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!