Can You Put Cardboard in an Air Fryer?
Short answer
No - it burns
No. Do not put cardboard in an air fryer. It is combustible, it is light enough for the fan to blow it into the heating element, and it has no heat rating. That includes pizza boxes, frozen-food boxes and takeout cartons - take the food out first.
Why cardboard behaves this way
Cardboard fails on every count. Paper products ignite around 450°F (230°C), which is inside the range plenty of air fryers can reach, and well inside what the heating element itself runs at. It is also light, so the fan will lift a loose sheet or a flap of box straight up against that element. And the printed inks, glues and wax or plastic coatings on food packaging are not things you want heated and circulating around your dinner.
The usual temptation is the packaging that food arrives in - the cardboard tray under a frozen pizza, a takeaway box you want to reheat in, the base a supermarket pie sits on. All of it should come out. Some of these trays are marked oven-safe, and that marking genuinely means something on an oven shelf, where the air is still and nothing is going to pick the tray up. It means much less in a fan-driven basket. Take the food out, put it straight on the crisper plate or on a perforated liner, and put the box in the recycling.
What to do instead
- Take food out of all cardboard packaging before it goes in the basket.
- Do not reheat in a pizza box or a takeaway carton.
- Even "oven-safe" cardboard trays are a bad idea in a fan-driven air fryer.
- Use a perforated parchment or silicone liner if you want something under the food.
What goes wrong
- Cardboard is combustible and can ignite at temperatures an air fryer reaches.
- The fan lifts loose cardboard into the heating element.
- Printed inks, glues and coatings on packaging are not food-safe when heated.
Cardboard in an air fryer: FAQ
Can you put cardboard in an air fryer?
No. Cardboard burns, it has no heat rating, and the fan can blow it into the heating element. Remove food from any cardboard packaging before air frying it.
Can you put a frozen pizza in the air fryer in its cardboard base?
No. Take the pizza off the cardboard and put it straight onto the crisper plate or a perforated liner. The cardboard is a fire risk and it blocks the airflow that crisps the base.
What about trays marked oven-safe?
An oven-safe marking is about a still-air oven shelf, not a fan-driven basket. In an air fryer the tray can be lifted by the airflow, and it sits much closer to the element. Take the food off it.
Can you reheat takeout in its cardboard container?
No. Move the food into the basket, onto a liner, or into an oven-safe dish. Cardboard containers, and the plastic-lined ones especially, have no place in a hot air fryer.
What else can go in an air fryer?
- Toothpicks Yes - soak them first
- Aluminum Foil Yes - if you weigh it down
- Parchment Paper Yes - perforated, under food
- Glass Yes - oven-safe glass only
- Metal Yes - oven-safe metal is fine
- Water Only in the drawer, to stop smoke
See the full list on what can you put in an air fryer.