The Instant Pot air fryer is a popular handy kitchen appliance. Many people share new recipes to cook in this unit on social media.
However, before using this appliance and cooking something into it, the user must know whether they can use oil in an Instant Pot air fryer and if yes, what things they should consider.
Users can use a small amount (1/2 or 1 teaspoon) of oil in the Instant Pot Air Fryer. Using too much oil can burn food and overheat the unit. There is no need to add oil if cooking food already contains oil, such as frozen food.
We’ve gathered everything in this guide regarding the use of oil in Instant Pot air fryers.
Table of Contents
Do You Put Oil in an Instant Pot Air Fryer?
Before cooking any recipe in an Instant Pot air fryer, Users must know which ingredients and liquids they can use. Using working quantities and ingrates can overheat the unit.
Not everyone has the same oil preference, some want to use olive oil, mustard oil, or soybean oil. Whatever oil you would like to use in this appliance, you can go for it.
In simple words, You can use any type of cooking oil in the Instant Pot air fryer, but there is a limit to using them.
If you use more than two small teaspoons of oil in this unit, it can overheat the main unit and the device can stop working.
Sometimes new users use more than recommended oil quantity which results in overheating air fryer issues. Once the device is overheated, it will stop immediately and show an Error code on the screen.
However, if you have used just a small amount of oil, your device will not overheat but can make the outside of food brownish.
The Instant Pot has different types of air fryers, the best thing is that you can use oil in all of them. If you’re using an Instant Pot duo crisp air fryer and want to pressure cook in it, then use oil on the food, not on the basket base.
For example, if you want to cook a whole chicken, first put water, then the chicken, and after that put oil on the chicken with the ingredients.
How Much Oil Do You Put in an Instant Pot Air Fryer?
It is not necessary to use oil in Instant Pot air fryers during each use. Some recipes don’t require oil to cook them.
If you’re going to cook frozen foods, such as Frozen Soya Chaap, Frozen French Fries, Frozen Spring Rolls, etc. as these dishes already contain food in them.
If the recipe you’re going to prepare in your Instant Pot air fryer requires oil, only use 1 – 2 teaspoons of recommended oil.
This air fryer can reach 400℉ temperature, if its basket contains too much oil it can overheat the main unit when the device runs in the highest temperature range.
Overheating can stop the appliance from working and if the unit will not get turned off by itself, this can cause damage to it.
However, if the unit is overheated it shows a C5 error code and sometimes says “Ovht”. When code comes on the screen, the appliance immediately stops working.
Overheating can damage the heating element and thermal fuse. In fact, overloading the oil in the cooking drawer can also cause grease leakage.
Pro Tip: Always read the recommendations given in the recipe and see how much oil that recipe requires to be prepared. For example, you can search for a recipe online by writing the keyword “oil usage” at the end of the recipe keyword. By doing this you can know the oil requirement for the food you want to prepare in the Instant Pot Air fryer. If the recipe requires 5 to 6 teaspoons of oil, then don’t prepare that recipe in the air fryer as it can overheat the appliance.
What Happens If You Don’t Use Oil In An Air Fryer?
Using no oil in the air fryer is fine as this appliance doesn’t require oil to Cook food. Some foods don’t require oil and if that is frozen food, then the oil is already in that.
You can use all types of Air fryers’ smart functions even if there is no oil in the cooking drawer. If you want the brown outer texture of the recipe, you can use 1 – 2 teaspoons of oil on the pan.
However, if oil is not available, don’t think you will not get the best result from cooking in an air fryer. Use the appliance tension free whether you want to use oil or not in it.
In fact, oil makes the food brownies from outside and provides a crisper shade color to the dish.
If oil is not added to the basket, the food you will cook gets cooked as it should, but its color might not get that much brown as we expect when cooked with oil.
There are dozens of recipes you can try without the use of any cooking oil in your Instant Pot air fryer. However, you must know how to cook a dish without using oil in an air fryer.
Don’t overfill the basket in case you decide to cook it without oil.
Do you Add Water to Instant Pot Air Fryer?
As a user of an air fryer, you must know whether you can use water in it or not. The answer is here:
You add some amount of water to the air fryer only if the recipe you’re going to requires moisturizer.
However, keep in mind, an air fryer is not meant to steam, and it cannot be used to boil water. Don’t use more than 6 – 7 teaspoons of water.
If you have an Instant Pot Duo Crisp Air fryer, Using water in it is totally fine. Some recipes require food. For example, If you want to cook the whole chicken in the Duo Crisp air fryer, you have to add the water to the basket first.
Water protects the food from the risk of drying and burning, so sometimes using water becomes necessary for some dishes.
An air fryer uses hot air to cook food, and it is popular as it can cook food without water and oil. Sometimes food already contains moisturizer and oil before inserting it into the basket.
So, it is not always necessary to add water and oil, it depends.
If you are confused about whether or not to use water for a dish in an air fryer, always refer to the recipe directions.
Bottom Line
You must consider using oil and water to a safe limit in Instant Pot air fryers. Read the recipe requirements before cooking it in the unit.
Prevent the unit from overheating as the use of a lot of oil can leak and overheat the unit.
Using 1 to 2 teaspoons of oil will not burn the food in the air fryer and cannot cause overheating and leakage issues.