Jamie Oliver's genius air fryer tray hack doubles cooking space

Jamie Oliver next to the beans and sweet potato that uses his air fryer hack for maximising space — (Image credit: Future)

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Midweek meal test
Essentials

Jamie Oliver is fast becoming famous for offering some of the best air fryer hacks. While I'm no stranger to a clever air fryer tip and trick, when I saw Jamie Oliver casually pull the crisper tray out of his air fryer basket, effectively doubling the cooking space, I knew it would be a hit. It’s a simple, practical way to maximise space in even the smallest, single-zone air fryer.

As someone who has cooked hundreds of meals in the best air fryers, I often find the biggest frustration is working with space limitations. Even the most generous drawers can feel cramped when you’re trying to cook a full meal at once. So, the idea of using the base of the basket and the tray as separate cooking zones is an air fryer hack worth knowing about.

Jamie Oliver's air fryer tray hack doubles cooking capacity

Jamie Oliver's Instagram is filled with clever cooking tips and tricks, but this is the one that got the woman&home team really excited. In one of his videos promoting his book, Easy Air Fryer, you'll see Jamie lifting out the crisper tray and setting it aside before adding softer ingredients directly into the drawer.

His logic is simple: not everything needs intense airflow from underneath. Beans, rice mixtures, and soft vegetables will happily warm and cook sitting flat in the base. Jamie explains, "think about meat or fish rendering onto beans, chickpeas, tomatoes; things like that you can really max out flavour and efficiency fast."

The tray is like a second level. Foods that need crisping (sweet potato chunks, tortillas, anything that benefits from circulating hot air) go on top once it’s slotted back in.

It's a stroke of genius that works well because air fryers are essentially compact convection ovens. Because of how air fryers work, the fan circulates heat around the cavity, not just underneath the tray. Removing it temporarily increases capacity and lets you treat the drawer more like a mini oven dish.

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Of course, this isn’t a free-for-all. One of the most common air fryer mistakes I see is overcrowding. Jamie’s trick works because you’re layering strategically, not cramming food in. It’s also a good reminder that understanding how to use an air fryer properly makes a huge difference in results.

And, if you’re wondering, I’ve tried it in models, including Jamie Oliver's own model made in collaboration with Tefal. Of course, it works like a treat.

To show you how much a simple restructure of your air fryer drawer can do. I cooked a main meal for my family of five in 30 minutes, using my trusted Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer. Here’s everything you need to know about an air fryer tweak that might just change how you cook...

Testing Jamie Oliver's air fryer tray hack : Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tortillas

Black bean tortillas in front of an air fryer and an air fryer cookbook, showcasing Jamie Oliver's Air Fryer Hack

After watching Jamie's video on the Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tortillas, I had to give them a go. They look like the perfect midweek dinner for me: minimal prep, maximum flavour.

Following Jamie’s method, I removed the tray and tipped a drained tin of black beans, chopped spring onions, olive oil and spices straight into the base. You can shake the drawer to mix, but I recommend using one of my favourite air fryer accessories, a heat-safe silicone spatula, to avoid scratching the non-stick coating. If you’re shopping for non-toxic air fryers, protecting that coating matters.

After 10 minutes, I reinserted the tray and added diced sweet potato on top. The beans continued warming and absorbing flavour underneath, while the sweet potato crisped beautifully above.

Twenty minutes later (half an hour in total), all I needed to do was call the family over to assemble their dinners. It was incredible how much food I managed to fit into one drawer.

After making this on repeat, I do have two tips to add to Jamie's recipe. The first is that you don't want to skip stirring the base layer halfway through the cook, before the beans go in. You'll end up with uneven cooking if you don't mix them through.

You also want to make sure that you don't overfill the air fryer, because I have packed layers of sweet potatoes on the crisper tray and it slowed down the whole process.

If you can remember those two, you've got a sensational space-saving air fryer hack that you could use in both single and dual-drawer air fryer baskets. It's one of those things you'll wish you knew about air fryers years ago.

Important essentials for Jamie Oliver's Air Fryer Hack

The Cookbook

Jamie Oliver

Easy Air Fryer

Jamie's cookbook is packed with clever air fryer tricks and hacks. It'll open up a world of simple, but impressive ways that you can use your air fryer to make sensational food.

Stackable Racks

Lakeland

Air Fryer Stackable Racks

If you want to get even more capacity from your air fryer, these stackable racks do a very similar job. They sit in your basket and you can layer all three on top of each other.

Tongs

Royal Cuisine

Silicone Tongs

I've talked about my special silicone spatula already, but the tongs are just as important. Most standard designs will scratch the inside of your air fryer, so make sure yours are safe.

As someone who spends her days testing the best air fryers and explaining how to use an air fryer properly, I can confidently say this air fryer hack is more than a social media gimmick.

It won’t magically double capacity, and you still need to respect airflow, but used thoughtfully, it adds flexibility, speeds up weeknight meals, and makes your drawer work harder.

Aside from learning how to clean your air fryer, it's a wonderfully simple appliance to aid everyday meal prep. Not only do they speed up the cooking process, but they do so in a compact way, perfect when you're working on keeping your counters clear in your small kitchen.

Now all you need to worry about is making sure you haven't placed your air fryer in one of the worst places in your kitchen. You might be surprised, but it's important to know the risks of bad appliance placement, particularly with air fryers, because of the heat they emit.

Laura is woman&home's eCommerce editor, in charge of testing, reviewing and recommending products for your home. You'll see her testing anything from damp-banishing dehumidifiers and KitchenAid's most covetable stand mixers through to the latest in Le Creuset's cast iron collection.

Previously, she was eCommerce Editor at Homes & Gardens, and has also written for Living Etc, The White Company and local publications when she was a student at Oxford University. She is also a Master Perfumer (a qualified candle snob), SCA-Certified Barista (qualified coffee snob) and part of a family who runs a pizza business (long-time pizza snob) - all of which come in handy when you're looking for the best pieces of kit to have kitchen.

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