer’s team calls parchment probably the better option in general, because it does not react and sticks to food less.
Clarke recommends perforated parchment liners cut to fit common baskets, since their holes let the air through. Whichever liner you use, check the manual that came with your machine first, as Martha Stewart advises.
