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 bought one to use as the electrify bills in the house we’re renting were huge. I still don’t like it ! I cooked a chicken , the heat never really penetrated into the thigh bones so still pink. It was also absolutely tasteless. I’ve tried cottage pies and lasagne but it just seems to grill the top and not get enough heat into the bulk of the food. I do like the jacket potatoes, I cut them in half lengthwise so I get a big surface area, brush them with salt and oil, maybe 25 mins ? Oven chips are nice but we only eat them rarely. We don’t eat much beige food, maybe that’s what they do best ?
My fantastic landlord has now put in solar panels and batteries so our bills are much reduced, I’m so relieved, I can use the oven again!

I didn't get them or want one until we had an extension and lost our kitchen for 2 months. Airfryer is a lifesaver and I'll never boil an egg in water again!

Judging by the number of people that post supporting them you'd have to believe there is some sort of worldwide conspiracy in place for them not to actually be any good.

They mostly cook things faster. Crisp up stuff better and save money compared to ovens. The fact that there is not so much air volume probably means they dry moist food out less than an oven.

But how much you gain of each of these sorts of things depends somewhat on your lifestyle and the sort of stuff you are cooking.

Someone who for example cooks three separate meals in it a day is going to recover the purchase cost over oven use much faster than someone who utilises the whole oven every time they cook.

If you have a fan oven an air fryer is pointless. I miss my deep fat fryer 😭

You couldn’t pay me to give up my Ninja. Uses a fraction of the energy my normal oven uses, and definitely cooks food faster.

We make proper gravy from the pan juices from a roast, I tried with an air fryer but it was pretty much impossible! And the air fryer isn’t big enough to do a chicken, roast potatoes and parsnips even though it’s got two drawers. It was such a palaver, much happier shoving it all into the oven and forgetting about it !

Same, we have a pretty cheap electric fan oven and it takes about five minutes to heat up. These comments about half an hour are absolutely baffling me.

It’s a large Wolf. Gas.

My husband wants a wolf. Is it any good?

We have had two, the first one cooked stuff slightly quicker than the oven. Mostly useful for a single pain au chocolat or similar so as to not waste energy heating the whole oven. If you have a modern fan oven they heat up pretty fast now (still not as quick as an airfryer) and I don't wait for mine to preheat either unless baking cakes.

Our new airfryer cooks stuff insanely fast (we kept burning stuff when we first got it). Our new fan oven also cooks stuff quicker than it says in recipes. Eg xl chicken says 1hr45 but it's done in 1hr20.

But 45 mins to cook fish fingers is ridiculous and must mean there's a fault. In our old airfryer they would be done in 10 mins, in our new one probably 6.

Yep we were given one. It’s crap imo.

Why do you think that? I find it great for things like salmon, roasted vegetables, scones, and beautifully crispy jacket potatoes.. what make do you have?

If it took 45 minutes to cook fish fingers then you are using it wrong or it is faulty.

Fish fingers take about 7 mins max in mine.

It’s not just about the speed. I have teens who are forever wanting to cook things from the freezer - nuggets, little pizzas and suchlike - and it’s great for that. No waiting for the oven to warm up. Why heat a whole oven when you’re just cooking something small? And it does chips brilliantly, crispy all the way round, no soggy undercooked bottom and no need to turn them halfway.

I'm with you. I don't know how anyone can cook a meal for 4 people.

Ours gets used for goujons, scampi and mozzarella sticks which are all things we have once in a blue mood. I can't fit an extra large chicken in mine and even if I did, I'd still.need the oven for the roast potatoes.

Mines a ninja multi cooker, which I use for other things much more so not wasted but I'm not inspired to get a separate one.

This. Fish fingers would be utterly obliterated after 45 mins in an air fryer.

Air fryers are just small fan ovens. Saying that they're crap means that you're being deliberately obtuse, it's faulty or you're using it wrongly.

They heat up and cook things faster because the space is smaller and the fan is more powerful. Just like drying your hair on the hairdryer high setting instead of the low is quicker. It's also cheaper to cook small amounts of food, eg for one or two people.

They also turn off at the end of the set time, meaning you don't have to go back to them straight away like you would an oven, or stand over a pan like you would if frying pieces of meat or fish - you can just set them going in the air fryer and go off and do something else.

Well that's true, they're not designed to cook a full family roast, although it might be possble in some of the larger ones. But no-one's saying that's what they're using them for. Many people have an air fryer and only need to use the big oven a few times a year, eg at Christmas.

It must be the kinds of meals people cook then Vs what I cook. Because I couldn't do salmon and roast veggies in mine - one or the other maybe but then I'd need the oven for the rest.

I generally make more stove top meals but when I need an oven, what I'm making won't fit in the air fryer.

DP likes it, I don't. It makes chips too crispy for my liking. Did some chicken last night and wasn't cooked through properly and took just as long as oven in the end.

Mine is brilliant for teens making individual meals at different times.

I moved into my house two and a half years ago. It had a brand new oven. I've used it twice. Everything is cooked in my Ninja. I wonder if you have a cheap air fryer that is not very good. Mine can be two drawers or one big one and I can cook everything in it. It's great not having to clean an oven as the air fryer is a dream to clean. It heats up to temperature almost straight away and cooks everything perfectly.

If you’ve got a decent oven, can cook and don’t eat much beige food I can’t see the point of an air fryer, based on the comments. If you want to heat up nuggets and your oven takes 30 minutes to warm up an air fryer would be a godsend.
In a decent oven, salmon, roast veg would cook nicely, and you could warm your plate.

I can cook fine, but salmon in the airfryer is just as good, probably keeps moisture better and uses a lot less electricity

Agree. I got one for a present and never use it. I’ve already got an oven

I have read these comments with interest, as everyone says how great, much more economical etc etc.

there is one comment about not eating beige food. I find cooking from scratch cheaper and more nutritious and yes, I do grow alot of vegetables too, so I do knock up alot of veggie/vegan meals, the older I get the more the meat industry and I don’t really see eye to eye!!

Vack to the topic though, my friend has one, because she doesn’t have room for a cooker, it was on a sale £15 out of Asda a good few years ago, I think she said it’s 2.8litre, and she loves the pukka pies (beige food) with alot of mixed veg and gravy. Her one says it’s 850wstts, which is 50watts less than my fan oven (900wstts)

most people have the ninja which are 2400watts, which is nearly three times my oven - my oven is a £249 bush cooker from Argos, admittedly I let the oven heat up for ten minutes, but the figures don’t add up for me.