My aunt swore by shaking the basket halfway through and I thought she was nuts

My aunt Gloria gave me her air fryer last year and told me the one secret was to always shake the basket halfway through cooking. I figured she was just being dramatic since she does that with everything, you know? So for like 3 months I ignored her and just let stuff sit in there. My fries came out half soggy and my chicken was always uneven. Last week I finally tried shaking the basket at the 8 minute mark on some frozen onion rings and they came out perfect, crispy all over. I felt pretty dumb but also mad she didn't push it harder. Now I shake everything halfway even when I think it's fine. Has anyone else had a relative give advice that actually turned out to be the key?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubyk261mo ago

Honestly I'm gonna push back on this a little. I tried the shake method for months and my food came out just as uneven as before. I think a lot depends on what you're cooking and how full your basket is. For example I do frozen chicken strips all the time and they cook perfect without touching them because I lay them in a single layer. Shaking just made them pile up on top of each other and some got burnt while others were raw. My mom told me to flip everything individually with tongs and that actually worked way better for me.

susanb341mo ago

Not everything has to be some big debate. It's just food.

jenny471mo agoTop Commenter

Tbh I have to disagree with you there. Food debates are how you learn real techniques instead of just following some influencer's method. Rubyk26's example shows exactly why shaking doesn't work for some things - my air fryer has a tiny basket so shaking just makes everything fall over. Flipping with tongs takes like 2 extra minutes but the difference is night and day.