To have not used an air fryer yet?

[user0512]

Thinking to buy one but not sure. Does food taste 'normal' in an air fryer? Anyone already got one? Would you recommend?

Also the size I have bought fits a family size chicken in it. If you have a family it really is better to get the bigger sized ones.

It's just a convection oven, it tastes like you've cooked it in the oven

My teenage son nagged and nagged about getting one - so I gave in, fully expecting it to be an irritating 2 min wonder but it gets used loads, usually cooking things better and quicker than my oven.

We have a Ninja double compartment one. It's brilliant and we hardly use the oven now. At first I was sceptical but then found out that things like oven chips and potato wedges taste so much better - less dried out, more crispy. Then halloumi wedges - wow - and roast veg, quiche, sausages, chicken. We made chocolate brownie in it and bread. I haven't tried wet things like curry but would be interesting to see. I love ours very much.

I've got one and I use it quite a lot. Mine's a big Ninja one.

The name 'air fryer' is a bit misleading. It doesn't fry anything, it's a tiny fan oven. It crisps things up better than a normal oven because the oven area is so small, the heat level is very intense. So things cook quickly, and you get that fried crispy finish (to a degree).

I do a lot of salmon fillets in mine, they come out beautifully. I also do cubed potatoes/chips, burgers sometimes. It's good at sausages and chicken portions like thighs or breasts.

I make a kind of fake McMuffin in mine; a piece of Lorne sausage/couple of bits of bacon/a veggie burger patty, and an egg broken into a ramekin/small baking tin, whack on for seven minutes, a sliced bagel goes in two minutes before the end. Butter up, a slice of cheese and voila.

The only thing I seem to consistently ruin in mine is prawns!

As big as possible.
I think mine is 4.7l but I wish I’d bought bigger.

It’s basically a fast oven, I have baked bread in mine, DS uses it to make his lunch for stuff like fishfinger sandwiches. I microwave spuds and then chuck them in the air fryer to crisp them up. I cooked lamb chops in mine a couple of days ago. Mine was a gift at Christmas from DS to myself and DH, we use it quite a lot.

Absolutely fab. Bought a double ninja foodie about a month ago. Hardly used the oven. Obviously you cant fit a pizza in it (unless its one of those mini ones which you can!!) but anything else you'd normally oven cook - bung it in the ninja. Gives me extra time of an evening cos I don't have to think about pre-heating the oven. As another poster said - its -great for beige freezer food - I did a greggs pastie (the frozen one from iceland) the other day. Put it on 'bake' setting. Perfect. Sausages cook really nicely in it. As long as you keep checking the food to make sure its not overdone. I find it cooks more 'evenly' than in the overn. The only thing that annoys me is the loud beep the foodie does when you open the 'drawer'.

Is anyone using any kind of parchment paper in their air fryer that they can recommend ?
I know it can affect the air flow and reduce cooking.

@daisychicken we are a household of four adults, our Airfryer is byCorsori £79.99 on Amazon, it’s the 5.5ltr one. So easy to use, just two dials, manual timer, and temperature setting, we cook a large chicken in ours, in 50mins, just wash the basket and wipe out the bottom we’re the fat collect, much, much easier to clean than a baking tray. We turn the chicken over once while cooking. I like the size we have, but now knowing how good it is I would buy a bigger one. 2 year guarantee.

I have a ninja foodie and I just use the ceramic pan and the crisper basket, it washes so easily that I've never considered a need for any parchment paper.

thank you for posting sizes @Roselilly36 @KangarooKenny really helpful in helping me make a decision!

Does anyone use a cookbook or do you just experiment with your normal recipes?

Which Ninja for a single person?

Best thing ever. Had some cheap ones, still good but perhaps difficult to clean. I now own a Ninja, worth the extra cost, it's fab

As there is just the two of us, unless I bake a cake, biscuits or roast that will do us for a few days our oven has become an expensive piece of wall art, plus our cheap and cheerful air fryer comes apart and sits happily in the dishwasher. I honestly think they live up to their reputation they cook things quickly, meat, fries etc taste as nice of not better than the oven, it’s cheaper than running the oven … the air fryer was a cheap and cheerful because I was worried it was a gimmick, next air fryer will be a proper brand … game changer and love mine.

”The BIG metric ninja foodi cookbook” on Amazon has hundreds of easy to follow recipes.

There is a lot of guesswork on timing and temperatures at first, but you will soon get the hang of it for your air fryer & the type of foods you cook in it.
There was a cooking leaflet with mine, but I think it had lost in translation from the original Ancient Aramaic!
I did look at cookbooks on Amazon, but a lot of the reviews mentioned that they were for the American market, with cup measures and a different power output, so I haven't got a cook book yet.

An Air Fryer does take up a lot of worktop space, and needs space around it to pull the basket out, possibly somewhere to stand the hot basket too. It also needs safety space around it so that when it's on it doesn't overheat.

I've got the Philips Rapid Air, which is supposed to be for 3 people, but even so, the cooking area is not very big. You might fit a small chicken in it, but not a large family size chicken, but it would take three chicken joints.

@daisychicken i got a small cookbook with my airfryer, but basically anything you can cook in the oven, can be cooked in the airfryer. I did jacket pots in there for lunch, they were lovely, the only difference I have found is that things cook a lot quicker.

My oven has just packed up what would you converts recommend, huge wait times on new ovens in the size we need.

Been looking at the Ninja?

I’ve just ordered the Ninja 7.something litre with 2 draws. Just waiting for Argos to email me when it arrives. I had a Tefal Actifry years ago and it was great for frozen chips but not much else. Hoping for great things with the Ninja! Can anyone recommend a cake recipe for the air fryer? Also, and this is might sound odd but can a warm up a small portion of beans in it? Like
in a small ramekin or whatever.

I'm continually amazed that people are fine with nonstick coatings on frying pans and now on air fryers. Why would you expose yourselves to that health risk ?

Mine doesn't really have one
It's shelves like a mini oven so food sits on there. The drip tray is non stick I guess

If I hadn't bought a Ninja Foodi a couple of weeks ago I'd swear this thread was sponsored by them 😂

I got the smaller 2 drawer Foodi and I love it! Roast veggies, chicken fillets, bacon, sausage, kebabs (took the sticks out first) oven chips, bread rolls, vegan beetroot burgers, literally anything goes in it. I did some tinned spuds last week (had no proper ones in to make chips) and they were nice, drained, with a bit of olive oil and rosemary came out like mini roasties but a couple did explode when I gave em a shake half way through. I've not used the proper oven since i got it

what is the difference between an air fryer and an instant pot?

Well, Thanks a lot everyone.

I've just spent £200 on a ninja something or other