How to Clean an Air Fryer (Without Wrecking the Nonstick)

Let the air fryer cool, hand-wash the basket and crisper plate in warm, soapy water with a non-abrasive sponge, wipe the interior with a damp cloth, and let everything dry completely before it goes back together. Do that after every use — it takes about two minutes — and give the whole unit a deep clean every few weeks. Use the dishwasher only if your manual explicitly allows it, only on the top rack, and with the understanding that every cycle ages the nonstick coating faster than the sink would.

That last part is the tension this guide untangles. Air fryer brands stamp “dishwasher-safe” on their baskets, then quietly steer you toward hand-washing in their own care guides. Consumer-testing experts go further and tell you to skip the machine entirely. Below: the two-minute routine, the deep clean, the heating-element clean almost everyone skips, and — because generic advice only gets you so far — a model-by-model breakdown of what the manuals for all five picks in our best air fryers guide actually say about the dishwasher.

What you need

Nothing exotic, and nothing you need to order:

• Dish soap
• A non-abrasive sponge (the soft side, not the green scrubby one)
• A soft-bristle brush or a clean toothbrush
• Microfiber cloths
• Baking soda

Just as important is the do-not-use list: steel wool, metal scouring pads, metal utensils, and oven cleaner. Every manual and every cleaning expert we reviewed bans all four, and the reasons will become obvious as we go.

The after-every-use clean (about two minutes)

Why every single use? Because warm grease wipes off and baked-on grease has to be fought. America’s Test Kitchen recommends washing with soap after each cooking session, noting that skipping soap leaves a food residue where bacteria can grow. At the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Cleaning Lab, analyst Noah Pinsonnault says to treat the basket the way you treat pots and pans — residue buildup is unhygienic, causes off flavors, and “can even be a fire hazard.”

The routine:

1. Unplug and cool. Wait until the basket is comfortable to handle. A hot element is nothing to work around, and no cleaning task here is urgent enough to risk it.
2. Wash the removable parts. Basket, crisper plate or tray, and any drip tray go into warm, soapy water with the soft sponge. Nothing abrasive — the coating keeps a memory of every scratch.
3. Wipe the interior. Run a damp — not dripping — cloth or sponge over the cooking chamber walls. Never immerse the main unit or let water run into it.
4. Glance at the element. If splatter reached the heating element, handle it while everything is already out (full method below).
5. Dry everything completely. Cosori’s TurboBlaze manual is blunt on this point: the heating coil must be completely dry before the unit is powered on again. Reassembling wet is one of the few genuinely risky mistakes you can make.

The deep clean (every few weeks)

Good Housekeeping’s UK team puts the deep-clean cadence at every few weeks with regular use. Your air fryer will also tell you when it is due: smoke, lingering smells, or food starting to stick are all symptoms of buildup the daily wipe never reached.

Soak the basket, plate, and drip tray in hot, soapy water for 10 to 15 minutes — the Cleaning Lab’s recommended window for baked-on food. Work a soft-bristle brush into the corners, crevices, and the underside of the crisper plate where grease hides. Wipe down the full interior, including the roof of the cooking chamber above where the basket sits. And when you empty the drip tray, pour the grease into a container for the trash — Good Housekeeping specifically warns against sending it down the sink, where it belongs to the plumber’s retirement fund.

Baked-on grease: the method that tested best

The Kitchn ran five popular cleaning methods head-to-head on a genuinely greasy basket. The winner: a paste of two tablespoons baking soda, two tablespoons hydrogen peroxide, and a couple of sprays of Dawn Powerwash, worked in with a soft brush for about two minutes and rinsed with a non-abrasive sponge. The internet-favorite vinegar-and-lemon steam treatment took 42 minutes and still left old grime behind, and a plain baking-soda-and-lemon paste could not lift dark, aged grease at all.

Prefer a method your manufacturer explicitly blesses? Cosori’s TurboBlaze manual includes its own recipe: two tablespoons of baking soda mixed with one tablespoon of water, spread over the stubborn spots, left for 15 minutes, then rinsed.

Cleaning the heating element (the part everyone skips)

Smoke, burning smells, and a kitchen that smells like last Tuesday’s wings almost always trace back to one place: grease on and around the heating element. Good Housekeeping’s Cleaning Lab identifies baked-on residue near the element as the usual culprit behind a smoking air fryer, and America’s Test Kitchen suggests inspecting the element every three to four uses.

The method, consistent across the manuals and cleaning experts we reviewed:

1. Unplug the unit and let it cool completely.
2. Tip it on its side or turn it upside down so you can actually see the element. America’s Test Kitchen offers a bonus move for trapped crumbs: hold the whole unit over the sink and shake.
3. Brush loose debris away with a dry soft-bristle brush — an old toothbrush is perfect. Good Housekeeping’s UK guide suggests brushing along the direction of the element rather than across it.
4. For grease, switch to a barely damp cloth. Water stays scarce here: Cosori’s care guide warns against applying water directly to the heating element because it can cause a short circuit.
5. Air-dry completely — genuinely dry, not mostly dry — before plugging back in.

One important exception: oven-style units with quartz heating elements, like the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, have stricter rules. Breville’s manual says to gently rub a soft, damp sponge or cloth along the length of the cooled element with no cleanser of any kind, and never to use standard oven cleaner anywhere inside, because it deteriorates the metal surfaces. If you are still deciding between the two formats, cleaning differences like this are covered in our basket vs. oven air fryer guide.

Can the basket go in the dishwasher? It depends on the material

“Dishwasher-safe” answers a narrower question than most people assume. It means the part survives the machine — not that the coating comes out unharmed. Dishwasher detergent is harsh and strongly alkaline, the jets are abrasive, and heated-dry cycles add thermal stress, and those insults accumulate. The test experts at Australian consumer organization CHOICE advise never putting a nonstick basket in the dishwasher at all: in their assessment it degrades the coating until it stops releasing food and can eventually shed flakes into what you cook. If you use the machine anyway, Good Housekeeping’s Cleaning Lab says top rack only, parts placed upside down, where the water jets are gentler.

What your basket is made of changes the answer:

• PTFE-coated baskets — the classic nonstick on most basket-style models, including our Cosori, Ninja, and Dash picks. Several brands certify these for the dishwasher; every cycle still ages the coating.
• Ceramic-coated baskets — some appliance writers report that sol-gel ceramic coatings are even more sensitive to alkaline detergent than PTFE. Hand-wash these, full stop.
• Bare stainless steel racks and pans — no coating to protect. The dishwasher is fine.
• Oven-style accessories and interiors — Breville advises against the dishwasher for its racks and pans entirely, and its nonstick interior walls get only a soft, damp sponge, with any non-abrasive cleanser applied to the sponge rather than the surface.

What the manuals of our top picks actually say

We read the manuals and manufacturer support pages for every model in our best air fryers lineup so you can stop guessing:

Notice the pattern. Three brands certify dishwasher safety and still hedge toward the sink in their own care advice — Cosori recommends hand-washing to preserve the coating even though its manuals allow the machine, and SharkNinja’s support pages say the same about the Ninja. When the people who wrote the warranty tell you the sink makes the product last longer, take the hint. (Weighing those two brands against each other? Our Ninja vs. Cosori comparison covers far more than cleaning.)

What actually destroys nonstick and ceramic coatings

Aggregated owner reports show a remarkably consistent failure story: flaking that starts at the basket’s lip and edges — often within the first six to twelve months — and then spreads once an edge lifts. Here is what owners and cleaning experts identify as the accelerants, roughly ranked:

1. Aerosol cooking spray. The Kitchn’s food editors explain that the lecithin in most sprays bakes into a sticky film that builds up and breaks down the nonstick surface. This is the most damaging habit because it happens every single use.
2. Repeated dishwasher cycles. Harsh detergent, jet abrasion, and heated dry, per CHOICE and Good Housekeeping — the slow-motion version of scrubbing with the wrong sponge.
3. Metal tools and abrasive pads. Scratches give flaking its starting point. Every manual in the table above bans them.
4. Marathon soaks. Owners report that 12-to-24-hour soaks let water creep under the coating at rivets and seams. Fifteen minutes is a soak; overnight is a siege.
5. Edge abrasion. The basket lip rubbing against the housing rails with every insertion — which is exactly why owner-reported flaking so often begins at the lip. Slide the basket in gently rather than ramming it home.

Coating already flaking? Clean or replace

Once the coating is flaking or bare metal is showing, no cleaning method brings it back, and CHOICE’s guidance is unambiguous: stop using that basket.

Check your warranty before you spend a dollar. Owners frequently report that manufacturers ship a free replacement basket within the first year — a five-minute support ticket is the cheapest fix in this entire guide.

Out of warranty, a replacement basket usually costs a fraction of a new machine and is the right call for a unit you otherwise like. But if the machine is several years old, was never quite the right size, or you have been eyeing an upgrade anyway, a failed coating is a natural decision point — our best air fryers guide is the place to start, and the Dash Tasti-Crisp sits in the $ band if you just need an inexpensive, capable replacement.

Habits that keep it clean longer

• Oil the food, not the basket. Toss ingredients with oil before they go in, or use a refillable pump mister with a high-smoke-point oil like refined avocado. Skip aerosol sprays entirely.
• Do not overcrowd. Good Housekeeping notes that overfilled baskets splatter grease up onto the element — the exact buildup the deep clean exists to remove.
• Use liners only with your manual’s blessing. Perforated parchment and silicone liners can cut cleanup dramatically, but check your manual first. Cosori’s Lite manual, for instance, explicitly allows foil lining the basket — but not the crisper plate.
• Empty the crumb tray after every use on oven-style units; Breville’s manual makes it a per-use task, with a warm soapy soak for baked-on grease.
• Dry before you reassemble. Every time. It protects the coating’s edges and, more importantly, the electronics.

Two minutes at the sink after dinner, a short deep clean every few weeks, and a firm no to aerosol spray: that is the entire maintenance contract, and it is the difference between a basket that lasts and one that starts snowing into your fries by month eight.

Sources

• Cosori TurboBlaze CAF-DC601 user manual (via ManualsLib)
• Cosori: How to Clean and Maintain Your Air Fryer
• Cosori Lite CAF-LI211 user manual (PDF)
• SharkNinja: Ninja Foodi DZ550 Series FAQs
• Dash Tasti-Crisp DCAF260 user manual (PDF via Williams-Sonoma)
• Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro BOV900 instruction book (PDF)
• America’s Test Kitchen: What’s the Best Way to Clean Your Air Fryer?
• Good Housekeeping: How to Clean an Air Fryer Basket
• Good Housekeeping: The Hidden Grease Spot Making Your Air Fryer Smoke
• Good Housekeeping UK: How to Clean an Air Fryer
• The Kitchn: The Best Way to Clean a Greasy Air Fryer Basket (Cleaning Showdown)
• The Kitchn: Why You Should Never Use Cooking Spray in an Air Fryer
• CHOICE: Why You Should Never Put Your Air Fryer Basket in the Dishwasher
• R3: What “Dishwasher-Safe” Really Means for Coated Components
• Owner-report threads on coating failure: Quistra, HomeTechTool, KitchenTact