Welcome back! In this article, I will walk you through all Best Air Fryer Accessories you can buy, tell you which ones I actually use, which ones are gathering dust in my cupboard, and show you what you might already have in your kitchen at home that will do the job without costing you any extra money.
A quick note before we dive in: the accessories covered here are mainly aimed at people who have an air fryer with a drawer. However, if you have another type, there will still be plenty of useful information ahead.
Table of Contents
Tongs
The one accessory I can guarantee you will use is a set of tongs, and they are also one of the least expensive things to buy. You will use them nearly every time you cook, whether you are turning food or lifting things out of the drawer. Just make sure you get the kind with silicone tips so you do not damage the non-stick coating on your drawers.
Racks
Racks are something I see a lot of new air fryer owners buying, and I think they often end up not being used. There are two broad types: ones made so that you can stack layers of things in the drawer, and ones that are more specialist and designed to hold particular things in position.
The stacking type usually comes with two or three layers, and the idea is that you can fit more in whilst allowing air to circulate around what you are cooking. I have one like this and have only used it once, mostly because they do not use the space in the drawer very efficiently and they do not quite deliver on that promise of doubling capacity.
Some racks come with skewers, and if you enjoy cooking kebabs, these are worth having. Just bear in mind that because of the size of your air fryer, you will only get a few skewers and they are usually quite short. You can also get a toast rack for your air fryer.
Mine came with my dual basket Cosori. You can cook toast in the air fryer, and if you are pushed for space in your kitchen, some people give up their toaster entirely and switch to the air fryer. These racks are also useful for anything that has a large surface area but is not too thick, like frozen burgers or hash browns.
Poultry Turning Fork
Turning whole chickens in the drawer of your air fryer can be tricky, and you can buy a poultry turning fork to make that easier. But before you rush out and buy one, bear in mind that you could simply use a carving fork and it would do a very similar job.
Conversion Charts
One accessory that all new air fryer owners could benefit from is a conversion chart, and the good news is you can get one for free. There is one linked in the description below. If you are still finding your feet with times and temperatures, they are really useful because they help you quickly translate recipes from a conventional oven to an air fryer. If you find it particularly helpful, there are a few places that make more permanent versions as fridge magnets.
Also Read: How To Use An Air Fryer in 3 minutes
Silicone Liners
Now I am going to wade into controversial territory and talk about silicone liners. They are one of the most discussed best air fryer accessories and a little bit like Marmite. To be clear, I am a Marmite lover, but not a silicone liner lover.
Those who do like them will say they are good for containing mess and for making wet food like lasagna or cottage pie. But if you ask me, I would tell you that they are often quite difficult to wash up because of those ribbed bottoms. The black ones in particular never look clean again, even if you only use them once.
They are also poor heat conductors, they slow cooking time down, and some people say they even affect the taste of food. So I personally do not recommend buying them. I think there are better options for cooking wet food and for keeping your drawer clean, and those are coming up in just a moment.
One possible use for silicone liners, though, is that many of them have handles. This means you can place dishes inside them and then use the liner to lift dishes in and out of the drawer. But there are better options for that too.
How to Lift Dishes In and Out of Your Air Fryer
The cheapest lifting option is one you make at home. A DIY tin foil sling, made by placing tin foil underneath a container in your drawer, works surprisingly well. Just make sure it does not stick out above the top of the drawer too much.
Lifters
You can also use oven mitts. There are small silicone ones made especially for air fryers, or you can use a normal oven glove, though they tend to be a bit bulky. There is also a specially designed lifter you can buy. I was skeptical about this until I tried one, but they do a pretty good job. They work best on dishes with a lip. You hook them around the dish, squeeze and lift, then release. They cost around £7 or $10 and I find them quite useful.
Dishes
I mentioned there are better options for cooking wet dishes, and the good news is you may already have them in your kitchen cupboards. Remember, anything that is ovenproof can be used in an air fryer. I had a look through my own cupboards and found several items that all fit my air fryer perfectly.
A metal takeaway-style dish is great for batch cooking and sticking in the freezer, and you can actually reuse them multiple times. A ceramic-style dish I have had for about 20 years fits all the air fryers I have tried. Small metal dishes for single portions are also great because they stack, so they do not take up much room in the cupboard.
Cake tins
A quick mention for cake tins too. You probably have cake tins that are 23cm or 9 inches wide, which will be too big for a lot of air fryers. But I also have smaller ones that I already had in my cupboard at 19cm or 7 inches wide, and they fit perfectly in my two-drawer Cosori.
If you are downsizing tins and wondering how to work out what fraction of a recipe to use, there is a brilliant website called Omni Calculator. You tell it the tin size you normally use and the size you want to use instead, and it does all the maths on the ingredients for you.
On the subject of cakes, you may also be wondering what size loaf tins will fit in your air fryer. A 2lb tin is what you would normally use in a big oven, but there are smaller 1lb tins you can buy for air fryers. These are great for cakes, but if you use them for bread, bear in mind you will end up with very tiny slices.
Paper Liners
I promised better options than silicone for keeping your air fryer drawer clean, and here they are. Disposable liners made from greaseproof paper are the answer, either ones with sides or ones that are perforated and flat. I prefer the flat perforated ones because air can still circulate through them, but they will contain the bulk of the mess like melted cheese.
One important note: do not put them into the drawer without anything on top of them. Because they are lightweight, if you turn the preheat function on, they will blow up into the heating element and catch fire.
Muffin Trays and Individual Molds
Your standard muffin or cupcake trays will most likely not fit in your air fryer. You can buy mini ones made specifically for air fryers, but do check the sizes carefully as they are often very small. A better option is to buy individual silicone molds or ramekins.
The silicone ones with handles are particularly handy, and I know what you are thinking. I did say silicone is a poor heat conductor, but it is a trade-off. You can get away with it more when you are working with smaller items, and of course they are non-stick so food pops out really easily.
You can also use metal pudding basins or ovenproof ramekins. These work brilliantly for individual puddings, cakes, or for the British audience, Yorkshire puddings. Speaking of which, you can actually make one large Yorkshire pudding right in the drawer of your air fryer by simply removing the crisper tray.
Meat Thermometer
Another must-have accessory, though you may already own one, is a meat thermometer. I use mine a lot, particularly when cooking chicken. It is especially useful because it takes a while to get used to timings in your air fryer, and a thermometer removes any doubt about whether food is properly cooked.
Some air fryers come with a built-in probe, but I personally prefer a standalone one because I can use it across a variety of applications. The most important temperature to remember is 74 degrees Celsius, which is the safe internal temperature for chicken.
Oil Spray
To get a crispy finish on your food, you will need something to apply oil to your savory dishes. You can either use a silicone brush to coat the food or a spray bottle. However, do not buy pre-filled oil sprays because they contain an ingredient that can damage the non-stick coating of air fryers, and many instruction books now include a warning about this. Instead, buy an empty oil spray bottle and fill it with an oil of your choice.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, a complete rundown of the best air fryer accessories for 2026. I hope you found this helpful and perhaps it has saved you a bit of money. If you have any questions or comments, drop them below. I am sure the silicone liner lovers will want to come back to me on why they love them, so please feel free to do that.
Read More: Cosori Dual Basket Air Fryer Review
