Is Wax Paper Safe In The Air Fryer?

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The air fryer can be a game changer when it comes to making easy meals, but if you've ever tried to clean melted cheese out of the bottom, you'll know it's not without its downsides. When cooking particularly messy foods, it makes sense to line the basket, then you can remove the liner and all the grease along with it.

There are a few ways of lining your air fryer, but wax paper should not be one of them. The reason is in the name. It's paper coated in a thin layer of wax, most commonly paraffin wax, to give it a non-stick surface. This might lead you to believe that it's designed for cooking, but wax paper is not heat-resistant. If you line the air fryer with wax paper, the wax is going to melt as it heats. At best, this will leave a waxy, unpleasant residue on your food, but the bigger issue is that it's a fire hazard. Both the melted wax and the paper itself can create smoke and catch fire, and melted wax can drip into the heating element and cause damage to the appliance.

This fire hazard is the same reason that wax paper isn't suitable for the oven. It can, however, be used safely in the microwave as the paper won't absorb the microwave energy, and the cooking times are generally shorter.

If you think you've seen people use wax paper to line an air fryer, it could have actually been parchment paper. Also known as baking paper, parchment paper has been coated with a very thin layer of food-grade silicone. This makes the paper heat-resistant to 425 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as giving it a non-stick surface. You can use regular parchment paper to line your air fryer, but cut it to size first to avoid excess paper that could come in contact with the heating element. Alternatively, you can buy single-use air fryer liners made from parchment paper, like these liners from Bakers Signature.

As a common liner for baking trays, aluminum foil might seem like a no-brainer for your air fryer, but it does come with some precautions. While it's certainly a better choice than wax paper, you do need to be more careful that the foil doesn't come into contact with the heat source, and that it is only placed in the basket, and not the bottom of the air fryer.

If you want to avoid the waste of disposable liners, then silicone liners are one of the best accessories you can buy for your air fryer. Made to fit neatly inside the basket, they include raised grooves like these from Seropy, or perforations (like these from Linda's Essentials) to allow increased air flow for better crisping.