Best Air Fryer Accessories: What's Actually Worth Buying
Most "essential air fryer accessories" lists are padding. They recommend silicone egg molds, mini cake tins, and magnetic cheat sheets — stuff that gets used twice and lives at the back of a drawer.
This list is shorter and more honest. These are the things I actually reach for, the things that solve real problems, and the one category you should avoid entirely.
Instant-Read Digital Meat Thermometer
The only way to know chicken is actually done (165°F/74°C). Essential for food safety.
Silicone Air Fryer Liners
Saves cleanup time. Reusable for years. More eco-friendly than parchment paper.
Oil Spray Bottle
Even coating without aerosol propellants. Works with any oil. Better for you and the environment.
Silicone-Tip Tongs
Won't scratch non-stick baskets. Heat-resistant up to 500°F. A kitchen essential.
Air Fryer Replacement Basket
Keep a spare for continuous cooking or replace a worn basket. Check your model for compatibility.
Air Fryer Cleaning Brush Set
Reaches into basket grooves. Makes cleanup much easier. Extend the life of your air fryer.
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The One Thing You Actually Need: A Meat Thermometer
Buy this before anything else. Seriously, before the tongs, before the liners.
Air fryers are fast, which is mostly great — but fast means it's easy to undercook thick cuts or overcook thin ones before you've worked out your machine's particular personality. Visual cues don't work well in an air fryer. The basket is deep, the food is moving when you shake it, and browning on the outside tells you almost nothing about what's happening in the middle.
A thermometer tells you what you actually need to know: is this chicken safe? (165°F / 74°C). Is this steak medium-rare? (135°F / 57°C). Is this pork chop done? (145°F / 63°C). The numbers aren't optional — they're USDA guidelines, and they exist because underdone poultry genuinely makes people sick.
The Thermapen ONE is the best instant-read thermometer available and worth every penny if you cook proteins regularly. If the price stings, the ThermoPop 2 does the same job for less. Either one. Just not the ones bundled with cheap BBQ sets that take eight seconds to register — by then you've already lost heat from the basket.
Silicone Basket Liners
The holes in an air fryer basket are there for a reason — they let hot air circulate underneath the food, which is what makes the crisping work. But those same holes mean grease, crumbs, and cheese drips end up in the bottom of your machine and baked on by the next time you use it.
Silicone liners solve this. They sit in the basket with small perforations that still let air flow through, but catch the mess. They're reusable, dishwasher-safe, and one good set lasts years.
Buy one that fits your basket size — most come in round (for basket-style fryers) and square (for drawer-style). Measure your basket before ordering. A liner that's too large will fold up and block airflow; too small and it's not catching anything.
Don't use solid silicone mats — the kind without perforations. They block airflow and your food won't crisp. Stick to the perforated versions.
Avoid parchment paper rounds as a regular substitute. They work in a pinch but they're single-use, they're not free, and a sheet that's not weighted down by food can fly up into the heating element during preheat. That's a fire hazard, not a theoretical one — it's one of the most common air fryer accidents. Always place parchment only after food is already in the basket.
A Proper Oil Spray Bottle
Aerosol cooking sprays — the kind with Pam or similar in a pressurised can — contain propellants and emulsifiers that break down non-stick coatings over time. Most air fryer manufacturers explicitly say not to use them. If your basket coating is flaking, this is probably why.
A refillable spray bottle is better in every way. Fill it with whatever oil you actually cook with — olive oil, avocado oil, neutral vegetable oil — and use a quick spray over food before cooking. Half a second per side is usually enough. You're not drowning it; you're giving it just enough fat to brown properly without making it soggy.
The Evo Oil Sprayer is well-made and doesn't clog. The Misto is cheaper and works fine. Either one. The point is having control over what's actually going into your food, and not accidentally voiding your air fryer warranty.
Silicone-Tipped Tongs
You'll use these constantly — flipping chicken thighs, pulling out a piece to check doneness, retrieving a rogue brussels sprout from the corner of the basket. Metal tongs scratch non-stick coatings. Even "gentle" metal tongs, used regularly, will degrade the surface over time.
Silicone tips give you grip without damage. Get a pair with a decent length — at least 9 inches — so you're not burning your hand leaning into the basket. OXO makes good ones. So do most kitchen brands. This is not a complicated purchase.
What to Skip
Dedicated air fryer pans and inserts
Your air fryer likely came with a rack or a basket. That's usually enough. The "3-piece accessory set" sold alongside most fryers adds a pizza pan, a skewer rack, and a double-layer rack — of which the double-layer rack is occasionally useful for cooking two things at different heights. The rest collects dust.
Branded "air fryer" versions of normal kitchen things
An air fryer-branded silicone spatula is just a silicone spatula. Pay normal prices for normal tools.
Magnetic cheat sheets
Every air fryer brand sells these, and they're mostly inaccurate. Cooking times vary too much by model, food thickness, and starting temperature to be useful as fixed rules. Use an actual reference guide — like the air fryer cooking times chart on this site — where the caveats are built in.
Oil misters that look like perfume bottles
Clog within a month. Get the Evo or the Misto.
How to Choose: A Quick Summary
If you buy nothing else, buy a meat thermometer. It will improve your cooking immediately and in ways that have nothing to do with the air fryer.
After that: silicone liners if you cook anything messy (bacon, cheese, sauced proteins), an oil spray bottle if you cook proteins or vegetables regularly, and silicone tongs because you need tongs anyway and they might as well not destroy your basket.
That's it. Four things, all reusable, all actually useful. You don't need a drawer full of air fryer accessories — you need the right three or four things and then to actually cook.