You Bought the Air Fryer, Here’s What to Get Next

The three air fryer accessories worth buying include liners for easy cleanup, a rack for cooking on two levels, and a dish for wet foods the basket can't hold. If your air fryer gets a workout most nights but has only ever cooked in the basket it came with, these three are how you get more out of it. Almost everything else is either a variation of these three or a novelty. 

You can start with a couple of pieces or go for the full set, and at House, they’re bundled into three ready-to-buy kits at different price points, so you can make a single solid purchase and avoid spending more time looking.

At a Glance: What to Add to Your Air Fryer 

You’ll need only three additions to your air fryer to do everything you need it to do. Liners, a rack and a dish that can hold liquid. Take a look through the lists below to get a quick comparison if you want to jump straight in before getting to the details.

Starter

●        Best for: trying accessories for the first time

●        What’s included: liners and a rack for two-level cooking

●        Number of products: 2

●        Approx. total: $20 to $30

Complete

●        Best for: regular air fryer use, more than reheating

●        What’s included: liners, a rack and grill duo, and a muffin pan for baking

●        Number of products: 4

●        Approx. total: $55 to $65

Premium

●     Best for: wet dishes the basket alone can’t handle (such as roasts and casseroles)

●    What’s included: reusable liners, a rack, and two roaster dishes for wet foods

●        Number of products: 4

●        Approx. total: $70 to $80

Liners: The Easiest Upgrade

Of all the accessories, air fryer liners are the cheapest and most repurchased. They solve the biggest air fryer complaint: scrubbing the basket. If you buy nothing else from this guide, strongly consider buying these. 

Disposable paper liners are the budget option, usually under $15 for a pack of 50. They come in square, rectangular and round shapes, so check your basket shape before you order.

The step-up is reusable liners. They cost a little more upfront, but you wash them instead of throwing them out. If you use your air fryer most nights, a silicone liner pays for itself against disposables within a couple of months. The full air fryer accessories range from House includes both styles.

Air fryer liners are safe when you use them as directed. Just place food on the liner before putting it in the basket, and don’t leave an empty liner in the air fryer while it preheats, because an unweighted liner could lift up into the heating element. This applies to all paper liners.

Racks and Grills for Double-Level Cooking

Using a rack increases the efficiency of your air fryer, turning one cooking space into two. Chips go underneath, chicken goes on top in one machine.

An air fryer rack is a raised stainless-steel platform that lifts a second layer of food up so it’s surrounded by the airflow. Racks are usually under $20 and come in square and round shapes. A round shape suits barrel-shaped baskets, and a square rack suits the square and rectangular drawers on most family models. Some racks also stack, if you want a third level.

The air fryer grill is basically the same idea, just with a different surface. Where a rack is open mesh, a grill has raised bars that leave sear marks on foods like steak, burgers and halloumi cheese.

You may want to consider one of each: a rack for more volume in the air fryer, and a grill for the food you’d like to sear. As with liners, check your basket shape.

Bakeware and Dishes for Wet Foods

An air fryer basket can’t hold liquid. This limitation is why most people won’t use their air fryers for anything beyond cooking chips and reheating. But there’s an easy way to use your appliance for more advanced cooking. To cook casseroles, roasts with juices, or bake properly, you can use a baking dish that allows for such foods.

For baking, a silicone muffin pan handles muffins, egg cups and individual frittatas. It then collapses flat for the drawer, so it takes up little space in your kitchen. A five-cup pan is a good capacity for a family-sized air fryer basket, and the silicone releases baked food without the need for greasing.

For wet mains, air-fryer-safe dishes in borosilicate glass are your best go-to. This thermal shock-resistant glass tolerates going from the fridge to the hot air fryer without fuss. Easy-hold handles allow you to take the dish from the air fryer to the table, and the glass is typically dishwasher-safe. Either of the two shapes gives you a casserole dish and a roaster that fits inside a standard basket. Saturday’s lasagne leftovers, reheated quickly and properly, have never tasted so good.

Building the Kit: Starter, Complete and Premium

If you're building an air fryer kit from scratch, let’s resist the urge to buy the entire accessory aisle in one hit and focus on the essentials first. These three kits are our suggested combinations, with each one adding a little more to what you can do beyond the basics.

Measure Your Basket First

Measure across the base of your basket and check its depth. The basket shape will always matter more than your air fryer’s capacity in litres. For a square or rectangular basket, measure from wall to wall. For a round basket, measure straight across the middle.

Remember: two air fryers with the same capacity can have very different baskets. A round rack will wobble in a rectangular drawer, while a square liner will bunch up at the edges of a round basket. 

Leave room above and your air fryer accessories, too. If you’re using a rack, food on the top layer should stay clear of the heating element. Any dish or muffin pan should also have some space around the sides so hot air can circulate evenly.

Choose the Kit to Match

Now you’ve got your measurements sorted, you can choose the kit that suits how you cook! 

Starter kit

Quick weeknight jobs are where this kit shines. Crumbed fish and wedges are easy dinner territory, and the liners make the clean-up considerably less annoying.

Complete kit

This kit is for the air fryer that gets used on a very regular basis. Lamb cutlets, prawns and corn give the grill plenty to do, while savoury muffins and mini meatloaves make good use of the muffin pan.

Premium kit

Best for the days you’d rather leave the big oven off. On a hot summer night, a creamy potato bake or a small roast for two can go in the air fryer while the kitchen stays blissfully cool. At Christmas, it handles all the sides!

**Prices are approximate at the time of writing and subject to promotional change.

Most air fryer owners get the most day-to-day value from the items in the Complete kit, mainly because the rack-and-grill duo in it transforms your weeknight dinners. The Premium dishes are most worth it if you use your air fryer for meals beyond reheating and frying, so be honest about the kind of cook you are.

If you’re comparing air fryer accessories in Australia, you’ll find plenty of exceptional options for all budgets right here at House. And if working through it has you eyeing a bigger air fryer instead, take a glance at our air fryers collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

What accessories do you actually need for an air fryer?

You only really need three things: liners for cleanup, a rack for double-level cooking and one dish that can hold liquid. This trio tackles tasks that can’t be done with the bare basket on its own.

Can you put liquid or wet food in an air fryer?

Not directly in the basket, but yes, you can if you use the right dish. An air fryer is effectively a compact fan oven, so a casserole, saucy bake or roast with juices needs an oven-safe dish to hold it. This dish needs to be placed in the basket with airflow space around it. Borosilicate glass roasters are specifically made for this.

Do air fryer liners work, or do they affect cooking?

They do work, though with one caveat. A solid paper liner blocks some of the airflow beneath the food, so anything that relies on crisping underneath (especially chips) comes out slightly better without one or with a perforated style. For saucy, sticky or marinated food, the trade-off is well worth it. Try a batch of something such as our parmesan roasted baby potatoes with and without liners, and you’ll come to your own conclusion about which you prefer.

What’s the difference between an air fryer rack and a grill?

A rack is an open mesh platform that lifts a second layer of food into the airflow, and a grill is the same platform with raised bars that press sear marks into whatever cooks on top. It’s essentially the same footprint, just with a different surface. The rack is about expanded capacity, and the grill is about the finish.

Can I use any dish in my air fryer?

No. A baking dish needs to be rated for oven temperatures (borosilicate glass, silicone rated to around 220 degrees and metal bakeware all qualify) and small enough to leave air circulating around it in the basket. Standard tumbler glass, plastic and anything that fills the basket from wall to wall should never be used.