Air Fryer

[RJH]

I've got a basic Philips

You'd struggle to get 2 decent portions.

It takes on average between 1/2 and 2/3 of the time, and maybe a third of the electricity (assuming it cycles the same as a regular oven).

Quite impressed - convenient, and food tastes pretty good. It took me some getting used to, but basically anything that would go in an oven or under a grill. Oven chips a standout - the very cheapest (£1 for 1.5kg) come out very well IMO. Easy to keep clean - dishwasher safe. Easy to use - if I was to buy again I'd get the same basic mechanical timer type.

Downsides - it's another large thing to home, mine at least is quite noisy, and quite strong smells depending on what's cooking. I bought mine as an end of line at Lidl for £40 - they seem to be more than £100 - quite expensive for what they are.

Not sure about the health claims - mainly centre around fat, but I don't deep fry anyway so probably doesn't make much difference to me.

[RJH]

Yep - parboiled and roughed up a bit.

[Brian]

Not hot enough to be of concern, even after 25 mins on max temp.

Cleaning is usually easily. The inner drawer has a non stick lining and can be washed on ours. You use naff all oil / fat which is what tends to make a mess.

[Rod Speed]

The problem is what sits on the top of the big glass bowl.

That can't go in the dishwasher and is a bugger to clean.

Can't see that.

Yes there is.

Never get that, but I do the veg in the microwave.

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

Which might be easier than the air fryer, at least in my case. I found olive oil baked onto the tray and impossible to get off. I now use alloy foil in the bottom, to avoid it.

[R D S]

Ours has shelves in and a door rather than a basket (I can't find it for sale anywhere but if you search 'mini digital oven' you'll find similar).

Being like an oven you can use it in much the same way, but it's quicker and doesn't need preheating so it's saving time and money. I find it browns/crisps food better too.

[Theo]

There's a spectrum of things like that, sometimes called a 'toaster oven' if they have a grill mode although not all have fans, through to combi microwaves.

I thought one advantage of the 'air fryer' devices was the basket means you don't need a baking tray so you can put your chips/etc directly in the airflow. Often a regular oven shelf is not intended for that, and even if you get a mesh to put the food on and a tray to catch drips, the airflow is from the side which is running parallel with the chips, so not as effective as having it blasted from the top or bottom?

Without that effect, isn't it just a small oven?

Theo

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

They probably compare to using an electric oven to cook.

I find they cook in half the time of a gas oven, if the items being cooked are small in bulk.

I don't know how you can get a decent chop or chicken cooked in a microwave? Grill, or oven, or air fryer for me.

They are good for roasties, chips, anything roasted and etc..

Don't be tempted by the £50 Ninja air fryers on social media - they are a scam.

[John Miller]

We have one like that -it's a Tower Xpress Pro from Amazon although currently out of stock. Air comes from the top with a powerful fan circulating the hot air. Only had it a short time, but well pleased up to now. Today's 1.5Kg chicken was cooked in there in 40 minutes.

[Jeff Gaines]

Many thanks Theo & John :-)

They seem to be a development of a fan oven I'll have to try and find the wattage of my Neff which is so old the manual is out of print.

Just for Theo - it's just the veg that goes in the microwave, sorry I was unclear!

[R D S]

It has more of a fan effect than our big oven, to create the same sort of airflow in the big oven it would have to make a right racket. It seems to cook in the same way as an air fryer but it's more versatile, I can do a whole grill up for 2 in it, bar the eggs/beans.

[Dave Plowman (News]

I quite like one or two of those bake at home bread rolls hot with my main meal. Do have a twin oven, both fan types, but guess using even the small one for this, rather a waste. Given the time it takes to heat up. Does an air frier make as good a job of this?

[RJH]

IME, yes, very good indeed using the Lidl parbaked white rolls. About 7/8 minutes.

[John Miller]

Also very good in my experience.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Thanks. So which one to get? Only really for me. I'll happily use the oven when entertaining.

[RJH]

I'd buy the same again - link in this thread with reasons.

A friend just bought one which looks just like a mini oven - I'd avoid that as at the least it looks difficult to clean. The advantages I suppose are that it has 2 shelves and a window so you can see what's going on. But mine's fine - I just chuck everything in the basket, give it a shake half way through, and it's always worked.

[John Miller]

There might be other reasons why you'd want to avoid an air-fryer with shelves, but the Tower model we have has a stainless steel interior and mesh shelves which clean easily and also are dishwasher safe. To help avoid getting the interior dirty, we've also invested in some parchment paper liners (cheap from a well known auction site) which are advertised as suitable for Ninja & other makes. Fits ours like a glove and used if we think there might be leakage of any kind.