To not understand the fuss about air fryers?

[whatthen]

People keep raving about them and I got one as a present and I used it a couple of times and gave up on it. It doesn’t cook food any quicker than a normal cooker.

I’ve tried again today and I’ve now been waiting an hour for a baked potato to cook. Would’ve been done by now in the oven. What is the point? What am I missing?

I agree. They take up so much space for the actual cooking area you get. Cannot see the point at all.

I can cook a roast chicken in mine in 45 mins as opposed to 1hr 30mins in the oven 🤷‍♀️

It definitely is quicker than a normal cooker and the food tastes much nicer too.

Agree. I felt like I was the only 1! Just use an oven 😂

Ours cooks things way faster than in the oven! I’ve just cooked chicken goujons in 10 mins. That would be at least 30 mins in the regular oven with waiting for it to heat up. Everyone has a preference though.

What one do you have and what temperature are you cooking at?

General rule of thumb I use is it takes half the time of the oven. Just can't overload it.

My oven takes 30 mins to heat up. I save at least that long with the airfyer

Mine is in the shed... I could different things so pointless. Added to the issue is that I got it as a present from someone who asked if I wanted it.... And I had said no several times...

Are you cooking it at the right temperature?

I love mine and it definitely cooks food quicker.

I have one instead of an oven! I do have a plug in hob, a microwave and a slow cooker, but I use it almost every day.

I can do a jacket potato in 20 minutes, but I always microwave it for 5 minutes first. I dud when I cooked them in the oven. The only downside is not being able to do larger chunks of pizza.

Jacket potato takes 5 mins in the microwave and then 10mins in the air fryer instead of 30mins in the oven.

I roast a whole chicken in 45 minutes. Kids nuggets and things only go in for 6 minutes. Oven chips take 20 minutes instead of 20. I do part baked rolls for my kids lunches. They take 8 minutes and use a lot less energy than having to heat a whole oven.

If your food isn't cooking faster, you're using it wrong.

We use ours all the time. Bacon takes about 7 minutes, garlic bread 10 minutes. I'd really miss it if we didn't have it.

This is what people keep saying, to microwave them first. But then I could microwave them and have them done in 20 minutes in the oven too?

And chips are a lot nicer in the airfryer than the oven

Like any other cooking gadget they're only good if you use them as themselves. It doesn't replace an oven completely it's just really good for certain things in certain portion sizes, it won't suit everyone and there's a bit of trial and error involved to figure it out.

I’m an air fryer convert.

Much cheaper to run than an oven, and quicker with no waiting to heat up time.

Do you know what make yours is? I went for the ninja double drawer option.

What is the point? What am I missing?

The instruction booklet maybe?

It should definitely be cooking food quicker than a normal oven.

i have a love-hate relationship with ours because I’ve found it’s shite with homemade wedges/chips and the time I made nandos chicken in it, it seemed to take ages to cook

However, an air fryer uses much less energy that an oven, so the cost saving over time is high. Yiu may well only need 20 minutes in the oven, but that’s once the oven reaches temperature.

It is just a small oven. It is far more energy efficient because you are heating a smaller space and it is quicker to heat up, and stay heated up. So if your standard oven takes 10 or 15 minutes to heat up to the 180c or whatever, the air fryer is there in 2 minutes.

You may perceive that it is not quicker but you are objectively wrong. Air fryers are 20% quicker than a conventional oven. https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/articles/air-fryer-conversion-chart/ Also much cheaper to run. https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/air-fryer-oven-microwave-hob-slow-cooker-cheaper-cooking/ Which is something to consider if you have teenagers like mine who would think nothing of having the oven on for 40 minutes to cook a single steak bake.

They are smaller so don’t use as much energy. They are quicker - though I agree for some reason baked potatoes seem to take the same amount of time, but otherwise quicker.
i live on my own while my DD is at uni and it’s been great - perfect size for one large or two medium portions. There’s no warm up time so more economical to use. Plus great back up if you are cooking a big dinner (say Christmas) and need an extra oven!

But it’s probably taken 20 mins for your oven to heat up. Air fryer is hot straightaway so much quicker and more efficient

It’s got a temperature dial and a timer. Perhaps some people would need an instruction booklet to wrap their heads around that but I would assume their parents are cooking their meals for them.

It’s Econo.