To regret air fryer purchase

[Pastlast]

Heard great things on here and IRL so took the plunge on Black Friday.

soo disappointed - it doesn’t appear to fry things at all. I mostly brought it for beige kids food. Chips were overcooked on the top and uncooked on the bottom.

have I just wasted my money on a tiny pointless oven?

has anyone got any recipes or tips that will change my mind?

I love mine (also new) but you have to shake it every few minutes

Which one did you get?

It could be that yours isn’t great or that you aren’t using it correctly.

I have never had this problem with mine. I just used it for frozen chips. I mainly got mine as I have adhd and often used to put food on the oven and forget it. We use it nearly everyday.

Can you return it?

(I use mine a lot and am happy I brought it).

I’m with you OP. It’s not a fryer. Bought to replace the deep fryer which although messy, you know, fries things. 😡

The jumble sale organisers will be pleased though

Oh and definitely don’t over fill it. Especially with frozen food. If you do, you definitely need to shake it like op said

Despite the name it’s not intended to fry things. It’s just a small oven.

Unbranded air fryers are rubbish
With any brand you have to shake the basket while cooking fries

I could return it. But I had high hopes and wondered what I’m missing. Will try to shake that makes sense. It didn’t come with any instructions so I’m just guessing.

The tefal one with the paddle is great for fries. I don't like the basket ones for them.

I got one a few years ago and didn’t get on with it either, gave it to the in laws in the end. Although I don’t really get the slow cooker thing either, prepping food before work is more annoying than prepping it after work.

Love mine! Makes great chips - to the extent I've gone from never eating chips to calculating how many times a week I can have them! Roast chicken was moist and delicious. I haven't really used it for much else but only had it a few weeks

Well it's not a deep fay fryer, is it? If you expected chips out of am air fryer to taste like the deep far fried version, of course you're going to be disappointed.

You didn’t get a Ninja did you. Cos if you did, you’d love it.
No shaking required either.

No it’s Tefal. I suppose I didn’t expect chips to be like a fryer but just a quicker version of the oven. On my second attempt with much shaking they are still unevenly cooked. :-(

will try baked potatoes next.

Agree with pp - ninja is amazing; barely use our oven now. You do have to shake tho

With chips .(real) i par boil for 5 mins after I cut them and then cook for about 30 & they are incredible

It’s not a fryer in the sense people might think no. It’s not a chip pan replacement. I use mine daily, but not for the same reason people use deep fat fryers

I have a “good” one but don’t really get the love. For a family of 5 it’s too small and my ovens are new and AA energy efficient so it’s not even saving me money. I don’t get the love of them at all. I use it but I think I’m just trying to grow to love it. I got it last January and am wondering how much longer before I can justify putting it on marketplace.

An Aie Fryer isn't a fryer at all, it is a mini fan oven, so it's not surprising that you are disappointed with it.
But it should cope well with the beige food you mention, as long as it is suitable for oven cooking, such as fish fingers or pastries.
Perhaps experiment with it rather than return it?

Bought! Bought! Not brought.(Sorry.)

My Dc talked me into buying one. I said it was going to be a waste of money, and it's utterly brilliant. I haven't had to switch my Aga back on yet, which is a relief for the smart meter. Mine is a Ninja. Agree that you have to shake stuff.

Thanks for that, you have just massively improved my life.

Most air fryers are useless requiring you to manually agitate chips etc HOWEVER the Breville halo air fryer VDF105 allows you to tilt the cooking pan which also rotates so it automatically agitates what's being cooked as it rotates thus chips etc are all done evenly. If you want things like chips/nuggets etc evenly cooked then getting a tilting/rotating one.

Of course you can’t return it. It cooks, so isn’t faulty, it is definitely operator error.

If you are cooking oven chips, coat them in extra oil before you start, just as if they are homemade. Oven chips alone come out yuk. Shake the pan 2 or 3 times to make sure they have turned.

In truth as others have said, it's a mini fan oven. As such meat, chicken, roast veg come out very well.

I use it to also crisp up the skins of jacket spuds I've done in the microwave

Also it's not as quick at cooking as many make out.