My sister's comment about my chicken made me stop preheating the basket

I always threw the basket in the air fryer and hit 400 for 5 minutes before adding anything. My sister watched me do it and said why bother, you're just wasting power and time. So I tried one batch without preheating and honestly could not tell the difference in texture or cook time. Now I skip the warm up entirely and dinner is ready maybe 4 minutes sooner. She also made me stop flipping things every 4 minutes, which was another habit I dropped. Anyone else cling to a step that turned out to be totally pointless?

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jamie_smith17d ago

Preheating is something I did forever too until I realized the air fryer heats up so fast anyway that it just doesn't matter... especially for anything frozen or breaded. The flipping every 4 minutes though, that's the one I fought my wife on for weeks. I finally timed two batches of fries, one flipped and one left alone, and they came out identical. Now I just shake the basket once halfway if I remember, and that's it.