Air fryer? Good? Gimmick? Can it save money?

I made the plunge and got an oven-style air fryer.  

It's taking some getting used to and the recipes take quite a bit of tweaking from the cookbooks I got from the library when I use the two level function.  But on the whole, I'm very happy with it.  

Except, there are too many recipes.  So, for those of you with an air fryer, can you pop over to this thread and let me know your favourite air fryer recipie?  

My air fryer, a Chefman something or other, has been FANTASTIC for my needs. It has a rotisserie with a basket that I utilize mostly for dehydrating smaller batches of herbs, mushrooms, etc. I've roasted coffee in it also. Not from green beans, but getting a darker roast on medium roasted beans. I also use the trays to dehydrate smaller batches of tomatoes and other veggies. I honestly don't use the regular air frying function much at all, so to that I can't speak. But for dehydrating small batches and not having to wait until you have enough to load 9 trays full in your Excalibur or whatever, I think it's great. So much so that I bought a second one during Black Friday, knowing that the one I've used extensively will at some point groan and die.

I bought a Breville Smart Oven, and I use it quite often.  I don't use my regular oven anymore... I bought it because it also had the air fryer function, but I discovered that doing chicken wings didn't really work well.  I had to put a sheet under the tray to prevent dripping onto the elements, and when I did that the wings didn't crisp up well because of the impeded air circulation.  So I bought a Cosori Air Fryer for greasy drippy things.   Party wings are quick and easy... just season  after patting dry and mix with a tsp of baking soda, marinate for awhile and air fry.  Totally easy and nice skin crisp!   Roasted vegetables are just the bomb with eather the Smart Oven or air fryer.   The toaster function works will in the Smart Oven, not sure I would use the air fryer for that purpose.   I think either appliance would work for anything you bake or roast.  I did pork chops in the air fryer the other day, and it was juicy.  Home made keto fish sticks were really tasty.  The air fryer definitely has the edge for crispy coatings vs. the oven but the oven isn't a slouch in this department either.  

My first air fryer. No regrets whatsoever.

One of my favorite things in our air fryer is roasted vegetables. 1/3 the time and it gives a nice brown skin on the veggies. Hash browns are good too nice crusty surface and no fiddling on the stove.

r ranson wrote:  What's your biggest fail?

We borrowed my in-laws spare air fryer until they needed it back. It was the drawer type which required regular washing and cleaning and even when it was the XL size model, it can't cook a lot at a time due to the need for Air circulation. If you need to cook for a party, that is a bummer. So when we spotted the the Oven Air Fryer, we immediately bought it. I really had no idea such a design was available. We never saw this model again in subsequent visits and elsewhere.

While I am very pleased with my Oven Air Fryer I kinda sometimes wish there is a way to lower the fan/blower speed instead of the permanent tornado setting. You would think the boffins could have thought of that.

The same goes for table fans. Adjustable swing angle and linger at certain spots. I have actually done it with my table fan. The swing angle is reduced and it lingers at the extremities of the swing which is EXACTLY where we are seated but that is not reproducible nor programmable - it just came about accidentally.  The trick goes in SUSPENDING the fan upside down with cordage and this allows me some control over the degrees of freedom it has.

From what I have read and heard everyone loves their air fryer.

Before I got an air fryer I had a convection oven.

To me the air fryer is very similar if not the same as a convection oven.

My air fryer went out after only a few months.

I now have a $40.00 toaster oven with a turbo for a couple of years.  It does everything I want it to do.

I got my air fryer as essentially a small fancy countertop oven that can fold up and take a small amount of counter space.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SCGY2H6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It has been holding up well, but of course I paid a bit more than some air fryers.

We were given a 5qt basket type air fryer as a present and we have used it almost every day for about 2 years.
The basket latch mechanism has now seized up so we just bought a larger 8qt replacement on sale for black friday.
We cook almost all the meat and fish we consume in it as well as various veggies sliced into "fries."
One problem it is on the same electrical circuit as our microwave and we cannot run both at the same time without tripping the circuit breaker.
Our normal frying pans are only used for eggs and anything that involves much of a sauce.

Yep, hot air is hot air.


Comically, wifey never uses the BIG boy (convection oven) as an air fryer.  That aside, we loved the performance of the small piece of garbage (getting the roaster pan to release was hit and miss) a lot. So, sung to the tune of my wife's grumblings, I bought a big one (Quiains raison thingie) and, shortly after, the grumbling stopped. Now, we wouldn't be without one.  

It kicks to be able to cook wing and things, have them turn out splendid, and not use any oil.

The ONLY thing about the Cuisonart is, all of them seem to run about 50 degrees hot, so adjust your techniques accordingly.

I bought my first air fryer about 25 years ago. It was a blast, watching pizza bits fly around the inside of the beast.  Fortunately, our oven and countertop don't do that.

Anne Miller wrote:From what I have read and heard everyone loves their air fryer.

Before I got an air fryer I had a convection oven.

To me the air fryer is very similar if not the same as a convection oven.

My air fryer went out after only a few months.

I now have a $40.00 toaster oven with a turbo for a couple of years.  It does everything I want it to do.

Life with an air fryer changes a person

I heard to look on bottom of the box and read the fine print. Apparently warnings about toxic fumes or poisonous substances are produced when the appliance heats.... therefore infusing your food with the noxious gases.
I love they way they cook certain foods but if I was to have one nowadays it would be stainless steel only... none of the black "non-stick coating" .

Tracey Biggs wrote:I heard to look on bottom of the box and read the fine print. Apparently warnings about toxic fumes or poisonous substances are produced when the appliance heats.... therefore infusing your food with the noxious gases.
I love they way they cook certain foods but if I was to have one nowadays it would be stainless steel only... none of the black "non-stick coating" .

That's way I went with the stainless steel oven style.

Hubby really wanted an air fryer/convection oven, even tho we have an old, small, but super dependable non-digital toaster oven.  Finally after my sister extolled the virtues of her Emeril model, I gave in and we got one from Costco.  We really liked it (except for making toast -- it dried out the bread more than toasting it,) it made things crispy without much oil, quick cooking, etc.  UNTIL it quit working.  The digital thermostat stopped controlling things properly, and food came out luke warm instead of hot.  Everything mechanical still worked, but the electronics crapped out which made the whole thing useless.  We had it maybe a year and a half, used it maybe 4-5 times a week.  We used it not only to air fry, which we did infrequently, but mainly to reheat leftovers and cook smaller dishes, instead of using the big oven.  (We don't microwave anymore since learning how it denatures foods.)  So it probably saved us some electricity, but overall I'm not impressed since we paid good money for it and it didn't last long at all.   I think that one was a Cuisinart, but I don't recall for sure.  Costco is now selling different brands.  

I think some have figured out how to use these to cook different things like veggies and more and it’s electric so that’s a big positive.

r ranson wrote:Life with an air fryer changes a person

LOL! Thanks for the laugh!

People I know love them, including a trained chef who is a cranky, muscley 6'4" and doesn't approve of damn near anything. But he recommends his Ninja. So I guess it's on my list.

My first air fryer was one I earned through a program I was enrolled in for my son (pre-school thing that I attended all the meetings for). It was a stand alone air fryer with a pull out drawer. I made a few of the recipes, but I hated the clean up simply because of the shape of the drawer. I did enjoy the crispy effect that veggies produced when cooked in it so when our countertop oven went on the fritz, my husband upgraded us to the Oster multi-function bake, broil, toast, convection, air-fry model. We later had to also get a new full sized range and chose one that happened to include the air fry option. I tend to use the countertop model more often because it is just easier and in the summer does not heat up the house. The family loves how the fries get crispy in the air fryer and my oldest who inherited the drawer model has made many things including crispy wings that he enjoys although he upgraded to the same countertop model we have because he lacked any form of oven in his small place.
I don't know that I would go on and on about it, but I enjoy access to it through the multi-funcional options because then it isn't a one-hit-wonder taking up space.

Donna Lynn wrote:Hubby really wanted an air fryer/convection oven, even tho we have an old, small, but super dependable non-digital toaster oven.  

This, after our toaster oven finally bit the dust, was what got me to get an air fryer oven. That, and the fact that cooking gas got really pricey. I now fire up my gas oven maybe only once a month, and I can make almost any small-batch thing in the air fryer oven. And we can make toast too. It takes a bit of a learning curve for baking (smaller batches, bundt pans, lots of cupcake/muffins, changes in time and temps) but I am so glad I bought it.

I see models with a single basket and others with "dual zone" cooking and two baskets. Anybody tried the two basket type?

So the airfryer is my husband's favourite wedding present we got, he adores it.  Tonight part of our dinner is going to be the leftover fries we had last night out, me eating leftover fries would have been unheard of before the air fryer, they taste good a second time!

After some time, I find my air fryer to be a great "swiss army knife" of the kitchen. Between toasting, baking, and air frying I tend to utilize my air fryer almost daily.

I still have the Ninja Foodi and it has plenty of proven capacity for an adult couple.

In the two years since this thread was created, I've greatly expanded my use of my air fryer.  It has become an essential tool in my kitchen, and I'm now prepared to answer the OP's original questions unequivocally:

Are they good?  Absolutely.  Particularly, avoid the cheaper fryers with a pull-out plastic bucket and get one that opens in the front to slide in multiple wire-mesh trays.  Mine is the latter design, and I love it.  It offers greater utility and greater capacity for the same countertop footprint.

Are they a gimmick?  No.  Even though all the things I do with my air fryer - baking, roasting, frying, dehydrating - I can also do with other appliances, I have found real value in having an air fryer to accomplish these tasks more easily.  It is also nice that I can bake something in the air fryer simultaneous to using my oven for a different ingredient.  I should not that I am restricted to using a toaster oven, so my oven space is at a premium.

Can it save money?  I suppose so.  Deep frying uses a lot of oil, which costs money.  An air fryer uses a lot of air, which is free.

But much more importantly, it saves time!  Setting up for a deep frying session takes time.  And it makes mess, which takes more time to clean.  Using an air fryer is so easy in comparison!

Also, things bake and roast in an air fryer in about half the time required in an oven.  Added on top of that, the air fryer has introduced me to different preparation techniques that save even more time.  For example, I love sweet potato.  Baking a whole sweet potato still takes at least 45 minutes an air fryer - it would take over an hour in an oven.  Instead, I have learned to peel a sweet potato and cut it into bite-sized cubes.  Tossed in oil and seasonings, these cook up in the air fryer into delightful little fluffy sweet potato bites.  The whole process takes no more than 20 minutes, from prepping the sweet potato to serving it.

I've also just recently used my air fryer for the first time to dehydrate mushrooms, which it did very well.  Obviously it has a smaller capacity than a real dehydrator.

In addition, my air fryer - again, you need to buy one of the slightly more expensive oven style fryers, not the ones with the big plastic basket - has a rotisserie feature that I've not even explored yet.

air fryer vs oven


when to use which and why

Well I’m just looking for an AGA stove. No room in my life for an air fryer!  Or in my house!  No more counter top gadgets!   Just trying to downsize. For now my old Bravetti toaster oven works great! I do most baking cooking and grilling in there.  I just bought another standby as a backup for when this one gives up!  All 2nd hand of course!

Be careful what you lay on top of any metal heater! Well, Duh! Here's my toaster oven cautionary tale....

I got a call mid-morning one day at work saying my neighbor rescued my apartment, not to mention my two young felines, as the fire bells were going off and the thick smoke coming from my kitchen pointed to the culprit. My apt manager sounded mad asking me did I forget to shut off my toaster oven? I replied, No! I was too late to eat breakfast that morning, so I chugged some milk right from the jug and hurried on my way. The toaster oven was across the kitchen from the frig so I knew I hadn't messed up. The apt mgr seemed unsure! LOL

I left work early to see things for myself and to check on the kitties. The toaster oven was grandma's and I rarely used it being a fan of breakfast cereal and milk in those days. A wooden cutting board was always lying on top of the oven as it fit perfectly there. Of course I wouldn't leave it there while using the oven. The toaster oven got so hot that the wooden board was lucky to not have burst into flame. It became charred to the point of looking like it belonged in the fireplace. I was so grateful my neighbor was still at home to call for help!

The only thing I  could guess what happened is that the kitties in all their crazyness ran across the top of the oven. Three buttons to contol the oven temp were on top - I remember yellow, orange and red buttons that you would press for low, med or high power. These kitties were at a really playful stage of their lives. I remember I had to put child locks on the kitchen cabinets in that apt as they would climb in there being delighted making all that noise among the pots and pans. The milk jug I hadn't even put back into the frig in my haste to get to work that morning. Later, I found it laying on its side in the hallway going to the living room. It had puncture marks from kitty claws in a couple places. I am sure they had fun, and their fill of milk. At least until the fire department came!

I have no idea if these toaster ovens are made with more sensible controls now. Perhaps the older ones still haunt your local thrift shop? Anyway, be forewarned! These things surely do get hot!

Thanks for the tip!  I have a cast iron griddle pan sitting op top of the toaster oven. So if I wanted to keep food warm I’d put it on top of that.
No I don’t buy the old ones. The ones I buy are used with a timer. A dial. So no danger of it staying on unless the timer fails. There is always someone home here!  
Glad your story had a good ending!

I've had air fryers around the house for four decades. That includes convection ovens, the round glass one, the plastic one that had a cage to put on your pizza, to keep everything from imitating a small tornado, then, in recent years, one of the small, dedicated ones, which got replaced because of the horrible engineering that made cleanups difficult (the cooking vessel release button was operative only a quarter of the times it was used.

It was only after using that last one that we became aware of what remarkable cooking devices these are. For that reason, I gave the old one away (with a warning of the issue with it) and bought a much larger Cuisinart.

Being able to cook crisp wings and other things without any oil was a game changer. Going to the larger one let us do full meals.  Using the air fryer allows us to re-heat fries and have them come out just like they were fresh.

I liked our fryer so much, when Costco was having a sale on them, I bought my buddy one.  I anticipated a little negative feed back, because his kitchen is smaller than our average sized bathroom, and counter space there is not rare, it's extinct. Instead of grouching, he says his wife all but lives by the thing now, because it does such a great job.

Ours runs a bit hot, as many noted in the reviews of it, so we just run it fifty degrees lower and all is well in Denmark, or here.

Air fryers are the Devil's asshole. These appliances when turned on smell like disgusting plastic, and the food smells like it too. The non stick coating is what probably causes this smell and I bet it's carcinogenic like Teflon.

I only use cast iron or stainless steel pots and pans, I don't even microwave my food which disorganizes the water molecules in the food.

Zoltán Korbel wrote:Air fryers are the Devil's asshole. These appliances when turned on smell like disgusting plastic, and the food smells like it too.

My wife and I had a similar experience with the first two air fryers she bought last year. The plastic smell was supposed to wear off after a few sessions, but it just wouldn't go away. The third one (I think a Ninja, but I'm away from home until next week and can't confirm) has little plastic and no such smell. The comments from 2022 don't mention plastic smell, so I suspect some of the newer fryers are a disappointing downgrade.

Most, if not all, air fryers have a non-stick coating.  Which, of course, means toxins in the air (and in the food) when you turn the thing on.  So I found a toaster oven that (according to the reviews) did not have any non-stick coating (turns out they lied) , with an air fryer.  I had such hopes of crispy sweet potato fries, crisp slices of breaded zucchini, crispy-tender falafel. Nope. Not even close.  And by the third try I had realized that there was indeed non-stick coating.  Back to Amazon it went!

I'm from a generation where household appliances are not to be trusted.  Coffee makers, toasters, and especially toaster ovens were known to spontaneously combust.  Everyone knew someone who had this happen and the standard behaviour was to unplug appliances when not in use.

My air fryer manual also says to unplug when not in use.

I just started using a new air fryer and there is no plastic smell.

Maybe I am one of the lucky omes ...

Anne Miller wrote:I just started using a new air fryer and there is no plastic smell.  Maybe I am one of the lucky ones ...

Yeah, there wasn't in my air fryer either.  Not sure what those posters are referring to.

But then again, the interior of my air fryer is all metal.  See my posts, above, about the difference between open-front oven-style air fryers vs pull-out plastic bucket air fryers and why I prefer the former type.  Perhaps non-stick chemicals on plastic parts is another reason I should add to my list of preferences for my model of air fryer.

Often metal is coated with machine oil during manufacturing. Most stainless steel appliances (and pots) I've had, came with instructions to run the appliance first to burn off the oils and remove the smell before using with food.  Pots instructions are to wash gently with soapy water and rinse well before using with food for the same reason.

This seems most likely cause of smell and goes away after a few uses (about 3 hours total run time for my sensitive nose, most of the family don't notice it).

Solution is to run it outside for the first few times or buy used.

r ranson wrote:Often metal is coated with machine oil during manufacturing. ...

This seems most likely cause of smell and goes away after a few uses (about 3 hours total run time for my sensitive nose, most of the family don't notice it).

I'm familiar with the burn-off of manufacturing residue, but the plastic smell I noted earlier was something very different. I'm glad my wife was able to find a smell-free model, because it is a time and energy saver.

The warning that came with my new air fryer said to set it on a non-plastic place mat so I sat it on a think washcloth.