Hi everyone,
I have started to research air fryer after some friends talked about it. They received it as a gift and now they are using it more than their normal oven even.
Do you have one? Before I go to deep down the rabbit hole of reviews and YouTube videos, have you already done some research and have something to recommend?
I was looking for something not too bulky but still with the capacity of making foods for 3/4 people.
Thanks in advance!
We have a small one and we don’t use it often. Main reason being that it’s a real pain to clean. Before you buy one, look at how many nooks and crannies there are that you’ll have to clean somehow.
I have a 15 years old Philips Airfryer and I use it quite often.
Potato fries, cordon-bleu, chicken nuggets, chicken wings. I airfry anything that could be fried in a “normal” oil fryer.
The pans can be cleaned in the dishwasher. There is nothing in my device that would need to be cleaned manually.
I got the frier as a gift, so I never did any research at all. But the technology itself works.
Thanks both of you, I was looking at the Phillips one because they seemed quite straight forward to use and easy to clean.
What’s a reason to have an air fryer if you already have a convection oven?
This screenshot from the first article I found through google makes it seem as if there really aren’t that many pro’s, if you already have a convection oven installed:
Hi there,
an air fryer only makes sense if you don’t have a proper oven.
The German consumer testing organization did a test in 2019 (article in German and behind a paywall), and these four models won, albeit all with mediocre results:
They’ve update their test with a summary of a test in Belgium in 2021. Winners were
Be ware: These are all well above 200 CHF, whereas the ones above were below that threshold. All links above lead to the Galaxus web shop as an example for availability, they may be available cheaper elsewhere.
Maybe buying a used one is a good way to prevent buying something new that will just gather dust on the kitchen shelf. But for your own food safety, please inspect the fryer beforehand. That may also answer the questions of how to properly clean the fryer.
Cheers,
J.
Edit: Typo fixed, added remark that the german article is not available free of charge.
Thank you so much, this is helpful! I am still gathering info before pulling the trigger on one, I really want to avoid to have something sitting on a shelf collecting dust.
Also, learning a bit on what type of food I could cook with it that would save time when preparing dinner. Main reason for the purchase is saving time at dinner time now that I am going to the office regularly and don’t want to spend my time at home only in the kitchen.
My experience: I bought a cheap one at Otto’s and found it huge, hard to store and not that useful. I ended up selling it on Anibis.
A friend’s experience: he uses it mostly as a small oven because he believes that it uses less energy and that it heats up faster. I must confess that I have tried a very good roast chicken “roasted” in his air fryer.
I compare air fryers with oil fryers, not with regular ovens. And when doing so, there’s also an obvious health benefit as an air fryer is much less oily and fatty than an oil fryer.
For example, french fries can be made with just a spoon full of oil. Fried chicken doesn’t need any oil at all and the chicken’s fat is collected underneath, in the pan.
I am still confused if there are two types of air friers: The ones where you have to put a tiny bit of oil and the ones that just air-fry without it.
I have the latter one that i bought for 39 eur just to avoid using the big oven for some small stuff. I also think it’s easier to clean that a normal oven.
I also compare it to frying stuff in a pan.
For example with chicken wings you can fry them in a pan, cook them in an oven or cook them in a air fryer.
ps. “nice” touch on the spammy SEO title 
Yeah, an air fryer really makes sense if you need to watch your calories - and you use it often and save on time to clean the alternative equipment.
I generally stay away from “unitaskers” (avocado slicer or toast tongs, anyone?), so no microwave oven in our kitchen and no sandwich maker, not even a coffee machine. But I love my rice cooker dearly.
J.
Health benefits are definitely something to consider even if personally I don’t deep fry food, however I do use my oven a lot to roast chicken/salmon/beef and I could definitely reduce the amount of oil used.
As of now the pros would be:
I get the point of the unitaskers but on this specific product I see a multiple use (baking, roasting, reheating, frying,etc…), even though it still performs the same tasks as a normal oven.
Either is an excuse or you never understood how to use a microwave oven.
