BLACK+DECKER Purifry Review
Pros: Good cooking performance, easy to clean
Cons: No digital readout, lower temperature setting somewhat inaccurate
Manufacturer: Black+Decker
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
![]() This Product
BLACK+DECKER Purifry | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Price | $150 List $72.99 at Amazon | $120 List | $130 List $99.99 at Amazon | $149 List $71.39 at Amazon | $300 List $249.95 at Amazon |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Good cooking performance, easy to clean | Fantastic cooking performance, easy to clean, easy to use, great temperature accuracy, multiple cooking functions | Great cooking performance, user friendly, excellent temperature accuracy | Great cooking performance, relatively easy to clean, inexpensive | Very intuitive, relatively good cooking performance |
Cons | No digital readout, lower temperature setting somewhat inaccurate | On the expensive side | Not the easiest to clean | Mediocre temperature accuracy | Expensive, can sometimes be difficult to clean |
Bottom Line | A capable cooker, but better value can be found elsewhere | A high-performing and multi-functional device that leaves very little to be desired | Can cook the widest variety of foods well, and is quite easy to use | Can cook some great dishes yet costs significantly less than most competitors | Very easy to use and makes good food, but fails to live up to its relatively high cost |
Rating Categories | BLACK+DECKER Purifry | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja 1550 Watt | 3.7 Quart... | Philips HD9641/96... |
Cooking Performance (35%) | |||||
User Friendliness (25%) | |||||
Ease Of Cleaning (20%) | |||||
Temperature Accuracy (20%) | |||||
Specs | BLACK+DECKER Purifry | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja 1550 Watt | 3.7 Quart... | Philips HD9641/96... |
Outside Dimensions | 11.1" x 9.8" x 11.5" | 11.5" x 13.25" x 12.75" | 13.6" x 11" x 13.3" | 12" x 8" x 8" | 14.4" x 10.5" x 11.3" |
Capacity | 2.1 qt | 6 qt | 4 qt | 3.7 qt | 2.8 qt |
Accessories | basket divider | none | multi-layer rack for dehydrating | none | none |
Manufacturer Warranty | 2 Year Limited | 1 Year Limited | 1 Year Limited | 1 Year Limited | 1 Year Limited |
Power Consumption | 1200W | 1700W | 1550W | 1400W | 1425W |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The BLACK+DECKER Purifry is a high-performing air fryer that is just slightly bested by some of its main competitors.
Performance Comparison
The BLACK+DECKER Purifry did well in nearly all of our tests, but fell just short of reaching the top of our scoreboard.
Cooking Performance
The Purifry produced the best results for some foods in our testing, but had some drawbacks with others. This combination let it share the top score in this metric with a few other models.
The Purifry earned superlatives in our cooking tests for onion rings, tater tots, and chicken breasts. Its onion rings were perfectly golden and crispy, yet nice and tender inside. It repeated that feat with tater tots that provided a nice crunch quickly giving way to a delightful fluffiness. Its chicken breast came out tasting like store-bought roasted chicken.
It had some weak points when it came to doughnuts and (like all the air fryers we've tested) sweet potato fries. Doughnuts came out with a nice crust, but the insides were a bit overcooked and thus tasted a bit more chewy than fluffy. Sweet potato fries came out browned but not crispy. However, the only model we've found that could produce even a slightly better texture than that is the GoWISE 3.7 Quart, and even that model fell short of the crunchy decadence one would hope for.
User Friendliness
We generally like the Purifry's user interface and experience, but it missed out on a top score because we wish it had a digital readout.
The Purifry has two knobs, one for selecting cooking time and one for temperature, and some indicator lights to let you know when preheating is done. This interface is simple and easy enough, but we're always going to prefer a digital readout that shows the exact temperature and time to knobs that aren't always precise. Also, the numbers on these dials are small and relatively hard to read, so it's fairly easy to set the wrong temp or time by mistake.
Another minor complaint we have with the Purifry is the fact that its frying basket fits very tightly. That makes it a bit difficult to remove it with one hand as you generally need to stabilize the unit with a second hand as you pull out your food.
Ease of Cleaning
We had almost no issues in cleaning the Purifry. The fry basket tends not to hang onto grease, and there aren't any nooks or crannies where food scraps can hide. Our only complaint is that the texture of the fry basket is a little rough, so it might tear tiny bits off of your sponge.
Temperature Accuracy
At higher temperatures, we found the Purifry's temperature accuracy to be spot on. At the lowest temperatures you'd use for air frying (300˚) it tended to run a bit hot.
Value
The BLACK+DECKER Purifry, but like many air fryers can often be found online for around half of that. While we don't think paying that much for the overall good performance of the BLACK+DECKER Purifry is a bad value, you can generally spend a little less and get the slightly better performance of the Ninja 1550 Watt. Therefore we would only suggest buying the BLACK+DECKER Purifry if you can't find the Ninja 1550 Watt.
Conclusion
The BLACK+DECKER Purifry offers good all-around performance, but isn't the best model in its price range.
— Max Mutter and Michelle Powell