If you don’t feel comfortable placing food directly on the perforated base of an air fryer’s food pan, you are more than welcome to place it in an oven-safe dish. Such dishes come in a variety of materials, including metal, ceramic, and glass. So, is glass safe to use in an air fryer?
You can put tempered glass bakeware in an air fryer. Basically, any bakeware that is deemed oven-safe can be used to bake, grill, roast, or reheat food in an air fryer.
In this guide, I’ll talk about different bakeware materials and whether or not they’re safe to use in an air fryer. I’ll also explain the different types of glass and which type you shouldn’t stick inside your air fryer.
Bakeware Materials
Bakeware comes in 1 of 4 materials—metal, ceramic, silicone, and glass. Let’s take a close look at each of these materials.
Metal bakeware
Your choices of metal bakeware include aluminum, brass, stainless steel, and cast iron. Each of these materials has its own sets of advantages and disadvantages for baking, but the main point is that you can use any of these materials in an air fryer, as long as the bakeware has an oven-safe label.
Ceramic
Ceramic bakeware will usually have an enamel coating, which has a glossy finish and protects the ceramic interior from chemicals and damage. This type of material doesn’t heat up very quickly in ovens and air fryers, but it can retain heat for much longer than aluminum and stainless steel. Again, look for an oven-safe label before sticking a ceramic dish in your air fryer.
Silicone
Depending on who you ask, silicone can be classified as a type of plastic or rubber. The great thing about silicone is that it has a naturally nonstick surface, so your food will slide right out of the silicone mold without adding oil or butter to your dish. However, it doesn’t crisp the bottom of food nearly as well as metal or ceramic.
Glass
Most people will know about glass casserole dishes. Unlike metal, glass is an insulator, so it heats up slowly and unevenly. This can lead to uneven cooking, even inside controlled environments like convection ovens.
Can You Put Glass in an Air Fryer?
So, is it safe to put glass bakeware inside an air fryer? Yes, it is, as long as the glass bakeware is deemed oven-safe.
There are three types of glassware to keep in mind: annealed, heat-strengthened, and tempered. I’ll explain each of them briefly down below.
Annealed glass
During the manufacturing process, annealed glass is taken out of a furnace and left at room temperature. Over time, the heated glass will come down to room temperature and solidify, thereby relieving thermal stress in the glass. Annealed glass is considered the “base” type of glassware and may undergo further processing to make it food-safe.
Heat-strengthened glass
After the glass has been annealed, manufacturers will place the glass back inside a furnace and heat it up to 700°C. After that, they will remove the glass and cool it down quickly, resulting in glass that is twice as tough as base glassware.
Tempered glass
Like heat-strengthened glass, tempered glass will undergo multiple heating sessions. However, the difference is that the heating process is done by conduction, convection, or radiation, which results in glassware that can be up to 5 times stronger than base glassware.
This multi-heating process toughens the glass to the point that it can withstand drops and bumps. When it shatters, it will turn into multiple large fragments that are square in shape, unlike base glassware that shatters into a million pieces. If you’ve ever used a Pyrex baking dish or measuring cup before, then you probably know just how durable tempered glass is.
Tips for Using Glass Bakeware Safely in an Air Fryer
Although tempered glass is incredibly durable, it’s not indestructible. Even oven-safe glass bakeware can crack when exposed to sudden temperature changes, which is why you have to be careful when using glass in an air fryer.
To prevent your glass baking dish from falling apart when using it in an air fryer, here’s what you need to do:
Alter the air fryer’s cooking temperature
If you’re unsure whether or not your glass baking dish is tempered or not, you can prevent it from shattering by changing your air fryer’s cooking temperature while baking your dish. Start with a low temperature (200°F and lower) and slowly increase it to the desired cooking temperature. 5 minutes before the air fryer’s timer expires, bring the temperature back down to 200°F.
Let the glass dish sit in the air fryer after cooking
When your air fryer’s timer expires, don’t pull the glass dish out of the air fryer immediately. Instead, let it sit in your air fryer while it slowly cools down. After 5 or 10 minutes, remove the glass dish from the air fryer and set it on your kitchen countertop to continue cooling.
Never set your air fryer beyond 450°F
While glass can withstand extremely high temperatures, you shouldn’t go beyond 450°F when using glass bakeware in an air fryer. Not only does this reduce how long it takes for the dish to cool down, but it also causes less thermal shock, so it won’t shatter the moment you pull it out of the air fryer.
Inspect the glass baking dish for damage
If you see a tiny crack on your glass baking dish, odds are the crack will increase in size. There’s no reliable way to patch up a damaged glass baking dish, so you should retire it immediately. While it might still be good for a couple more baking episodes, there’s no way to tell when (not if) the baking dish will shatter on you.
Should I Use Glass in an Air Fryer?
Again, different bakeware materials have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a look at the ups and downs of glass bakeware.
Pros
- Nontoxic—Glass bakeware does not have a chemical-laced coating to make it nonstick. Also, your food will not leech chemicals from the glass dish as it cooks.
- Durable—Tempered glass can withstand bumps and drops (up to a certain period) without warping in shape.
- Clear—You can check the doneness of your by looking at the sides of the glass baking dish.
- Dishwasher-safe—You don’t have to spend precious minutes manually scrubbing your glass bakeware. Instead, just pop it in the dishwasher and run a full wash cycle.
Cons
- The slightest crack renders it useless—The moment you spot a crack in glass bakeware, it’s game over. The crack will only continue to grow over time, so you should replace it immediately.
- Uneven heating—Although glass can conduct heat in extremely hot environments, like the inside of an oven or air fryer, it doesn’t heat up evenly. This may result in undercooked centers and overcooked corners.
- Food easily sticks to glass bakeware—Because glass doesn’t have a nonstick surface, it’s not uncommon for food to adhere to the dish’s walls. When this happens, it’ll take more than detergent to get rid of the solid remnants.
Can You Boil a Glass of Water in an Air Fryer?
First and foremost, you should never put glass drinkware in an air fryer. Regular glass drinkware might not have undergone the same tempering process as tempered glass, so it may break when exposed to sudden temperature changes—e.g., removing the hot glass from an air fryer and leaving it on a kitchen counter.
Also, air fryers cannot boil water. At most, it will turn the water into a steamy liquid that’s great for crisping the bread crust but not for making tea and coffee.
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