REASONS TO BUY
Fantastic cooking performance
Easy to clean
Easy to use
Great temperature accuracy
Multiple cooking functions
REASONS TO AVOID
Cost
Instant Vortex Plus Review
Exceptional frying performance and an easy to clean design makes this one of the best options on the market
Credit: Instant Appliances
RELATED: Best Air Fryers of 2023
Our Verdict
Featuring impeccable cooking performance, an easy-to-use interface, and a fry tray that is easy to clean, the Instant Vortex Plus offers a nearly impeccable air frying experience. It even features a larger than average six-quart capacity, allowing you to prepare larger meals or bigger batches of sides. The only slight complaint we can levy against it is the price — it costs a bit more than the average air fryer. However, for those that are looking to approximate the taste of fried food while using a lot less oil, the Vortex Plus delivers results and a user experience that are well worth the extra cost. it is safe to say, it is one of our favorite air fryers.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Instant Vortex Plus | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  |  |  | ||
| Price | $140 List $99.95 at Amazon | $120 List $99.99 at Amazon | $100 List $59.44 at Amazon | $70 List $69.99 at Amazon | $82 List $66.03 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Fantastic cooking performance, easy to clean, easy to use, great temperature accuracy, multiple cooking functions | Great cooking performance, user friendly, excellent temperature accuracy | Accurate temperature, great for potato products, easy to clean | Inexpensive, easy to clean, good cooking performance | Simple design, great price, always-on mode for longer cooking, easy to clean, non-stick, cooks juicy chicken, solid temperature accuracy |
| Cons | Cost | Not the easiest to clean, cost | Leaves meat dry, difficult to open, buttons are not always responsive | Fry basket can stick, medicore temperature accuracy | Small basket, large footprint for such a small basket, lacks functions |
| Bottom Line | Exceptional frying performance and an easy to clean design makes this one of the best options on the market | This high performing, four quart model offers some of the most consistent quality | This accurate, budget friendly air fryer is the perfect option for casual side dishes like tater tots | An effective and inexpensive model that offers decent cooking performance and good temperature accuracy | This simplistic model is easy to clean, but it trades price for performance, as it is not very intuitive and the small basket is limiting |
| Rating Categories | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja Air Fryer | GoWISE USA Digital | Ultrean Air Fryer | Amazon Basics Compact |
| Cooking Performance (35%) | |||||
| User Friendliness (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Cleaning (20%) | |||||
| Temperature Accuracy (20%) | |||||
| Specs | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja Air Fryer | GoWISE USA Digital | Ultrean Air Fryer | Amazon Basics Compact |
| Measured Dimensions (L x H x D) | 11.5" x 13.3" x 12.8" | 13.6" x 11" x 13.3" | 13.5" x 12.5" x 11.5" | 13.2" x 11.3" x 12.4" | 15.5" x 11" x 12.5" |
| Capacity | 6 qt | 4 qt | 5.8 qt | 4.2 qt | 3.2 qt |
| Accessories | None | Multi-layer rack for dehydrating | None | None | None |
| Power Consumption | 1700 watt | 1550 watt | 1700 watt | 1500 watt | 1400 watt |
Show full specification detailsHide full specification details
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Instant Vortex Plus excelled in every one of our tests, making it a great choice for those looking for a high-quality air fryer, even if it comes at a slightly above average price.
Performance Comparison
Credit: Laura Casner
Cooking Performance
The Vortex Plus left itself very little room for improvement in our cooking tests, prepping everything to near perfection.
Our kitchen experts and panel of taste testers struggled to find anything to complain about with the Vortex Plus' onion rings, doughnuts, and tater tots. The onion rings came out evenly cooked, with a solid and satisfying crisp. The doughnuts were delectable and fluffy on the inside, while taking on a crispy and flaky consistency on the outside. The tater tots displayed such a combination of crunch and fluffiness that we're pretty sure someone might classify them as deep-fried in a double-blind study — a compliment we would give to very few of the foods we've prepared in air fryers.
When cooking chicken, the Vortex Plus produced cuts so tender and moist they could be cut with a fork. However, the outsides only had a slight crisp to them — some models were able to make chicken taste just a bit crispier.
The Vortex Plus served up some of the most delectable treats in our testing.
Credit: Laura Casner
We've been using sweet potato fries as a bit of a torture test for our air fryers because we've yet to find a model that can get sweet potato fries truly crispy. The Vortex Plus didn't fully scale this mountain, but it made the fries crispier than any other model we've tested. Crispy enough, in fact, that we'd call them a reasonable replacement for deep-fried sweet potato fries.
User Friendliness
The Vortex Plus provided us with one of the most pleasant air frying experiences we've encountered.
The control panel couldn't be simpler. There are dedicated buttons for selecting each one of its six cooking functions, and a knob for quickly scrolling through cooking temperatures and times. The basket can easily be slid in and out using just one hand. This makes removing the basket mid-cooking to shake the contents (a requirement for many recipes) quick and simple. The tray can fall out when you're dumping its contents onto a plate, but this problem is easily remedied with a spatula or potholder.
The fry basket is very easy to remove with one hand.
Credit: Laura Casner
Extra Cooking Features
On top of air frying, this device is capable of roasting, broiling, baking, reheating, and dehydrating.
Ease of Cleaning
Thanks to a unique fry basket design, the Vortex Plus is easier to clean than most air fryers on the market.
Most air fryers utilize fry baskets with small holes to maximize airflow. These small holes tend to get gunked up with grease and present a cleaning challenge. The Vortex Plus uses a removable tray that allows air to circulate under the food. We found this tray much easier to clean than the more common fry baskets.
The basket of the Vortex Plus is one of the easiest to clean.
Credit: Laura Casner
Temperature Accuracy
The Vortex Plus displayed near-perfect temperature accuracy in our testing, reliably hitting the set temperature every single cook cycle.
Value
The Vortex Plus is a bit more expensive than the average air fryer, but not to a ridiculous degree. Seeing as it provides exceptional performance, this slight bump in price is well worth it, making it a great overall value.
Credit: Laura Casner
Conclusion
The Instant Vortex Plus is one of the best air fryers currently on the market. Its exceptional performance and larger six-quart capacity make it the perfect choice for any air frying application.
—
Max Mutter and Michelle Powell
You Might Also Like
Ad-free. Influence-free. Powered by Testing.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
Learn More