Best Air Fryer Accessories Worth Actually Buying — Tested in a Family Kitchen

The Accessories I’ve Bought for My Air Fryers

Over three years of testing air fryers I’ve accumulated a drawer full of accessories. Some are still in regular use. Some went in the bin within a week. A few cost me money I’d rather have spent on the actual food.

This is the honest version — what I actually use when cooking dinner for five people, and what you can skip.

Before we start: always check compatibility with your specific model. A rack designed for a 5.8-quart basket may not fit a 4-quart. Most listings include a compatibility guide; when in doubt, measure the basket’s internal diameter before ordering.

1. Silicone Basket Liners — The One Accessory You Actually Need

Silicone liners sit inside the basket, prevent food from sticking to the non-stick coating, and are rinsed clean in under 30 seconds. The non-stick coating on your basket is the most fragile part of any air fryer — silicone liners protect it from scratches and from acidic foods that degrade the coating over time.

After 18 months using silicone liners with my Cosori Pro II, the original non-stick still looks new. The liner itself washes in seconds. Worth every penny.

What to look for: Perforated holes to allow airflow (solid silicone mats block circulation and ruin results). Measure your basket diameter and buy accordingly — 6-inch for 4–5 quart models, 8-inch for 6 quart and above.

What to avoid: Parchment liners. They work once, then go in the bin. Silicone is reusable indefinitely.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

2. Multi-Layer Rack / Stackable Rack

A three-tier stackable rack fits into your existing basket and effectively doubles or triples usable cooking surface. Invaluable when cooking for a family of five: I can get 10 chicken drumsticks in one cycle where the basket alone fits four.

The trade-off is airflow. Food on the lower levels gets less direct heat. For items that need crispness on all sides — chips, nuggets, breaded items — rotate them halfway through, or accept that the bottom layer will be slightly less crispy than the top.

For food that doesn’t need crispness — reheating leftovers, cooking fish fillets, roasting vegetables — the multi-rack is perfect with no rotation needed.

Best use cases: Drumsticks, sausages, asparagus, fish fillets, reheated food, batch cooking for meal prep.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

3. Silicone Muffin Cups

Silicone muffin cups in an air fryer are transformative for baking with children. You can make individual muffins, egg bites, mini frittatas, and small cakes without a muffin tin, without paper liners, and without preheating a full oven.

I use these twice a week: once for weekend baking with the children (banana muffins, carrot muffins), and once for weekday egg bites for breakfast. At 180°C they take 12–14 minutes for muffins and 8 minutes for eggs. The silicone releases without sticking.

Buy a set of six — they fit any basket 5 quarts or larger. Smaller baskets, do four.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

4. Instant-Read Digital Thermometer

Not an air fryer-specific accessory — this belongs in every family kitchen regardless of what you cook with. But if you cook chicken in an air fryer and you’re not using a thermometer, you are either overcooking it (dry) or guessing (potentially unsafe).

At 75°C internal temperature, chicken is safe. At 80°C, it’s safe but starting to dry out. The difference between those two is about 2 minutes at 200°C — impossible to judge by eye or by timing alone.

An instant-read thermometer pays for itself the first time it prevents you serving undercooked chicken to children. They cost £10–£15.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

5. Non-Stick Air Fryer Pan (Round Baking Pan)

A round non-stick 6-inch pan fits most 4-quart-and-up baskets and opens up a whole category of cooking the basket alone can’t do: frittatas, small cakes, layered dishes like lasagne, baked eggs, shakshuka. The pan catches drips and contains wet batters that would fall through the basket crisper plate.

I use mine primarily for frittatas on weekend mornings — eggs, cheese, whatever vegetables are left from the week — and for individual-sized cakes when the children are cooking with me on Saturdays. At 180°C, a frittata takes 12 minutes and comes out evenly set throughout.

Check the height clearance in your model before buying — some baskets don’t leave enough room above a pan for food to cook properly.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

6. Silicone Tongs

Air fryer tongs are short, silicone-tipped, and manoeuvre within the basket without scratching the non-stick. Standard metal tongs will eventually damage the coating — silicone tongs remove that risk entirely.

Buy one pair, keep them next to the air fryer. Used daily for turning chicken thighs, flipping salmon, and removing items without dragging them across the basket surface.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

7. Oil Spray Bottle (Refillable)

Aerosol cooking sprays contain propellants and emulsifiers that damage air fryer non-stick coatings over time. The spray cans specifically say not to use aerosols in air fryers, though it’s buried in the small print.

A refillable oil mister filled with rapeseed or olive oil produces a fine, even spray with no propellants. Fill it once, use it for months. A light spray on vegetables before air frying improves crispness significantly — the oil helps conduct heat and prevents steaming.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

8. Disposable Parchment Squares (for occasional use)

I mentioned above to avoid parchment liners as a primary solution. That said, having a pack of pre-cut parchment squares is useful for sticky items — sticky glazed chicken, sugary pork belly, teriyaki anything — where even silicone can get messy.

Use them for one-off messy cooks, not daily. They’re cheap, they’re single-use, and for 95% of meals the silicone liner is better in every way.

[CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON]

What I Stopped Buying

Bamboo skewers “for air fryers”

Regular bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes, work identically. Paying extra for “air fryer skewers” is unnecessary.

Egg cooker insert

A small silicone cup that claims to poach eggs in an air fryer. The eggs came out cooked but texturally wrong — the whites had a rubbery quality that a properly poached egg never has. A pan of simmering water still makes the best poached egg.

Air fryer divider

A magnetic divider that splits a round basket into two sections. Sounds clever; in practice the two sections are too small to be useful and the divider blocks airflow unevenly. The Ninja DZ201 with two separate baskets does this properly.

Quick Compatibility Check

Summary

Start with silicone liners and an instant-read thermometer. Add the multi-layer rack when you find yourself needing more capacity. The rest are pleasant additions, not necessities.

The accessories industry around air fryers sells a lot of things that exist to be sold. The items above have all earned permanent space in my kitchen drawer.