Short answer: yes to both. You can put foil in an air fryer, and you can put baking paper in an air fryer, provided you use them the right way. Neither is banned by air fryer manufacturers, and both are common in Australian kitchens for easier cleanup and less sticking. The catch is that air fryers work by blasting hot air around your food, so anything that blocks that airflow, gets sucked up loose, or sits where it shouldn't creates a genuine safety and performance problem.
This guide walks through exactly how to use foil and baking paper safely in an air fryer, when each one is the better choice, when to skip both, and how to avoid the one scenario that actually does cause fires: loose paper or foil getting pulled into the heating element.
The Quick Answer
- Foil: Safe to use if it doesn't cover the whole basket, isn't touching the heating element, and is weighed down by food.
- Baking paper: Safe to use if it's perforated (holes for airflow) and weighed down by food before the fryer starts.
- Never preheat or run either one loose and empty in the basket — that's the actual fire risk, and it's easy to avoid.
Can You Put Foil in an Air Fryer?
Yes. Aluminium foil is one of the most common liners used in air fryers, and most manufacturers — including Philips, Ninja, and Instant — acknowledge it can be used safely in their instructions. Foil is a good conductor and doesn't burn, so it holds up fine to air fryer temperatures, which typically top out around 200°C.
The reason foil gets a bad reputation is that people use it incorrectly: covering the entire basket floor edge to edge, lining a basket-style fryer's perforated base so no air can pass through, or letting a loose sheet flap around and touch the heating element above. None of those are inherent problems with foil itself — they're problems with how it's placed.
How to Use Foil Safely
- Never cover the entire basket. Air fryers cook by circulating hot air around food from all directions. If foil seals off the basket floor completely, you block that airflow, and the appliance will cook unevenly or not crisp at all. Leave gaps around the edges, or use a piece sized to sit under the food rather than wall to wall.
- Keep it weighed down. Foil is light. Place it under food that has some weight to it — a piece of fish, a chicken thigh, a portion of vegetables — so it can't flip up and drift toward the fan or heating element.
- Don't line the very bottom of a basket-style fryer. If your air fryer has a perforated basket that sits above a drawer, don't press foil down over the holes — this blocks airflow the same way as covering the whole base. It's fine to use a small piece under or around food sitting on top of the mesh, just not sealing the perforations shut.
- Avoid foil with strongly acidic foods. Tomato-based sauces, citrus marinades, and vinegar-heavy dishes can react with aluminium, causing the foil to pit and small amounts of aluminium to leach into the food. It's not dangerous in the quantities involved, but it can affect flavour and isn't ideal for regular use — reach for baking paper instead for these dishes.
- Shape it to the food, not the basket. A loose sling or tray shape under wings, fish fillets, or vegetables works well. Avoid scrunching foil into shapes with lots of open edges that can catch the airflow and lift.
Good Uses for Foil
Wrapping foods that don't need crisping (like reheating leftovers or steaming a piece of fish with lemon), catching marinade or sauce drips from saucy proteins, and making cleanup easier after cooking something particularly messy, like barbecue ribs or a heavily glazed salmon.
Can You Put Baking Paper in an Air Fryer?
Yes, baking paper (parchment paper) is also safe in an air fryer, and it's actually the gentler option of the two for delicate foods that tend to stick, like fish, bakery items, or anything with a light batter. The key difference from oven use is that air fryer baking paper needs to let air through and needs to be held down from the moment the fryer starts.
How to Use Baking Paper Safely
- Use perforated paper, or perforate it yourself. Purpose-made air fryer liners come pre-punched with holes so hot air can still circulate underneath and around the food. If you're using regular baking paper, cut it to the shape of your basket and poke a scattering of small holes through it with a skewer before use.
- Always weigh it down with food first. This is the single most important rule for baking paper in an air fryer. Place your food on the paper before you turn the fryer on, so the paper is pinned in place from the very first second of airflow.
- Never preheat an empty air fryer with loose paper inside. This is the scenario that actually causes fires with air fryer accessories. An empty basket with an unweighted sheet of paper gets full-force airflow with nothing holding the paper down — it can be sucked upward, contact the heating element, and ignite within seconds. If you want to preheat, do it with the paper and food already loaded together, or preheat with nothing in the basket at all and add the paper only once you're placing food.
- Cut it slightly smaller than the basket base. Paper that extends up the sides or overhangs the edge has more surface area for air to catch under. Trim it so it sits within the basket floor, tucked under whatever you're cooking.
- Check the paper's heat rating. Standard baking paper is typically rated to around 220–240°C, comfortably above what most air fryers reach, but cheap or off-brand paper can vary. Stick to reputable parchment brands rather than wax paper or greaseproof paper, which are not the same product and can smoke or melt at air fryer temperatures.
Good Uses for Baking Paper
Delicate fish fillets that flake and stick to a bare basket, bakery items like small cakes or scones, breaded or battered foods where you want to avoid the coating tearing away when you remove them, and any dish with a sticky glaze or cheese topping that would otherwise bond to the basket mesh.
When Not to Use Foil or Baking Paper
Both liners have situations where they work against you rather than for you. Knowing when to skip them is just as useful as knowing how to use them.
Skip the Liner When...
- You're cooking at very high heat for a long time with foil and fatty food. Dishes like whole chicken pieces or fatty cuts of meat release a lot of rendered fat during long cooks. If that fat pools on foil sitting under the heating element or near an exposed edge, it can start to smoke or, in extreme cases, spark. Use a drip tray underneath instead, or drain excess fat partway through cooking.
- You're preheating with nothing else in the basket. An empty fryer with loose foil or paper inside — whether you intend to add food a minute later or simply forgot it was in there — is the number one cause of air fryer liner incidents. Add the liner at the same time as the food, not before.
- You want maximum crisping, like on fries or wings. Foil and baking paper both reduce direct contact between food and the hot basket surface, and they trap a small amount of moisture and steam underneath. For foods where a deeply crisp, evenly browned surface is the whole point — chips, wings, roast potatoes — cook directly in the basket, lightly oiled, with no liner at all.
- Your model's manual specifically advises against it. A small number of air fryer models, particularly older or unusually shaped ones, have basket designs where liners sit too close to the element even when used correctly. Check your manufacturer's instructions if you're unsure — most modern basket and drawer-style fryers have no issue, but it's worth the two minutes to confirm.
Foil vs Baking Paper vs Neither: Which Should You Use?
Rather than defaulting to one liner for everything, it helps to match the liner to the dish.
Choose Foil When...
You're cooking something saucy, marinated, or prone to dripping and want the fastest possible cleanup. Foil is sturdier than baking paper, holds its shape well as a makeshift tray, and is the better pick for foods you're reheating rather than crisping from raw, since you're not relying on direct basket contact for texture.
Choose Baking Paper When...
You're cooking something delicate that tends to stick — fish, anything battered, small baked goods — and you still want some airflow underneath for gentle browning. Baking paper is the better choice with acidic marinades or sauces, since it won't react the way foil can.
Choose Neither When...
Crisp, even browning is the goal. Fries, wings, roast vegetables, and anything you want genuinely crunchy should go straight into a lightly oiled basket. A liner between the food and the hot surface is exactly what stands between you and a proper crust.
Troubleshooting: The Fire Risk People Worry About
The fear behind "can you put foil in an air fryer" and "can you put baking paper in an air fryer" usually traces back to a specific, well-documented scenario: a loose sheet of liner, with no food weighing it down, gets caught by the fan and pulled upward until it touches the exposed heating element near the top of the unit. Once that happens, it can scorch or catch alight within seconds, particularly with unperforated paper.
The good news is that this scenario has one clear cause and one clear fix.
How the Fire Risk Actually Happens — and How to Avoid It
- Cause: Empty preheating with loose foil or paper already in the basket, or a liner sized too large that overhangs and flaps in the airflow.
- Fix: Always place food on top of the liner before switching the fryer on. Food weight is what keeps foil and paper anchored to the basket floor.
- Extra safeguard: Cut liners to size rather than overhanging the basket edge, and never leave the fryer unattended during the first few minutes of a cook, when any airflow issue would show up first.
If you ever open the basket mid-cook and notice foil or paper has shifted, lifted, or is anywhere near the top element, stop the fryer, let it cool, and reposition or discard the liner before continuing. If you smell burning or see smoke, switch off and unplug the unit immediately rather than opening the basket straight away, and let any smoke clear before investigating — the same approach recommended for any air fryer smoke incident.
Quick Reference
Foil: yes, if weighed down, not covering the whole basket, and kept off acidic foods. Baking paper: yes, if perforated and weighed down before the fryer starts. Both: never loose, never empty-preheated, and skip them entirely when you want maximum crisping.
The Bottom Line
Foil and baking paper are both perfectly safe air fryer accessories when you understand the one rule that matters most: airflow needs somewhere to go, and liners need something holding them down. Use food itself as the anchor, size your liner to the basket rather than letting it overhang, and never run an empty fryer with a loose sheet sitting inside. Get those basics right and you can use either liner as often as you like, saving yourself a genuine amount of scrubbing along the way.