Can You Actually Put Raw Meat In An Air Fryer?

Anyone who has cooked meat has suffered from the acute fear that they might have killed everyone around the table. Unless, of course, you meant to. In either case, you might wonder whether using the air fryer would produce desired results.

Fortunately or unfortunately, you can cook raw meat in an air fryer. Per Air Fryer Market, you can cook anything in an air fryer, even a full chicken. However, fitting a full chicken in most air fryers may prove a challenge. The outlet goes on to explain that all you have to do is preheat your fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, spray the walls with cooking spray, and cook your chicken with one flip at the 30-minute mark.

That example is about chicken, but it holds true for any meat because the reason you put the flesh into the oven or over a grill is not to introduce a fire or electricity, but to heat the meat. This is to kill any viruses present, making the food safe to eat. Poultry, as Healthline detailed, has the highest temperature to reach before its dangerous bacteria have been eliminated.

Basically, an air fryer is a convection oven made more convenient. There is a difference between convection ovens and conventional conductive ovens in that the latter transfers heat through a direct touch like a baking sheet while the former swirls super heated air around the food. So, an air fryer can really tackle most things that a gas or electric oven cooks.

However, because the cooking process depends on swirling air, there are foods that aren't suitable for it. Taste of Home gave a few examples. Battered food, leafy vegetables, and seasoning do not work because the air scatters them. This makes cleaning the fryer more difficult than it needs to be. In the case of seasoning, the solution is that you add it after you have used the air fryer. In the other two, though, you really need different equipment.