Chef issues warning over common mistake made when using air fryer to cook Christmas dinner

A Michelin-trained chef has warned Brits to beware of making common mistakes while rustling up a Christmas dinner with an air fryer.

Culinary queen Poppy O'Toole is just like the rest of us and can't get enough of the 'convenient' kitchen gadget.

Her latest cookbook is even dedicated to 'actually delicious' air fryer recipes that don't require a lot of faff.

The Celeb Cooking School star knows that people across the UK will be relying heavily on the appliances over the festive period.

Poppy herself says she will 'definitely' be using hers on December 25, because she 'needs all the space for everything'.

We all know what its like trying to fit a turkey and all the trimmings in the oven.

The chef will be feeding 'a lot of people' on the big day, so having her air fryer to rely on will take some of the pressure of.

"There’s not enough space to do everything, but what it’s really good at is giving you the capability to do more stuff at the same time," Poppy said.

Antony Jones/Getty Images for Westfield

"So you’re not just relying on the oven and the hob – you’ve also got this other piece of equipment, which is amazing at cooking things and it can be done quicker and more energy efficiently."

But she warned that it is all too easy to ruin Christmas dinner if you take your eye off the ball.

The social media star has shared her top tips to securing a slap up festive feast while using your air fryer.

Firstly, even though it may seem obvious, make sure you put a timer on. When your knee deep in wrapping paper and still in your pjs, you'd be surprised how easily it slips your mind.

Poppy said: "I’ve done that a few times, where I’ve gone, it comes out in 20 minutes or whatever and you go, ‘yeah, I’ll come back in a few minutes, it’ll be fine’.

"And I’ve left it in there the whole time and it’s burned to a crisp."

Getty stock image

And although you might be feeding the five thousand or in a bit of a rush, the chef urged Brits to not 'overcrowd' their air fryers.

Poppy added: "It can be very easy to throw it all in, 'it’ll be fine'. But it doesn’t work that way – the whole point is that the air circulation gets around everything, so it needs a gap where that can happen."

She also encouraged people to prepare their air fryers for a cooking marathon on Christmas Day with a spring clean.

"I don’t wash it enough, I don’t clean it enough," Poppy confessed.

"I end up getting these little dark bits on the rest of my food, which is fine when you’re cooking for yourself – that doesn’t matter.

"But when you’re cooking for other people, if you’ve got family coming over, you want to make sure it’s the best. So make sure in between each thing you cook, you give it a little wipe down."