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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.
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:
The category of chemicals you're looking for are called de-greasers.
One common, readily available, relatively unharmful type is citrus decreasers like Citrisolv or similar.
Get the dangerous alkaline concentrate and dilute it as directed for the situation. It's much cheaper. Whatever environmental concerns are canceled out because 1 gallon was transported instead of 64-128 gallons.
I buy the orange stuff by the gallon because I can use it for bike chain degreasing, and woodworking ( as a solvent for oil finishes, etc.), etc.
When we want to break hydrocarbon chains we use bases by default. But, I'd not use a base on a bike chain because if it rusts even a little bit it's junk.
For woodworking why is this better than mineral spirits?
I don't know about 'better', but I prefer it for being less fumey, I feel better about occasionally getting some on my skin, and prefer not using petroleum derivatives. I know there's low fume mineral spirits and I've used that for paint cleanup, but i'm not confident it behaves the same for finishes.
That makes sense. I'll give it a try. Thank you for teaching me.
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
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.
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
Hand wash with soap after each use? What are people saying in the comments about built up residue or oil?
You could try oven cleaner...
I do this with ours. Spray it and let sit for at least half an hour in the sink. Hose off the caustic with hot water, then nylon brush the residue.
Hose off the caustic with hot water
Wear eye protection if truly hosing. You don't want that shit in your eye.
Is it teflon coated? If so you should be careful. Many of the suggestions here are for increasingly abrasive options which will scratch that coating and cause it to eventually flake off, which means it will get into your food, which definitely not something you want to eat
On one hand the grease itself is probably not a food safety issue anymore. Similar to a cast iron pan once oil/grease heats enough on a surface it polymerizes and essentially bonds to the surface. This is generally safe unless the oil is exposed to very high temps (beyond what is typically used for cooking) but it looks bad on stuff like sheet pans
However you do want to be a bit more diligent cleaning as a result. Unlike a cast iron pan where the polymerization layer (seasoning) is generally very smooth this is generally not; it is bumpy and has more nooks and crannies. This means there are more areas where filth and bacteria can be harbored. Not a huge issue, just make sure you clean well.
Maybe that βbarkeepers friendβ stuff
Maybe a good soak in vinegar, then alcohol
Most of what I know about grease comes from industrial machinery. Maybe it doesn't transfer over well. Steam is also a good option.
When fats get to high enough temperature they polymerize, on cast iron we call it seasoning. If you let the grease build up, and go through many cooking cycles your actually trying to get rid of polymers
Try soaking it again overnight but with dishwasher detergent instead of normal dish soap
I clean mine by soaking in hot water and scrubbing with a nylon bristle dishwashing brush. I donβt have a dishwasher. This is working great, but the key is Iβm doing it after every 2nd or 3rd time I use the air fryer.
Itβs a new one, we had to throw our old one out because we didnβt wash it well enough and it gunked up so badly it was almost unusable and started smoking whenever you turned it on.
I did get the gunk off with thorough scrubbing but it damaged the shit out of the non stick coating, we werenβt gonna risk using it like that.
Taking real good care of the new one.
We try to clean ours every time and got a few little boat things to keep the mess down. Looks brand new half a year later
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. Iβm 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 itβs gross as duck :/
I preheat the air fryer to soften the fat and oils. Drain whatever I can into a container, and use a silicone spatula to get anything that is still adhered.
It then goes in the dish washer on a hot wash. Come out like new.
Simple Green is my go to degreaser when dish soap and hot water don't cut it.
Maybe im just a slob, but as long as it doesn't feel greasy I really don't mind the baked on grease. I still wash it. While it's still hot ill fill it with soap water then scrub it out with a bottle brush. Im not stressing over the stains though.
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.