The basket occasionally went in the dishwasher which cleaned the surface, but the well gunked grease has been building up.
Tried soaking the basket in soap and hot water. Scrubbing with a soft sponge. And then running the dishwasher multiple times but it only got a small part of the grease out.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but here it is anyway. If it doesn’t come off with dish detergent and a scrub sponge, just call it a permanent seasoning and let it be. If scrubbing it like mad won’t make it come off, then it won’t come off if your food touches it.
Don’t use anything harder than the sponge because the antistick lining is coming off of mine
This is the other issue. Grease would come off using a metal sponge. But that would demolish the “antistick” coating which the grease is sticking to.
I need something which dissolves the greases adhesion to the airfryer pan so a soft sponge can wipe it off.
The blue sponges that ate for non stick are softer than the normal green ones. The rough side of the blue ones are safe for non stick assuming your aren’t giving it everything you’ve got.
These ones:
Can you not heat it up, and then pour out?
Nope. Water does not mix with oil.
Silly suggestion, and no idea if it will work, but it’s an easy one to test;
Get some cooking/vegetable oil, and see if it will help dissolve the residue by putting a bit on some kitchen towel and either scrubbing with the oiled paper towel or leaving that towel on the residue for 10 mins and seeing if the grease has softened.
If the oil does seem to dissolve/soften the grease residue then you can add some bicarb/salt to act as gentle abrasive as it won’t dissolve in the oil as it would do in water
I’ve used cooking oil to dissolve tar/bitumen paint from my skin and clothes before and you can then use soap to clear the dissolved tar in oil.
Otherwise use a kitchen degreaser like you’d clean a traditional oven with.
I imagine what’s happening with the oil is something akin to polymerization, so you either need to break the polymers bonds or dissolve in a suitable solvent
Not silly, that’s a common cleaning technique from janitor/cleaning staff i was told a while back. Use a little bit of what causes the stain/gunk and it helps break down the bonds by binding with the already-solidified object and trying to mix with it, weakening/changing the concentration of the ‘stuck’ substance
baking soda did nothing
soap did nothing
trying a dishwasher tablet next
Soak the basket in 50% vinegar: water. Then run the air fryer with some vinegar in it to clean out the rest of it.
Vinegar is an acid which works great on grease. Baking soda is basic and works great on carbon build ups.
You could try oven cleaner…
Try soaking it again overnight but with dishwasher detergent instead of normal dish soap
Simple Green is my go to degreaser when dish soap and hot water don’t cut it.
I could never fix my gunked up old one. I tried dishwasher, hot water, store brought anti-grease soap or what, nonthing. Had to yeet it. The new one i wash religiously and after a round in the dishwasher, i scrub it down before using it. I’m afraid your old one might be beyond help
Same here. If you build up layers of oil and stuff on the basket it’s never coming out. It’s not a big deal IMHO.
Maybe, but it’s gross as duck :/
Simple pick up your airfryer and throw it outside the window
Post a picture of it, the basket and the mesh.
If it’s really bad then like someone else suggested: get some oven degreaser from the store, spray it down, let it sit for 10 minutes and wash off with hot water. Try not to breath the stuff, it’s nasty.
But you should be cleaning it weekly. Warm it up for a minute or two, then with folded paper towels wipe it out over a trash can. Leaving a light coating is actually to your advantage, it will keep the new stuff from sticking.
It is slightly wet because of the water I had it soaking in. So it appears slimier than it really is. But the grease won’t come off.
Yeah it’s pretty caked on. At this point if you want to clean it, let it dry out and then use some oven cleaner, it comes in a can sort of like spray paint.
Read the directions and follow them just like an oven. Except that you can use plastic bristled brush to agitate and running hot water to wash it off.
Hand wash with soap after each use? What are people saying in the comments about built up residue or oil?
Hand wash with soap after each use
Try this: slice a lemon in half. Put it in a heat-resistant bowl. Place bowl into airfryer and set at 200 Celsius for 20 minutes. It’ll probably smoke, so make sure to ventilate well.
After that, you may be able to wipe most of the grease away with a cloth.
