Which air fryer do we need?

[Themountainwithsnowonit]

The vast range is frying my brain, never mind my food.

There are 2 of us most of the time, 3 maybe one a week and 6 for a few weeks each year. We cook from scratch. Mostly vegetarian. Things we cook in the oven include a lot of roast vegetables in assorted recipes, baked potatoes, biryani, veg lasagne, veg casserole, boulangere, the odd cake, pizza etc.

I've no idea what size we need, what features etc. A small one might be ok I guess, but I often make a big lasagne or whatever and freeze some or save for the next day. I've seen some which have 2 drawers with a removable divider, so they'd be great for larger meals. Would they be far too big for just the 2 of us the rest of the time though?

TIA

Hopeful bump

They take up.a lot of room on the work surface if you get a large one, which I wouldn't think you would need most of the time. Why not get a small one & use the normal oven for large dishes like lasagne?
We have one temporarily as one of the kids brought it home. It's a small cheap one from Costco & is fine. It was useful as an extra oven over Christmas.

I was given a small one as a present 2 years ago, a round one so it was useful for lunches or part of a dinner. I now have a ninja dual one with the divider just as you describe, it’s big enough to cook a medium size roast chicken with all the spuds round it. I use mine instead of my oven which has been put on only when something is huge like the Christmas turkey or I’m cooking multiple dishes for a party. I do have a large kitchen so space is no issue. I also bake bread in mine. It gives a crispness that’s hard to achieve in the oven.

Thank you both. I'm still undecided

I bought one at Black Friday Deals time .
Tefal with two drawers (one bigger)
Mainly for DS who eats different food /different times to us .

Brilliant at Christmas , I did the roast potatoes and parsnips in the main oven then when the Yorkshires puddings were cooking , the roasties had a quick blast in the airfryer to crisp up .

They do take space though
I made sure they drawers could go in the DW but easy enough to handwash

Mine has the two drawers that work independantly , so I can use 1 or 2 or both .
The divided big drawer will be better if you want to cook something big like a chicken .
DS is the only non vegetarian and cooks chicken pieces

It is very good for jacket potatoes (start in the microwave as usual then in the AirFryer )

Ninja Dual. You won't regret it!

A little update - I went for a Ninja which arrived today. The box looked like it had been restuck so I was instantly suspicious. Then, when I got to the fryer itself, it was obvious that the protective tape had been stuck back on it. The drawer was scratched inside and there was a greasy residue which smelt like chip fat. So that's going straight back!

Where did you order it from?

You can have mine. Least used kitchen gadget ever ( and we have had a spiralizer).

I used my air fryer every day!

Direct from Ninja. It's winging its way back to them. I don't want soneone else's cast off at full price. When I rang and told them they'd sent a used one, there were no questions, no surprise, just a slick returns process.

Well see if the replacement (different brand) gets used. The spiralizer made me laugh as my mum was queen of unused kitchen gadgets. We had the 1970s version of a spiralizer - it made a ridiculously long curly chain of cucumber slices - and a marvellous appliance for turning eggs and tomatoes into crowns.

Direct from Ninja. It's winging its way back to them. I don't want soneone else's cast off at full price. When I rang and told them they'd sent a used one, there were no questions, no surprise, just a slick returns process.

How odd! I bought my Ninja from Very.

We have this one, it's great. The bigger basket is good to have for say a chicken, and the smaller one can be used if you're only doing a few fish fingers or whatever, rather than using more energy/cleaning time on a bigger basket.

Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer 8 Litre | Lakeland

It's really weird isn't it, definitely used though.

We have a massive ninja. We don't use it. It scares us. We have no idea how to use it. How do you know what to do with it?

I've had six.. every scince the first Tefal came out in the UK.. the rotating one.. was well known not to last long and mushed the food up.
I also had a huge pro breeze but it got rusty quite quick..
I now have an Haden 9lt duel..( 4.5lt each tray) and l absolutely love it.
Much better than my daughters NINJA.
I do half roast chickens.
Scones. Buns.. Yorkshire puddings.. in fact anything l usually put in the oven or in a frying pan goes in .

I just started whacking food in and hoping for the best but nothing has gone wrong. Even cooked a beautiful steak in it.

Had no idea you could bake in an air fryer!

Do you reduce the time/temp?

Had no idea you could bake in an air fryer!

Do you reduce the time/temp?
My Ninja has a twisty button on the front with the different settings (airfry, roast, bake, dehydrate etc.). They display the temperature when you select them so then you just adjust the time and go. It's a 2 drawer one so you can either match if you're using both sides to do the same thing or sync so that they finish at the same time.

Just think of it as an oven. The word "fryer" is very misleading imo.

Have resisted the craze this long but did have a nose in Lakeland at weekend. They were very knowledgeable there if you have one near you. Their own brand cheaper than the ninjas.
Didn't buy but now very tempted.

Just used my new Ninja for the first time to do pork stir fry with veg. Cooked the rice on the hob as I couldn't figure out the timings to do it in the air fryer as well. I don't think it saved time but it was beautifully cooked, caused less mess than on the hob and created less washing up. Just looking up recipes now for what else I can do with it.