Air fryers?

[unknownparticle]

Well, I never imagined I'd be posting here!!  There is a huge trend in the UK right now, for air fryers!!  Do any of you guys use one and any recommendations?

[Stray Electron]

  I think the same question was asked here a few months ago.  You might want to check the archives.

  My wife and all of my sisters all have Instant Pot air fryers and they all LOVE them. Most of them now own at least two of them.  They're very good for cooking things like hash browns and they reheat left over hash browns hands down better than anything else that we've ever used.

[ttx450]

I went off the band wagon almost a yr ago and got one.  So I am 6-9 months of limited use. 

Short answer, best for per-cooked food.  While raw foods cook out very tender, tend to be messy.  I tried steaks, pork, chicken, fish.
It will warm up those dishes very well.

It's best use is for breaded precooked food, french fry's or other batter coated food. 
Makes baked potato's very well.  I think it will cook veggies very well and most likely other food.

[bookaboo]

Great option when you just need something quick and easy, anything by Ninja is great.

[richnormand]

We have a Ninja and it is great for fish, fries and stuff.
It is the dual drawer model. They are controlled independently (great for fish and chips).
Stopped using the regular (oil) fryer all together now.
Would recommend.

[rhb]

I have a Chefman (US Amazon).  It is excellent.  I grew up in a restaurant and cooked all summer for several years.  On Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor day we served ~1500 in 3 days in a 125 seat restaurant.  That meant lines of 100-150 people during the peak rush.

We had a commercial "convection" (i.e. forced air oven).  Unlike consumer forced air ovens, it had a serious fan and would cook a full load of long half width frozen steam table pans in 20-30 minutes. So I have professional grade experience.  I can't say about other brands, but my air fryer is first rate.  The 'air fry' mode is equal to the commercial  forced air oven.

Mine accounts for the starting temperature when toasting.  First one is 4:55 minutes.  Second is 3:35.

If you buy a good one you'll be delighted.  I can put Ore-Ida fast food fries and in 10 minutes they come out 95% as good as a deep fryer without the agony of cleanup.

Reg

[Halcyon]

Ultimately they more or less do the same thing as an oven. Some things come out better, some things worse (for a given time period).

If I was cooking for just myself or living in a small space, I could see the benefits of having an air fryer; Being able to essentially bake smaller quantities without needing to heat the entire oven. BAKE is the operative word here as you aren't frying, you're baking (or grilling). It would also be useful for those without multiple ovens, cooking different things at different temperatures simultaneously.

But for me, I'm usually working with larger quantities, or I'm cooking on the gas stove top. So an air fryer would be "just another" kitchen gadget taking up space.

My workflow is not compatible with an air fryer.

[Kjelt]

We own our third airfryer and they are great except one thing.
All the fatty air is deposited at the fan housing.
Not cleanable after two years it is 2cm tar  really disgusting.

[TopQuark]

Love our air fryer. I use it more for re-heating food rather than cooking something fresh.

Basically anything that would become soggy and disgusting in the microwave goes into the air-fryer. 5-10 min at 180C turns everything crispy again 

We buy el cheapo Chinese machines, I'll usually have a peek inside to make sure everything's safe before using it. I like the analog / mechanical machines (being an embedded dev, I have little faith in embedded software quality in general).

Placing a layer of Al foil lining at the bottom of the machine to collect fat and oil will save you a lot of hassle during cleaning after use.

Usually in 1 to 1.5 years the air fryer will become too disgusting to use or outright fail and we just get a new one. Terrible for the environment, but most of them aren't built to last anyways 

[abeyer]

And the more important questions: Who has tried to use their airfryer as a reflow oven and how did it work?

[coppercone2]

I love it because cleaning the deep fryer and dealing with oil gets OLD. If I had a separate room in the house dedicated to deep fryer operations and maintenance it would be different.

I think its good for wings, legs and fries. It seems the cook time for frys actually makes burger-n-fries or fries-n-sandwich an acceptable lunch meal because the air fryer will finish up the same time as the other cooking stuff does. Its a very low effort machine.

And even for lunch you can appreciate  the time saved for say.. making some vegetables.

[tkamiya]

And the more important questions: Who has tried to use their airfryer as a reflow oven and how did it work?

Talk about frying components....

[bitwelder]

For a long time I didn't consider 'air fryers' as I took them by their name, that they are frying food, but using hot air.
But proper frying need fat! So no go for me in that sense.

Now that I realize they are more like quick ovens, I think I might buy one next time I'll replace my microwave: I'll look for a combined microwave + 'normal' oven + air fryer appliance.

[woody]

I have been tempted to buy an airfryer at least 4 times in my life. But never did, because

a) The few times I ate something air-fried it was edible, but not even close to deep-fried.
b) I cannot see the difference between a good hot-air oven and and an airfryer. All the other handy things I can make in an airfryer I can make using equipment that is already there. Like a pan to cook broccoli. Or an oven to make bread.
c) It is yet another device in my kitchen that will be used .5% of the time and takes up space the other 99.5%. Bread maker, anyone 
d) If I want junk food I want it all the way. Salt, sugar, real grease. Not some look- a-like 'healthy' version.
e) A deep-fryer is much more work. Setting it up, getting the oil or fat, the smell when using it, cleaning it afterwards, this neatly controls my cravings for deep-fried food. My fear is that the versatility of an airfryer will make me eat more unhealthy snacks than I do now.

A, well, maybe the next time I will succumb.

[Kjelt]

a) The few times I ate something air-fried it was edible, but not even close to deep-fried.

If you use the right products (air fryer ready) they have a little bit more oil on the exterior which during the frying does it work and excessive will drop to the lower basket.
So in the end the difference is not that great but yes there is a difference but it is healthier (less fat), depending on the product.

b) I cannot see the difference between a good hot-air oven and and an airfryer.

The difference is that there are two compartments one half way where the product is fried and below a colder zone for the excessive fat to drop.
So unless your oven or baketray has such an extra compartment the product will either drown in the excessive fat / moist that leaves the original product.

c) It is yet another device in my kitchen that will be used .5% of the time and takes up space the other 99.5%. Bread maker, anyone 

Yes understand that, with me it was the automated pasta machine, it can only use water and flour, if you use an extra egg or little olive oil it will be so messy you need to clean it for half an hour and then I can do better with my robocoop or hands.

d) If I want junk food I want it all the way. Salt, sugar, real grease. Not some look- a-like 'healthy' version.

We use it for way more that junk food, it is quicker than an oven, more energy saving. It takes 1 minute to heat up, my electric oven takes 10 minutes, my big gasoven takes 25 minutes.

e) A deep-fryer is much more work. Setting it up, getting the oil or fat, the smell when using it, cleaning it afterwards, this neatly controls my cravings for deep-fried food. My fear is that the versatility of an airfryer will make me eat more unhealthy snacks than I do now.

Yes definitely it does. I now eat "De Bourgondieer bitterballen"^*  once per week for lunch or the galapeno cheesenuggets.
Never did that before, don't want to live without anymore 

A, well, maybe the next time I will succumb.

If you find something like the bitterballen that is the bomb for your personal taste you probably will.

^* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitterballen
^**

[coppercone2]

bread machines are awesome

[coppice]

bread machines are awesome

Yeah, if you have the dough for one.

[coppercone2]

if you think that a loaf of bread machine bread is boring, watch korean street food videos. I might take one of those white bread squares over a steak with some of them.

[Marco]

If you use the right products (air fryer ready) they have a little bit more oil on the exterior which during the frying does it work and excessive will drop to the lower basket.
So in the end the difference is not that great but yes there is a difference but it is healthier (less fat), depending on the product.

Not just oil, the fries generally have some kind of coating to crisp up too.

Even in normal ovens good oven fries and breaded products are vastly superior to a couple decades ago.  Texturally any way, if you're scared of E numbers you might disagree.

[Berni]

We used to use air fryers from >20 years ago, they look like this:
https://www.amazon.com/NutriChef-Convection-Countertop-Stainless-PKAIRFR48/dp/B01L7TOZJO

They work well for reheating stuff. For cooking too, tho it is a fair bit of cleanup afterwards. We tend to just use a regular oven these days.

[woody]

We used to use air fryers from >20 years ago, they look like this:
https://www.amazon.com/NutriChef-Convection-Countertop-Stainless-PKAIRFR48/dp/B01L7TOZJO

They work well for reheating stuff. For cooking too, tho it is a fair bit of cleanup afterwards. We tend to just use a regular oven these days.

A while ago I came across someone who changed an oven like that into a reflow oven:

https://andybrown.me.uk/2014/05/11/awreflow/

[jemarro12]

I've ordered mine just now.
Literally can't believe talking about air friers on eev

[coppice]

I've ordered mine just now.
Literally can't believe talking about air friers on eev

Why? Most other cooking appliances crop up here as soldering tools.

[mengfei]

my old Air Fryers is really beat up! Almost used everyday since I went carnivore but i throw in occasionally a few yams & they cook really well in AF. I previously used turbo cookers, the one with the glass bottom & top lid lifts up that has a halogen bulb, can cook a large whole chicken in that one 

 Now using Vesync(Cosori) & it's a really nice AF, juices are kept inside.

[coppercone2]

the best fried chicken I ever had came out of one of those halogen things