Air Fryer

[wch]

I've been thinking about buying an air fryer but there are so many choices I thought I'd ask you which one you would advise I consider.

[GhostHawk]

We had an air fryer, probably a cheap one, frankly I was not impressed. We gave it to our daughter.

We did replace our Microwave a year back and got a combination model. Microwave and convection oven.

I've used it a few times. Works good for keeping a plate of French Fry's hot and crispy.

Other than that, not too impressed.

[SeabeeMan]

My brother is obsessed with his, but he's also the guy who's overly talkative about whatever his latest gadget is. I haven't seen the appeal of them unless they do something you eat A LOT really well. We're mostly meat and veggies around here (keto diet) so it doesn't fit into our needs very well.

[jdfoxinc]

There are convection/air fryer combinations. My sons air fryer makes hot wings very quickly.

[country gent]

I use mine a lot. its a simple one I bought at Krogers to try out. I do a lot of things with it as its faster and easier than the oven. Also being mobility balance impaired bending to get into oven or broiler is an issue and being here alone I really dont need the big oven. A couple burgers or brats and fries is about 15 mins. salmon patties come out good also. In mine small acorn squash stuffed with hamburger comes out good but need smaller sized squash to fit in it. One thing that helps is to set an aluminum foil "trnt" over some things so it cooks with out drying out so much. I may by a little bigger one in the future

[remy3424]

I have one from Best Buy, might have been a clearance (discontinued) when we bought it. Cook chicken quarters (30 mins), pork chops (9 or 10 mins), bacon wrapped deer steaks (10 mins), pheasant (8 mins), shrimp, fresh cut potatoe fries(30 mins 3/8s")....seldom roll the gas grill out any more. My son cooks froozen everything in it. Like to cook without the grease now...heart issue a couple years ago. I think they are all pretty reasonably priced now. I would not say they cook exceptional fast, meats seem fast, fresh french fries, not so much.

[slim1836]

We just bought a Power XL as shown on TV and am satisfied with the way it performs.

Slim

[gbrown]

We have a Ninja, 4 quart, IIRC. Works like a charm, fries, roasts and dehydrates. At Sam's Club they sell a 2 pack of whole small chickens about 2-1/2 lbs each. One of those roasts in there in like 45 to 55 minutes. Comes out like a rotisserie chicken. I've fried breaded chicken and fish in it. Came out gooood. Really love ours. 99.99 on Amazon Prime.

[bangerjim]

We received one for a gift last Christmas from one of the sons. Rather noisy due to the fan. And EVERY smell from the cooking floods the house. If you are lucky, you can move it under your exhaust vent hood, but I cannot move ours.

We use it very rarely. Cooks and BURNS (!) food rather fast. Good for cooking fried junk foods from the box. Ours is all digital.

Personally I do not like it, but is far better than the taste of left-overs warmed in the microwave. I did a big hunk of the medium rare prime rib we had for Christmas last night and it tasted perfect, not the horrible microwave-warmed taste. And it was still medium rare! And pizza warms over very well.

I think ours cost around $130.00.

[cheese1566]

We bought a Bella ProSeries from BestBuy last spring. Use it almost daily!

From bacon, chicken wings, mini tortilla pizzas, nachos, and the kids can make there own meals of pizza rolls, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, tater tots and French fries.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got a power xl. It cooks great but at 2 years old its getting tired and even sounds like its dragging. We use it a couple times a week but i thought it would hold up better.

[dale2242]

We received one as a gift from the grandkids.
It has found a place in our kitchen.
I cook breakfast so I use it a lot for bacon and brown and serve sausage.
We use it for heating frozen food like egg rolls and fries.
It doesn`t get used much for cooking main courses.
That gets done on the stove and pellet grill.
I don`t think we would have bought one but it gets used on a semi regular basis.
You need to remember that it one more item to take up room on your kitchen counter.

[Boaz]

I got one for Christmas . I can't really provide a valid opinion on cooking different things because I have only used it a few times . But there is one factor I figured out real quick .

It's a small one and can't cook much at a time . If I had to replace it I would defiantly get a larger size one .

[Lloyd Smale]

We have a Ninja, 4 quart, IIRC. Works like a charm, fries, roasts and dehydrates. At Sam's Club they sell a 2 pack of whole small chickens about 2-1/2 lbs each. One of those roasts in there in like 45 to 55 minutes. Comes out like a rotisserie chicken. I've fried breaded chicken and fish in it. Came out gooood. Really love ours. 99.99 on Amazon Prime.

whole chickens in an air fryer are hard to beat.

[shootinfox2]

Cuisinart multi function. Air fry, convection bake, bake, toast. Regular pizza fits, wings take 7-10 minutes. $200 avg price without coupon. Well worth the price. Wife wore one out, cuisinart replaced it free.
Hard to beat in a kitchen or RV.

Fox

[Ural Driver]

Bought a cheap (top loader) version just to give em a try. Then got the Pampered Chef model which has a front opening door and a pull out tray, which works great a lot better.
Use it several times a week....everything comes out perfect.

[MaryB]

Question, does a naked(no beading) chicken wing get brown and crispy? Been thinking of getting one.. I like buffalo wings and deep frying them is messy and my fryer does a poor job of it. I deep fry other stuff too, I like fries with a burger, steak fries with a steak now and then if I don't make a baked potato... occasional junk food snack... getting away from oil mess is appealing.

[fcvan]

Question, does a naked(no beading) chicken wing get brown and crispy? Been thinking of getting one.. I like buffalo wings and deep frying them is messy and my fryer does a poor job of it. I deep fry other stuff too, I like fries with a burger, steak fries with a steak now and then if I don't make a baked potato... occasional junk food snack... getting away from oil mess is appealing.

My Wife got one recently, since I haven't been back to CO for a while, still stuck in CA. Well, she had done it with the chicken on top of the veggies and such. Sent me a picture to let me know what her and my FIL were having, made my mouth water. My Mom has one, does the same. I am sure fries would be done as crispy without frying as you'd expect.

Out west, I do my fries in a counter top turbo oven and they turn out great. Personally, I just cut wedges sprinkled with season salt for Joe-Joe's or steak fries. Sometimes my brother will buy frozen waffle fries because no local restaurant does them, and even if they did, not at a reasonable price. I do a lot of cooking with the pressure cooking, a batch of chili is on the list for later today. I am pretty sure that such a thing would be just as good in an insta-pot.

I haven't read up on whether you can can in an insta-pot, but it seems that you could. As a small batch to put up some leftover chili, stew or soup, that would be good. I did recently try cook-canning by putting all of the ingredients, consistent with the size of jar, in the jar and running it through a cycle. Yup, it works. I think doing the same in the insta-pot would work too. For regular canning of high volume things, I just use tin cans with a lid sealer. What would normally take 100 minutes at 10 lbs for 100 minutes, can be done in 75 minutes at 15 lbs. I think I read above that the insta-pot tops out at 10-11 pounds so no bueno por nada.

[JWFilips]

My Wife and I Bought a "Ninja Foodie " as a joint gift for a Christmas Present.... I always held out thinking gimmick!
Best Buy had a great sale (under 200 $) so We bit
We experiment with air fried veggies ( french fries are the best) It does makes the most perfect toast! albeit it takes 4 minutes!
After about a month of use it is interesting but I think I will tire of it soon!
However it makes the tastiest Crisp Pirogies!
I look at it as a machine for experimentation

[jim147]

I was given a power air fryer plus with the pull out racks a few years ago. I use it several days a week and really like it.

[Chihuahua Floyd]

Did cinnamon rolls in four minutes. I do root veggies, taters, parsnips, carrots. Chicken, fish. Even makes great doughnuts.

[gbrown]

Question, does a naked(no beading) chicken wing get brown and crispy? Been thinking of getting one.. I like buffalo wings and deep frying them is messy and my fryer does a poor job of it. I deep fry other stuff too, I like fries with a burger, steak fries with a steak now and then if I don't make a baked potato... occasional junk food snack... getting away from oil mess is appealing.

Yep, 2-1/2 pound chicken crisps nicely. I've done fried chicken, fish and potato wedges, all crisp up nice in our Ninja. The chicken, fish were breaded, came out like you would think of fried.. Like fried, without the oil/grease.h

[gbrown]

BTW, I put potato wedges in a bowl with garlic, my favorite steak/salt seasoning and olive oil. Toss them good and cook. Yummm! You can do this in a hot (450) oven or Air Fryer..

[BJK]

Now I wish I had put this review here. I thought it was just for recipes.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?420793-Review-Cuisinart-TOA-60-Toaster-Broiler-Air-Fryer

[Noveske86]

I have the Air Fryer lid that goes on my Instant Pot. I like it for small batches but anything over a few appetizers I just turn on the oven. I do love the instant pot for other stuff.

[GregLaROCHE]

My brother is obsessed with his, but he's also the guy who's overly talkative about whatever his latest gadget is. I haven't seen the appeal of them unless they do something you eat A LOT really well. We're mostly meat and veggies around here (keto diet) so it doesn't fit into our needs very well.

+1 for the keto diet. Best thing I ever did health wise!

[GregLaROCHE]

It seems like these units are popular for taking food out of the freezer and cooking it right away. That’s interesting for me. How does it work? Are there some brands that are better for this than others?

[BJK]

Greg, yes there are junk air fryers out there. It takes lots of wattage in a small space for them to work. They work by blowing away the cool air next to the food and putting hot air in it's place (basically). My experience is limited so far but from what I'm seeing it works. I don't know if one can just throw money at it and be assured of a good one. When I bought ours I did lots of research to make sure I wasn't throwing $ away. Ours is 1800 watts in the space of the typical toaster/broiler. Be sure you have the circuit that can handle the 15 amps required and anything else that's on the circuit.

They cook amazingly fast and the results are good. One can use them for frozen prepared food but they will do a good job on food made from scratch too. There are all sorts of recipes online think of something that can be fried then google the air fried version. You might be surprised at what you find. Who would have thought of air fried hotdogs that rival franks cooked outside on the grill? Of course there are french fries, but how about air fired cauliflower or broccoli? Eggplant fries anyone? The list goes on and on.

[MrWolf]

GF made steaks in the air fryer. 12 minutes each side. I expected them to be disgusting as we were trying it for the first time. Turned out to be the best steaks I ever had. Who'd a thunk it.
Ron

[Czech_too]

OK, I have a question here, not on an air fryer, but on the material that an accessory, i.e, pan, platter, dish whatever, should be made of?
I'm seeing it mentioned not to use foil but rather parchment paper. I'd like to make an omelet or maybe cook an egg for something resembling an egg McMuffin. What can I use? Have a metal ring that I've used in a fry pan, but is it safe to use in an air fryer?
So far I've made chicken parmesan, came out good, grilled cheese sandwich & toasted bagels. Chicken legs are next on the list.
Ninja Foodie, model SP101, not the Ruger!
Brian

[Czech_too]

Well, my first try using stoneware, marked on the underside "Oven to Table" was a success & yet wasn't. Cooked the pork sausage patties OK but cracked the plate into two pieces.
So is silicone, glass, metal the material to look for?

[BJK]

I use metal and it works. I'm too cautious to use anything else due to the intense heat.

[MaryB]

I would NOT use any glass or ceramic due to uneven heat distribution. Anything safe to use on a stove burner can go in the air fryer... mine came with a pan and racks so no need to use anything else other than maybe foil IN(it cannot hang over the edges) the pan for easy cleanup

[MT Gianni]

Did chicken wings in a Ninja Foodi. Pressure cooked for 8 minutes, 2 1/2 lbs of wings then air crisped for 18 minutes turning them half way through. They turned out great.

[762 shooter]

An air fryer is just a tiny convection oven.

I like mine.

762

[MaryB]

I am not impressed with my air fryer, going to give it away and go back to a regular fryer.

[BJK]

The only thing I don't like about ours is when I cook something that will spatter. Our's is built like a toaster broiler and I hate cleaning it. So I pick and choose what I use it for. So I don't get full use out of it.

[rockrat]

Glad 762 shooter confirmed that it was just a convection oven. I had wondered about that.

[Lloyd Smale]

we dont use any pans. the idea of it is the heat should circulate all around it so i just use the wire baskets/racks. It is a pain to clean. My wife found so black sheets that you can put in the bottom and collect the drippings on which helps with cleaning but it still needs cleaning. Basicaly if it cant be put on a wire rack i dont cook it in the air fryer.

[Charlie Horse]

My wife bought me one for Christmas and I very nicely had her take it back. We don't eat frozen foods other than pizza. I am the cook of the house. They look like a hassle to clean.

[243winxb]

It blows 400f degree greasy air out the back. Is near impossible to clean.

[Half Dog]

We have a Ninja air fryer. It has a basket that slides in and out. It goes straight in the dishwasher, which makes cleanup very easy. We have cooked a few things in it and it has done a good job. My wife recently cooked bacon in it and it tasted as good as cooked in a skillet but without grease splattered everywhere. I recommend it.

[MT Gianni]

Our Ninja Foodi, I use the pressure cooker and slow cooker much more than the air fryer. About the only thing we fried before this was shrimp and doughnuts. having only baked wings before I am happy with how they turn out.