Deep cleaning your air fryer just became easy, convenient, and affordable with this DIY cleaning hack.
The scoop
Instagrammer Carolina McCauley (@carolina.mccauley) describes herself as a "cleaning enthusiast and fun-loving home hacks queen," and her cleaning tip for your air fryer certainly holds true to this.
The Instagram Reel instructs viewers to sprinkle baking soda in the basket, followed by a drizzle of dish soap in the drawer. Then, pour boiling water into the drawer with the basket inside, and let it sit.
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In the meantime, you can use a mixture of equal parts water and vinegar to wipe down the rest of the air fryer, using a knife with a cloth over it to get in the smaller cracks.
After the drawer and basket have soaked, McCauley says to scrub the basket and drawer with a scrub brush and rinse thoroughly — and your air fryer will look brand new.
How it's helping
The simple hack conveniently uses supplies that are already in your kitchen rather than requiring you to spend extra cash on cleaning supplies during your weekly grocery run. Considering that the average family of four in America spends around $680 a year on cleaning supplies, that's a pretty good deal.
Plus, cutting down on cleaning products that come from plastic or aerosol cans is good for the environment.
Humans produce around 300 million tons of plastic each year worldwide, per the Natural Resources Defense Council, and while some of this is inevitable — you can't control how companies package the items you need — small changes can lessen your waste totals and your cleaning supply bill.
For example, this recipe calls for dish soap, which typically comes in plastic packaging. However, dish soap is already a necessity in households, so you'll be utilizing a small amount of a product you already need instead of buying an additional one.
However, if you want to make this hack — and your dishwashing in general — even more eco-friendly, check out these two articles, which have products like package-free scrub brushes and limited-packaging dish soap that can help you significantly reduce your waste.
What everyone's saying
Comments on the post primarily consisted of users tagging their friends to share the tip and taking it as a sign that their air fryers could also use a deep clean.
One user wrote, "I was just looking at mine this morning thinking, 'I should really clean that.' This is pretty simple, I guess I'll give it a try!"
"Natural cleaning is [the] best way to go," commented another.
Another commenter didn't even own an air fryer but could tell that the information might come in handy someday. "Saving this for when I finally get an air fryer," they wrote.
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