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Airfryer: worth it?
Thirith
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've heard and read a bunch of good things about airfryers recently, so I wanted to ask what people's experiences are, especially with more recent models. Are people happy with them? What are the situations in which you mainly use them? In what ways do they do a better job than regular ovens/convection ovens? And can they reasonably be used to make the kind of food that's conventionally made in an oil fryer, e.g. French fries or donuts, without too much being lost in the process?
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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Things like french fries, mozzarella sticks, frozen pizzas (if you get the large convection oven ones), etc are fantastic. Supposed you can make donuts but I've never tried. I prefer it for toast over my toaster too. I don't think I can sing its praises enough.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
It's just more even since my toaster kinda sucks so I have spots where it gets much darker than the rest (the top doesn't get toasted quite as well). I have one of the gourmia ones, I wanted to be able to do pizzas and such, but it was mostly an impulse buy. I've heard good things about the ninja brand though.
The pull out tray types work pretty well, they are excellent for things like baked potatoes or french fries. They work best with french fries that are precooked, like frozen ones. Obviously stuff like chicken nuggets and cheese sticks as well. My wife and I found this type to be useful but limiting.
The miniature convection toaster oven type fryers are amazing. Ours looks like a larger toaster oven (https://www.ninjakitchen.com/products/ninja-prestige-smart-xl-air-fryer-countertop-oven-zidDT501) and has several functions. Not as fast as an enclosed air fryer but we use it all time, only firing up the big oven if we absolutely have to. We cook anything we can fit in it. It fits a quarter sheet pan easily, so you can do some light baking (like cookies) pretty easily. I can highly recommend one.
Overall both of the ones we've had take up about the same amount of space, but we use the toaster oven style one far more often that we did the other one.
I have heard that it basically functions the same, but is different enough that the air fryer is a whole step up in terms of usefulness and efficiency, but since I can't see how it is, I write it off to hype
I want to be convinced, I want to get rid of my toaster and stop using my oven, but with limited space in the kitchen and not seeing how it's any better, I just can't get there.
Thanks to Thirlth for asking this, 'cause I wanna know!
They're also much easier to clean, since you can just take out the trays and soak/scrub them independently.
I do still use a toaster when I just wanna heat a bagel or something though
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
vs a garden variety oven things cook faster and tend to be crispier and the airflow just helps it suck all the spare moisture out
is it essential? no not really. but the convenience is hard to beat
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
It is the undisputed king of reheating leftovers. Leftover pizza from that thing is better than it was fresh fight me.
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Is that something you think I could do in an air fryer?
i..... i dont think ive ever heard of anyone doing anything like that
its better at things that you want crispy or seared..... thing like... stuff with bread or breading... fried foods, wings, sausages, pizza, burritos
its good at being a super microwave or a speedrun oven
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
First result on Google for me suggests yes
https://thebalancednutritionist.com/air-fryer-stir-fry/
But yeah, I'd hope that an air fryer can do the kind of things typically done in oil fryers better than a regular oven, mainly because it heats up faster and has better air circulation.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Yes, you would largely use it as an oven itself.
Most of them come with books that kind of teach you how to use them vs an oven with guidelines on how long to cook certain types of things. If you have the big "cook a whole frozen pizza" style ones, just put a casserole dish in how you would an oven for this kind of meal.
- https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-foodi-8-in-1-digital-air-fry-oven-zidSP101C
I love it because of its small footprint when it folds up. Mainly have done fries in it (I follow Chris Youngs video for that -
and have done frozen wings etc. Its works pretty good, lots of other features I havent tried yet. We bought it because our 4 slice toaster finally died on us and previously we had an airfryer that I had dropped and broke so this replaced both at the same time.
If you have the $$$ and counter space you could look into a Smart Oven, (once again Chris Young has some videos on a few that he reviewed, including a Ninja one)
My first exposure to them was an infomercial constantly playing at my old gym, which made me convinced that they were a ridiculous scam.
But the hype is real. They're magic for cooking lots of stuff, and amazing for reheating stuff. It's quick, easy, delicious, and pretty damn easy to clean up too. I haven't used my oven really at all since picking one up a couple of years ago, and it's helped make me substantially less sad about having to get rid of my grill when moving into my condo.
In fact depending on certain vegetables, there can be too much browning/dehydration happening before proper cooking, so it does take a little trial and error. For example, when I'm being lazy with my stir fry I'll microwave steam some broccoli for 3 minutes, then air fry for 12-14 minutes until it's perfectly roasted and then just toss it in the pan with everything else. The microwave steaming step ensures the inside is properly cooked by the time the outside is nicely roasted. Saves a lot of time if I have a lot of different cooking-time ingredients and don't want to do everything in batches in my wok.
Affront of a Cuisinart Compact Airfryer Toaster Oven (on sale now at a regional department store, Kohl's). Also 2 asides, aback, atop, and a bottom.
Bullies... Whom I hope won't mind if I ask specific questions of.
Edit:
@Thirith To be serious from a quick minute, I have gone from wanting to believe but very doubtful to convinced and giving it a legit try.
I don't know if that will convince you one way or another.
Just to present the other side of the argument, the only knock I've heard was from a noted pessimist at work, who said he has a convection oven and so he can do everything he could do in an air fryer.
And of course, there is a pretty good rebuttal to that one post above this
So really, is it worth it? Depends on what you pay and what you expect out of it. But I have decided it is worth it enough to spend over $100 to find out, in the belief that will be a good price in the long run.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
If space is an issue and you also need a new microwave by some incredible chance, you may want to look in that direction.
I find my convection over is more useful because it’s easier for me to throw things in a cookie sheet and go. But they fundamentally give the same end product
The air fryer would be better if I was single and in an apartment.
Now over a regular oven or microwave. They are great for heating things up that are normally greasy or you want to crispy.
I stopped heating up left over pizza slices in the Microwave because it is so much better coming out of the convection oven.
French fries, potato skins, bacon, those premade chicken patties.
It’s not great for baking. It tends to dry out baked stuff and the timing is all funky, so I usually just use the regular oven if I’m baking something.
I use the air fryer most often for chicken and ribs which are deadass cheap in my area during a sale, and it cooks faster, cleaner and more evenly than when I used to do it in an oven. I'd say up to half the time in some cases.
Main advice I'd give is start soaking the fryer basket as soon as you're done with it because settled cooking baskets are always total ass to clean and this is no exception.
The non basket air fryers can usually switch the convection fan off, which is a big part of their appeal to me. You can use them just like a normal oven for the most part.
Get a Costco membership and an air fryer.
Unless you're severely out of space it's worth it. Of all the non-standard kitchen stuff we have the air fryer gets by far the most use.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
So our air fryer has two layers. You put the bacon on one layer and the burgers below them. I forget the temperatures I used but I do remember the bacon will get cooked first and benefits from being flipped. The bacon grease drips right onto the burger and it tastes amazing. Fucking awful for your health, but yummy.
yea, Air fryers rocks the world of frozen foods, as mentioned previous you can make some goddamn amazing fries with them, same with frozen chicken wings, or any other frozen food like nugget.
That said I have attempted chicken karaage in my Ninja Foodi (at the same time doing some in oil in a large dutch oven pot) The air fryer is not the way to go there, and I suspect if I was to also do something like tonkatsu in it the result would also be less than stellar. It does toast up mochi nicely.
If my Ninja was just an air fryer I likely would not have it, I am confident enough in my deep frying skills to comfortably use that if I have stuff that really needs that deep fry action, but since it does a bunch of stuff I am glad I have it as an option, shit for the fries alone its great.
To add to Thro's post, this one specifically from Costco. It's effectively a toaster oven on steroids and is a lot more versatile than the ones that are just buckets.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Biggest plus has been buffalo wings, which have been a lot easier and a LOT less messy. I guess they're also healthier, but whatever with that.
Biggest downside has been my frozen veggies for dinner. I have not come close to figuring out how to do those well. Maybe I will try going back to fresh vegetables.
Cleaning has been easy, even though not lining things with aluminum foil has thrown me for a loop.
Counter space... I really wish I hadn't bought a microwave a year ago so that I could have one of those combo jobbies, because between it and the air fryer, there is not much space left.
Economy: it wasn't super expensive and seems worth the money, but I don't know that there is any savings to be had here.
Edit: And I really wish mine had a timer / auto-off, because I found out last night that leaving it going to long will turn a smoked sausage inside out like the pig monster in GalaxyQuest.
It did not explode though, so thank God for small favors.
How annoying are these things to clean? Because I'm lazy, and "miniature oven that has oil flying all inside it" sounds like a thing that needs frequent cleaning, and also like a thing that is a pain in the behind to clean compared to a pan.
It depends on the model
The one I got was an Instant Pot Vortex or whatever, and it specifically has dishwasher safe racks/drip pan; you can get the rest fairly clean with a wet rag
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