Rant: My air fryer melted a plastic spatula at a family cookout last Sunday

My cousin brought over this cheap nylon spatula to use with my air fryer at his BBQ last weekend. It touched the heating element for maybe 10 seconds and turned into a melted mess. Now I only use metal tongs or silicone that's rated for 500 degrees. Anyone else have near disasters with the wrong tools in their air fryer?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason7981mo ago

lol my buddy did the same thing with his mom's air fryer last month. He grabbed a random plastic spatula from the drawer and it basically dripped all over the fries he was making. The smell was awful, like burning chemicals mixed with old gym socks. He had to soak the basket in vinegar for like two days to get the melted plastic off the coils.

abbyk101mo ago

Saw a video once where someone tried to use a metal fork in their air fryer and it sparked like crazy. That smell you described though, thats exactly what happened when my sister left a plastic container lid on top of her microwave nachos. @mason798 your buddy must have been panicking, because the vinegar trick is actually smart but takes forever. I just throw the whole basket in the dishwasher and hope for the best, which is probably why my air fryer still smells faintly of burnt plastic a year later.