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?

You can return things for a refund as long as they’re un used.

You can’t return a used airfryer.

@LizzieSiddal Yes - my Ninja is great for fish. I have done salmon, sea trout and sea bream, all entirely successfully. And I'm a crap cook.

Ninja all the way.

It won’t “fry” without oil. It basically aerosolises the oil so a tbsp does what a deep fat fryer would do.
without the oil (and preheating) then yes, it’s an oven.

Also... baked potatoes are good in the Ninja. Not quite Aga standard, but a gazillion times better than the microwave, and massively better than my stand-by convection oven.

Maybe you’re over filing the basket? There needs to be room for the air to circulate.

A good toaster oven is worth 10 air fryers. I've never understood why they don't seem to be a thing in the uk. I use mine to bake bread as well as other things.

Breville Smart Oven Pro - Macy's (macys.com)

@Hankunamatata yep - 16yo and 2 12yos. I love cooking.

belly pork is nice cooked in it, but could just use the grill. I keep it for occasions it’s just dh and I. I use the slow cooker more so maybe I should have just got a newer one of those.

I need to try that. Do you spray the chips with oil or just put them into the air fryer?

i drizzle a teaspoon of rapeseed oil over them and shake
shake every 5-10 mins
I got the recipe from the paper and it works really well

I don't use mine to the fullest probably but what I do use it for is bits to go with home cooked food as I live alone and sometimes it's a waste heating an oven

So a part baked roll with soup
Piece of garlic bread with lasagne
Reheating pizza the next day
A few chips for the side of a meal
Chicken nuggets because I love them on a salad
A bagel/pesto/egg thing which makes a quick lunch
Roasted veg for food prep
Cooked a small ham in it last week which came out great for sandwiches
Jacket potatoes
Sausages

I bought a Tefal (two drawers) as my DS is the only one who is not vegetarian and often cooks his own food at odd times . So using an AirFryer makes more sense .

Ours has a "Shake" reminder ,

I made 6 baked potatoes using both baskets , they turned out very well , much quicker and better than using the big oven .
(I always put the potatoes in the microwave first then crisp up in the oven)

I resisted for years while one of my DDs raved about hers. Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE mine. Use it every day. Staple is roast veg, quick and easy - a meal in 20 mins. I've baked a cake in mine, and bread. As i live alone it's perfect for the quantities I need to cook - only use the big oven if I'm batch cooking for the freezer or have visitors.

Prep it the night before, or even better prep loads in one go and stick it in bags in the freezer. Then just stick the frozen lump it in then slow cooker before work and come back to the miraculously cooked food. That's how the slow cooker works for me, wouldn't be without it.

It depends on the store really. I bought one a while back and I had a similar experience, I didn’t like it at all, I thought it was rubbish (not a Ninja one though admittedly). I returned mine without any problem.

I was later gifted a counter top halogen oven which I thought it would be rubbish too, but I actually love it. (It’s like a great big Pyrex glass bowl, with the fan and heat element on the lid.)

I also bought one in the Black Friday sales - the Ninja dual air fryer with two drawers. I’ve been doing the Human Being diet for the last couple of weeks and the first couple of weeks of this are oil free. The air fryer has been brilliant for this - just chuck in a chicken breast with some seasoning for 12 mins whilst the rest of the families food is cooking on the main stove and it produces a beautifully cooked and very succulent piece of meat. I’ve cooked fish, homemade burgers, sausages, duck breasts, various types of roasted veg and oven chips for the kids in it and they have all been great though as others have said learning how long things will take is a bit trial and error

Ninja here, mostly successful on the “frying” front ( oven chips,bhajis, spring rolls, squid rings that kind of thing) brilliant on all the other functions , although I am still scared of the pressure cooker when I use it …harks back to 1970s pressure cookers!