Warning issued to people who cook bacon in an air fryer

If you've been on the internet over the last two years you've probably come across the air fryer in some form or another.

The devices have been praised as god's very own gift to human kind in the kitchen, despite basically just being a miniature convection oven you plug in to the wall.

Enough cookbooks to fill a small library have been released on how to use the viral gadgets.

That's before you get into the online videos, with everything from recipes to Warhammer 40,000 themed sketches featuring the air fryer.

Cooking bacon like this may not be the best idea. (LauriPatterson / Getty)

The air fryer has been praised as being able to cook almost anything, much in the same way that the regular oven or grill that comes pre-installed in most dwellings can also cook most things.

But there are some things which air fryer enthusiasts have been warned to avoid if they want their device to last, or remain properly clean.

Obviously if something is too large to fit into an air fryer it's probably best avoided.

But there are some things which while they would fit, they have other properties which make them unsuitable for the gadget.

No-one likes sad rubbery bacon. (Yulia Naumenko / Getty)

Dietician Brenda Peralta warned that cooking fatty food in an air fryer could be bad for the longevity of the device.

This includes the staple of the full English breakfast - bacon.

Brenda told Huffington Post: "It is a fatty food, and when it is cooked in an air fryer, the fat can drip down and cause smoke or splatter.

"This can make the bacon difficult to cook evenly, and it can also produce a lot of smoke and odours."

So, bacon may not cook evenly in an air fryer which could be bad news both for taste and safety.

After all, who wants a bit of bacon that's burnt one end and rubbery on the other, and the less said about the horrors of food poisoning the better.

A good old fashioned frying pan remains the best option. (Diana Miller / Getty)

But that's not it, with Brenda adding: "A bacon strip is a small and delicate food, and it can be difficult to flip or remove from the air fryer basket without breaking it."

Not only that, but you can't cook as much at once, with Brenda saying: "The air fryer basket may not be large enough to accommodate a large quantity of bacon.

"This can make it difficult to cook a lot of bacon at once, which can be inconvenient if you are cooking for a group."

So there you go - when it comes to bacon it might be best to opt for the old fashioned frying pan.

That said it's still worth taking care around safety when you're dealing with hot fat, air fryer or not.