If you buy nothing else, buy three things: perforated parchment liners so you stop scrubbing, a stackable rack so you can cook more at once, and heat-resistant mitts so you stop juggling 400°F baskets with a tea towel. The other five below are genuinely useful — but only if they fit how you cook.
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An air fryer walks in the door as a basket and a plug. Everything that makes it pleasant to live with — the not-scrubbing, the cooking-for-four, the not-burning-your-knuckles — is a handful of cheap add-ons most people figure out one frustration at a time.
So here’s the shortcut. I’ve split these into the three you’ll actually reach for every week, and five extras that are great for the right cook and pointless for the wrong one. No gadget for the sake of a gadget, and a plain “what to look for” line on each so you don’t buy the bad version.
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The three you’ll actually use every week
Cheap, boring, and the first things I’d buy.
Must-have
Perforated air fryer parchment liners
Catches drips, skips the scrubbing
The single cheapest thing that makes an air fryer nicer to own. Sticky marinades and cheese pulls land on the paper, not baked onto your basket, and the little holes mean the airflow that does the actual crisping still gets through. You buy a stack of a hundred-odd for a few dollars and stop dreading the wash-up.
A few dollars for ~100 sheets
Basket wipes clean in seconds
Holes keep the airflow (and the crisp)
🔎What to look for: Get the perforated kind in your basket’s shape (round or square), and never run one in an empty preheating fryer — with no food to weigh it down it can lift into the element. Put the food on first.
An air fryer crisps in a single layer, which is great right up until you’re cooking for more than one and everything’s fighting for floor space. A little stainless rack adds a second shelf so you can run wings below and vegetables above, or skewer shrimp across the top. It’s the closest thing to a free capacity upgrade.
A second layer = more food per batch
Stainless steel, dishwasher-safe
Skewers tuck into the same set
🔎What to look for: Measure your basket first — racks come sized for roughly 8-inch baskets and up. For a toaster-oven-style fryer you want a flat wire rack instead; for a basket, the legged two-tier kind.
That basket comes out at 400°F and the handle isn’t always as cool as you’d hope. A pair of silicone-and-cotton mitts lets you grab the basket, flip the insert, or lift a hot rack without the folded-tea-towel circus act — and the silicone grips, so nothing slides out mid-transfer.
Rated to ~450°F
Silicone grip, cotton lining
Machine-washable
🔎What to look for: Look for a snug mitt or five-finger glove rated to around 450°F, with silicone grip on the outside and soft cotton lining inside. Full oven-length ones are overkill for a fryer; short cuffs are easier to work in.
If buying paper by the box bugs you, a silicone pot does the same job forever. Food lifts straight out, it rinses clean, and you’re not throwing a sheet away every dinner. The trade-off: it blocks a little airflow from the sides, so food browns a touch slower than on perforated paper.
Reusable, zero waste
Lifts food out in one piece
Folds flat to store
🔎What to look for: Match it to your basket size and shape, and leave a gap around the edges so air can still circulate. Food-grade silicone only — it should be rated to at least 450°F.
Metal tongs plus a nonstick basket is how coatings get scratched and fryers die young. A short pair with silicone tips lets you turn wings halfway and fish the last fry out of the corner without leaving a mark. Once you’ve got them by the fryer you’ll reach for them constantly.
Silicone tips won’t scratch nonstick
Short enough for a basket
Locks shut for the drawer
🔎What to look for: A 7-to-9-inch pair is the sweet spot for reaching into a basket — the 12-inch BBQ ones are clumsy in a small space. A locking hinge means they store flat.
A light, even coat of oil is what gets you that deep-fried colour, and pouring from the bottle always overshoots. A refillable mister turns your own olive or avocado oil into a fine spray — better coverage than the aerosol cans, no propellants or additives that can gum up a nonstick coating over time.
Even mist beats a poured glug
Refill with any oil you like
No aerosol propellants
🔎What to look for: Glass with a stainless pump lasts longer than all-plastic, and refilling it with your own oil avoids the additives in some commercial aerosol sprays that manufacturers warn can degrade coatings.
The one chore an air fryer can’t dodge is the crumb-trap at the bottom of the basket and the mesh on an oven-style tray. A stiff-but-soft nylon brush digs crumbs out of the crevices a sponge can’t reach, and the pointed end clears the little holes. Two minutes after dinner and it’s done.
Reaches mesh and corners
Nylon won’t scratch coatings
Scraper edge for baked-on bits
🔎What to look for: Nylon bristles only — never a wire brush, which will tear a nonstick coating. A set with a scraper edge and a detail tip covers both baskets and mesh trays.
Air fryers cook fast and uneven, which is exactly when a thermometer earns its keep. Two seconds in the thickest part tells you the chicken’s hit a safe 165°F — so you pull it the moment it’s done instead of adding ‘just five more minutes’ and serving shoe leather. It pays for itself the first time it saves a dinner.
Reads in ~2–3 seconds
Takes the guesswork out of chicken
Folds up pocket-sized
🔎What to look for: A fast digital instant-read (a couple of seconds) beats the slow dial type. The USDA safe mark is 165°F for poultry; 145°F plus a rest for pork and whole-muscle beef.
Three rules that keep accessories from wrecking your fryer
Never preheat with an empty paper liner
It’s the one genuinely risky mistake. With no food on top to weigh it down, a parchment sheet can lift in the airflow and touch the heating element. Put the liner in, put the food on it, then start the fryer. Every time.
Nylon and silicone near the coating — never metal
Most baskets are nonstick, and metal tongs, forks and wire brushes are how that coating gets scratched and starts flaking. Silicone-tipped tongs and nylon brushes cost a few dollars and make the fryer last years longer.
Leave the air a way through
Air frying is the moving hot air. A liner or rack that seals off the holes or the basket edges turns your fryer into a slow, sad little oven. Perforated paper, racks with gaps, silicone liners smaller than the basket — always leave the air a path.
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Accessory questions, answered
Do I really need air fryer liners?
Need, no. Want, almost certainly. A perforated parchment liner catches the sticky, cheesy, drippy messes that otherwise bake onto the basket, so cleanup is a wipe instead of a scrub. Just use the perforated kind and never preheat with an empty one.
Can I put aluminium foil or parchment in an air fryer?
Yes, with two rules: it must be weighed down by food so it can’t fly into the element, and it shouldn’t cover so much of the basket that it blocks airflow. Perforated parchment made for air fryers solves both. Skip foil with very acidic foods like tomatoes or citrus.
What accessories come with an air fryer already?
Usually just the basket and a crisper plate. Oven-style models like the Breville and Ninja ovens often include wire racks and a tray. Everything on this page is bought separately.
What size rack or liner do I need?
Match it to your basket. Measure the inside diameter (or length × width) and buy to that — most racks and liners are sold for roughly 8-inch baskets and up, with round and square options. When in doubt, size down a little so air still moves around the edges.
Are silicone liners better than parchment?
They’re the reusable, no-waste version, and food lifts right out. The trade-off is airflow: a solid silicone pot blocks the sides a little, so food browns slightly slower than on perforated paper. Pick silicone if throwing away paper bugs you; paper if maximum crisp matters most.
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The short version
Spend about fifteen dollars on liners, a rack and mitts and your air fryer instantly becomes nicer to use. Add the silicone tongs and an instant-read thermometer if you cook meat often. Everything else is genuinely optional.
Hi, I’m Dana Keller, and I run The Best Air Fryer by myself — no team behind a curtain, and nobody paying to be called “best.” I’m a home cook, not a test lab, so I lean on the people who are labs: America’s Test Kitchen, RTINGS, Consumer Reports, Tom’s Guide and a handful of others. Add in the manufacturers’ own spec sheets and a small mountain of owner reviews, and that’s how these picks get made. Anywhere a claim isn’t my own, I link to whoever said it first.
Prices and availability change. Prices shown were checked on Oct 22, 2026, 10:30 PM ET and may have changed. The price and availability shown on Amazon at the time of purchase apply. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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