Are Air Fryers Toxic? An In-Depth Look At Air Fryers & Health
Updated on: 08/09/2026
If you’re engaged with health news, you could be forgiven for frequently feeling somewhat dizzy. It seems like every week, another groundbreaking study proves that something we thought was healthy is actually hurting us all. Before you can say, “Holy zombie apocalypse, Batman”, another peer-reviewed study conclusively proves that eating the same food is the secret to eternal life.
Remember eggs? First, they were nature’s perfect protein and multivitamin pills. Next, they were a marauding horde of cholesterol-laden barbarians leaving a deadly trail of clogged arteries in their path. Now, we have it on good authority that the world is once again safe from those little oval orcs, and an egg a day is perfectly healthy. See what I mean?
Air Fryers: A Healthier Way To Cook?
When air fryers hit the market, they were quickly lauded as a healthier way to cook. What was initially written off as a passing fad has proven the sceptics wrong in a way that few kitchen gadgets ever have. In fact, the market for air fryers in Australia alone has surged to almost $68 million per year and is forecast to expand further to a whopping $174 million by 2035.
If you’re thinking that all those air fryers are probably just taking up counter space and are used only occasionally, guess again. A recent study found that 57% of Australian air fryer owners use their units at least once a week, and a mind-boggling 34% use them every day12.
If you’ve been living on a desert island and missed the memos, you can check out our deep dive blog on how air fryers work. Alternatively, here’s a quick refresher:
Despite their name, air fryers are essentially mini benchtop convection ovens. An element generates heat that it blasts at food with powerful fans, utilising something known as the Maillard Reaction (more on this later) to cook and crisp the food. Air fryers achieve this culinary feat using a fraction of the oil required for frying. The result is crispy, delicious food with far less fat and fewer calories. You don’t need a degree in food science - or, indeed, any kind of science - to know that this means healthier food on the table. More nutritious food means reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Air fryer enthusiasts swear by their little magical machines, and virtual acres of cyberspace are devoted to extolling their virtues. There are few things that you can’t cook in an air fryer. So for those craving the taste and texture of their favourite foods and snacks, they are a boon.
So, what’s the catch? Like most things that sound too good to be true, there must be a downside, right?
Recently, there have been growing rumblings about nasties lurking in our precious air fryers and purportedly causing serious health issues amongst their unsuspecting users.
One of these silent enemies is relatively well known to us. The other, you may be hearing about for the first time. Let’s look at these in our quest to determine whether your air fryer is toxic or if it is as safe to use as you’ve been told.
Part 1: Non-Stick Coatings
Are Non-Stick Coatings Safe?
Where would we be without non-stick cookware? These nifty staples of the culinary world have revolutionised cooking and made clean-up a breeze. However, there may be an invisible enemy lurking beneath the non-stick coating of your favourite pan, or in this case, air fryer.
In a previous blog, we did a deep dive into the dangers of PFAS in non-stick cookware. PFAS is a group of toxic compounds nicknamed “The Forever Chemicals” for their incredibly slow degradation rate. This means that they can linger in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years.
PFAS chemicals have been linked to a staggeringly long list of health issues5. Despite their grim reputation, PFAS chemicals are literally everywhere. The same stability that makes them so toxic makes them exceptional at resisting water, oil, heat and stains. These characteristics make them useful in a seemingly endless array of products, from takeaway containers to rain jackets and, of course, cookware.
Despite various government attempts to crack down on Forever Chemicals, including a recent PFAS ban instituted here in Australia, PFAS keeps popping up everywhere you look. An estimated 99% of humans have PFAS lingering in their bodies6. They’ve even been detected in unborn fetuses! That’s a truly sobering thought.
The more we study PFAS chemicals, the more we understand just how ubiquitous they are and the negative impacts they can have on our health10.
Do Air Fryers Contain PFAS Chemicals?
The simple answer to this question is Yes and No.
Like any other cookware item, non-stick coatings have proven a convenient and desirable selling point for many brands of fryers. Who doesn’t like mess-free cooking and quick, easy clean-up?
However, as we’ve learned more about the dangers of PFAS, many manufacturers have moved away from non-stick coatings that contain PFAS in favour of safer options. As a consumer, it’s as simple as finding a PFAS-free air fryer to keep your family safer.
Part 2: Acrylamides
Acrylamides & Air Fryers - What Are The Risks?
Reader, meet Acrylamides. Acrylamides are chemicals that form the base of acrylic and are present in a multitude of industrial and consumer products. Unfortunately, they are also neurotoxins that may contribute to a terrifying laundry list of health issues.
The problem is that acrylamides form during cooking due to complex chemical reactions occurring on your food's surface. Remember the Maillard Effect mentioned above? It’s time to get to know it a little better.
What Is The Maillard Effect?
While you don’t find too many scientists in the Master Chef kitchen, all cooking is, at its essence, chemistry. The flavours, textures and aromas that make cooking (and eating) so seductively satisfying are all created through incredibly complex chemical processes. Chief among these is the Maillard reaction2.
The Maillard reaction occurs when sugars and proteins in food begin to bond through exposure to high heat. These molecules are responsible for the distinctive tastes and aromas that cooked foods emit and the browning process that makes them visually appealing. Next time you’re marvelling at how a couple of minutes in the toaster transforms bland bread into crisp, delicious, fragrant toast, you have old Maillard to thank!
Many factors influence the final culinary result of your kitchen creations. The main contributors are the kinds of sugars and proteins, their relative quantities, moisture content, pH, temperature, and length of cooking time.
What does this have to do with acrylamides? Enter asparagine. Asparagine is an amino acid (protein) that occurs naturally in an enormous range of grains, potatoes, vegetables, nuts, meat, seafood, eggs and dairy foods3. It’s the dominant amino acid found in asparagus, hence its name. Asparagine itself is perfectly healthy. However, when exposed to high heat, like a Mogwai fed after midnight, it bonds with adjacent sugars and morphs into the dastardly Gremlins we know as acrylamides.
The higher the temperature and the longer you cook your food, the more acrylamides you produce. If you’ve ever wondered why people say burned food is bad for you, this is why!
Do Air Fryers Release Harmful Toxins?
After reading the above, you could be forgiven for running to your air fryer and smashing it to pieces. However, put that cricket bat down and take a few deep breaths because the news is far rosier than it seems.
The seemingly dangerous Maillard reaction occurs whenever food is heated to at least 176oC, which is pretty much any time you cook. The only exception is boiled food. The Maillard reaction requires moisture on the surface to evaporate before it can occur. This is why boiled food does not brown and usually tastes blander than the same items roasted or grilled.
It should now be clear that virtually all cooked foods contain some amount of acrylamide. Fortunately, the human body can process small amounts of acrylamide easily and safely4. It’s only when the food surface is charred or burned that the levels of acrylamide start to take off and exceed safe levels that there is any risk.
What does that mean for air-fryer users? As long as you follow the manufacturer’s recommendation and don’t burn your food, you have absolutely nothing to worry about!
In fact, air fryers typically operate at far lower temperatures than deep frying does. So, there is strong evidence suggesting that they can significantly reduce the amount of acrylamides produced during cooking7.
However, it’s not just acrylamides. Studies show that air fryers also significantly reduce the formation of other toxic by-products in the cooking process, such as Benzo[a]pyrene8. Another recent study at the University of Birmingham examined a range of other pollutants and came to the same conclusion9.
When we factor in the health benefits of using so much less oil than virtually all other methods, air fryers remain firmly entrenched as one of the healthiest ways to cook delicious, full-flavoured food.
Conclusion - Are Air Fryers Safe?
Rejoice, air fryer lovers! Your beloved countertop miracle worker is safe to use - as long as the cooking basket doesn’t have a PFAS-laden non-stick coating!
Toxic chemicals anywhere in the unit would be problematic. However, as the surface of tye cooking basket is in direct contact with your food, it poses the heaviest rist of nasties leaching out and being absorbed by whatever delicious treat is crisping away.
As we’ve discovered, while acrylamides form with any cooking mode, your air fryer carries far less risk than frying, grilling or baking, delivering satisfying tastes and textures with far fewer calories and less fat. While the urban myth creators might be staunchly holding on to their delusions, all that talk of air fryers being toxic has been summarily debunked.
At GreenPan, we’re incredibly proud that our extensive range of traditional cookware and electrical cooking appliances never contain PFAS chemicals. We developed a revolutionary healthy ceramic coating called ThermolonTM that delivers all the ease and convenience of non-stick cooking with none of the toxic nasties.
Our stunning air fryers are no exception. Not only do they look and perform beautifully, but the interior basket is also coated in our revolutionary ThermolonTM non-stick ceramic coating to ensure you can enjoy all the fantastic benefits of air frying with peace of mind.
If you’re currently in the market for a high-quality, easy to use and non-toxic air fryer, Our Bistro range, featuring our non-toxic, non-stick ceramic coated food basket, is the natural choice.
Check out our stunning range of air fryers today, and happy cooking!
Key Questions
Q: What are the health risks of using an air fryer?
A: Air fryers are not inherently toxic, but make sure to avoid products with coatings that contain harmful chemicals
Q: Do air fryers give off harmful chemicals?
A: Some air fryers are coated with non-stick coatings containing PFAS and other toxic chemicals. These may be harmful. However, non-toxic air fryers such as the GreenPan Bistro range are free from harmful chemicals such as PFAS and are not dangerous to use.
Q: Do air fryers expose you to acrylamide?
A: Not necessarily. Any cooking method that burns the surface of food creates acrylamide. As air fryers run at lower temperatures than methods such as deep frying, there is a lower chance of generating acrylamides.
Q: What are acrylamides?
A: Acrylamides are neurotoxins that can form when food is cooked. Virtually all food contains some acrylamides at levels the body can handle. However, overcooked or burned food can contain levels that are harmful to humans.
Q: What is the Maillard Reaction?
A: The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs when food is cooked and is responsible for the brown colour and crispy texture that develop during cooking.
Q: Are air fryers healthier than regular cookware?
A: Air fryers require only a fraction of the oil of shallow or deep frying, resulting in fewer calories and fat, making them a healthy way to make many of your favourite foods.
Q: How do air fryers work?
A: Air fryers work like mini convection ovens, using a powerful fan to force heated air over the food, cooking it quickly and with very little oil.
Q: What features should I be looking for in a healthy, non-toxic air fryer?
A: A non-toxic, ceramic-coated frying basket is the most important component of a healthy air fryer. As the basket has direct contact with the food, it’s critical that it does not contain toxic chemicals.
Q:Which Non-Toxic, Non-Stick Air Fryer Should You buy?
A: A GreenPan Bistro, of course! Packed with advanced features and a food basket surface that’s both non-stick and free from harmful chemicals souch as PFAS and others, the choice is simple.
End Notes
1. Nutrition and Cancer Vol 6, 2014 - Issue 5 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01635581.2014.916323
2. International Journal of Food Science 2015 https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfs/2015/526762/
3. Science Info https://scienceinfo.com/asparagine/
4. USFDA https://www.fda.gov/food/process-contaminants-food/acrylamide-questions-and-answers
6. Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Oct, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.4890
6. Chemtrust: PFAS the “Forever Chemicals” - Invisible threats from persistent chemicals https://chemtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/PFAS_Brief_CHEMTrust_2019.pdf
7. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies Vol 83, Jan 2023 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1466856422003186
8. Toxics June 6th, 2024 The Concentration of Benzo[a]pyrene in Food Cooked by Air Fryer and Oven: A comparison Study
9. ACS EST Air - January 27th, 2026 Quantification of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), and Ultrafine Particles (UFPs) Emitted by Domestic Air Fryers: A Chamber Study of Indoor Air Quality Impacts
10. US EPA - April 12th, 2026 Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS
11. Expert Market Research Australu - April, 2025 Australia Air Fryer Market Size, Share, and Trends: Forecast and Growth Analysis Report (2026-2035)
12. Canstar- Apri 28th, 2026 Air fryers on the rise with 1 in 3 Australians using it daily + top-rated brand revealed
