What Is An Air Fryer?
With health consciousness becoming the norm, air fryers are certainly getting a lot of buzz. The name and marketing conjure an image of magical technology that can somehow create the crispy, deep-fried foods we all love without using excessive oil.
So what exactly is an air fryer? Essentially, it is a small, very efficient convection oven. The goal is to give foods a delicious, crispy texture by actively circulating hot air over them rather than drenching them in piping-hot oil.
Does Air-Fried Food Taste Like Deep-Fried?
No. Sorry to burst any bubbles, but we figure it's best to rip that band-aid right off. There is almost a 0% chance that an air fryer can truly replicate the experience of your favorite deep-fried food. However, the best air fryers can get a good crisp on certain types of food that might satisfy your craving for their deep-fried counterparts.
Air Frying Strengths
So what do these machines do well? In our tests, they excel at creating quite delectable onion rings and can heat up frozen tater tots much better than a conventional oven. They also offer the unique opportunity to make some decent doughnuts without deep-frying. While none of these foods tastes like deep-fried fare, in general, air fryers can create a reasonable facsimile that satisfies taste buds.
Air Frying Weaknesses
The biggest weakness of air fryers is that they mostly fail to make truly crispy French fries. While we did enjoy some sweet potato fries made in an air fryer, none of them really came close to mimicking a traditional French fry. So if you're mostly looking at air fryers to help wean yourself off a fry addiction, you'll likely have to make some sacrifices in texture.
Do I Need An Air Fryer?
Honestly, we think the answer to that question will be no for most people. But you might find you use it more often than you think if you have one. However, if you can sacrifice some texture or taste expectations in favor of swift cooking and quick clean-ups, then it could be a good appliance for your goals.
Choosing the Right Air Fryer
If you want to make healthier food quickly with minimal cleanup, an air fryer could be a good addition to your kitchen.
Step 1: Consider Cooking Performance and Strengths
Consider overall frying performance, paying special attention to the kinds of dishes you hope to create. Each model has strengths and weaknesses, with some making excellent salmon and others delicious chicken wings.
Step 2: What Size Do You Need?
Most air fryers range in size from one to eight quarts, with the volume measurement corresponding to the capacity of the frying basket. In general, anything two quarts and below is limited to cooking for one or making a side dish. The 3-5 quart range will be the Goldilocks zone for most, as this size can generally cook enough for two people or handle a side dish for a bigger family. Anything greater than five quarts can handle making a main dish for a family of four or more, or meal prepping for one.
Step 3: Consider Ease of Use and Cleaning
One of the main reasons to get a dedicated air fryer is that they can cook quickly and offer easier cleanup than using the convection setting of a traditional or toaster oven. If your air fryer is a total pain to clean, it negates one of the big benefits of using one. Ideally, you want a fryer with a basket that can be easily removed with one hand (lots of recipes require shaking the food midway through, so being able to do so one-handed is a huge plus). A model with a clear interface is always preferred, as is a fry basket with few crevices where grease can hide and build up. You can use our user-friendliness and ease-of-cleaning scores to compare each model's relative strengths and weaknesses in these areas.
The majority of fry baskets are top-shelf dishwasher-safe, but they're often very large and can hog a lot of the top rack. If you're looking into a dedicated air fryer, you'll likely want to use it multiple times per week. You probably don't want to run your dishwasher every time you use your air fryer, and will likely end up washing it by hand at least some of the time. Finding an option that is easy to clean by hand is a good idea, even if you plan to do it infrequently.
Step 4: Is Temperature Accuracy Important for You?
While there isn't a direct correlation between temperature accuracy and cooking performance, there is a correlation between temperature accuracy and consistency.
If you're planning to stick to a few specific recipes and don't mind if one batch of onion rings comes out slightly browner than another, you probably don't need to pay too much attention to temperature accuracy. However, if you're one who likes to tweak recipes or experiment with your own creations, better temperature accuracy makes for a better experience. It's vital to know that the changes in the cooked food resulted from your adjustments and tinkering, not simply because the air fryer ran 15˚ hotter than the setting.
Conclusion
While we don't think an air fryer is a vital kitchen appliance everyone needs to run out and buy, there are some specific situations where one can greatly improve the cooking experience or save you some time.
