(Image credit: Getty Images / kajakiki)

Air fryers cook your favorite foods with minimal oil, but they still get greasy and need regular cleaning to stay fresh. Even the best air fryers require maintenance, but the good news is that it's a lot easier than cleaning an oven, and with the right equipment, it'll only take a few minutes.

Air fryers use powerful fans to circulate hot air around your food, cooking it quickly and evenly. That also means crumbs and grease tend to spread inside the machine. Thankfully, many of your air fryer's components are removable for easy cleaning, including the basket and any trays, and the basket has a non-stick coating that helps prevent food and oil from adhering to the surface.

It's a fact of life that air fryers get dirty, but cleaning yours doesn't have to be a chore (Image credit: Getty Images / KNataliia)

Clean the exterior

Before you do any cleaning at all, you need to make sure your air fryer has completely cooled down. Cleaning it while it’s still warm will not only risk you burning yourself on any hot elements, but it can also damage the machine.

Unplug your fryer and soak a cloth in warm, soapy water. Ensure you squeeze excess water from your cloth before wiping the exterior of your machine. Don’t be tempted to use any harsh cleaning sprays or disinfectants, as these could cause the outer shell of the appliance to peel off, or the chemicals could end up inside the machine.

If you’re using an air fryer that has a glass window, it might seem intuitive to use a glass cleaner spray to rid the window of any smear marks. However, when you next use your machine, and it heats up, the residue from the cleaning solution will also heat up and may release fumes you'd rather avoid. Instead, finish cleaning the exterior by using a dry cloth to buff away any smears.

(Image credit: Getty Images / Alina Vytiuk)

Clean the inside

Many air fryers have removable parts that are dishwasher safe. This makes life a lot easier if you’ve just made dinner and need to clean up quickly. If there are large pieces of food stuck to your air fryer basket, however, it’s best to remove them first to avoid clogging your dishwasher's filter.

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

Because air fryers are designed to work without much oil, the cooking baskets are normally covered with a non-stick coating. In order to maintain your machine properly, it’s important not to damage this coating, and the best way to do that is by only cleaning it gently.