Plenty of people now want an air fryer without a non-stick coating, and manufacturers have responded with stainless steel and ceramic baskets. The cooking physics change when you remove the coating, and not every design has adapted well.
What we looked for
- Basket material and construction — solid stainless, coated ceramic or a hybrid, and how each behaves after fifty cooks.
- Sticking in practice with the foods people actually complain about: fish, cheese and marinated chicken.
- Airflow design, since uncoated baskets tend to need more preheat and better circulation.
- Cleaning effort without abrasive tools, which is the whole point of choosing this category.
Watch the full head-to-head
The ranked picks, the side-by-side comparisons and the ones that did not make the cut are all in the video version of this test.
How to choose
Stainless baskets are the most durable option and the least forgiving. They need preheating and a light oil film to behave, and if you are unwilling to do either you will find them frustrating. Ceramic-coated baskets sit in between: easier to cook with, but the coating is still a wear item.
Look closely at the basket shape rather than the stated capacity. A wide, shallow basket cooks more evenly and holds more in a single layer than a deep one of the same litre rating, and single-layer cooking is what air fryers are good at.
Common questions
Is a stainless steel basket harder to clean?
It requires soaking more often than a non-stick basket, but it tolerates scrubbing that would destroy a coating, so it stays serviceable much longer.
Do coating-free air fryers cook differently?
They tend to need a slightly longer preheat and a light oil coating on the food. Once hot, cooking times are broadly comparable.