Is there anyone who DOESN'T love their air fryer?

[veneeroftheyear]

Just that really. They're not cheap and although I'm very interested in the idea, I wonder if I'm going to be disappointed.
If you didn't like yours, why not?

I love mine and it has all but replaced the big oven.
Yesterday I did a roast pork joint with roast potatoes and parsnips, lovely!
About the only thing I haven't tried yet are casseroles and liquid stuff.

Even DH is won over and he hates kitchen gadgets.

I don't really get this - this thread alone makes it clear that isn't the case? And it feels terribly judgemental.

and even if it IS used mostly for those foods, for many it allows them to eat them in a less unhealthy way. So that seems like a win?

I have the ninja dual-sided airfryer. If it were just me and DH eating, I probably wouldn’t bother. I have three kids in their late teens who like to cook snacky things. They all work part-time and for this reason it’s good to have something that cooks these really well. (You can get a bit of a jump on frozen things by zapping them in the microwave for a minute or two and then hurling them in a hotter air frying setting and cooking them faster.) I like that you can do two different things that take different times or one with a big basket, so for us it’s fine. I have food allergies, so don’t eat much fried foods or pastry-type things. When the kids leave home, I could easily live without it. Love my instant pot though.

I don’t love ours. It’s a fairly big one, but it’s still not big enough to do both the protein and carbs for a meal. I tend to do an ‘oven meal’ if I’m turning the oven on, so I don’t really get the saving. So we’d do wedges and chicken on the bone, which are very nice and crispy on the air fryer, but I can’t fit them both in.
I find things are about 1/3 quicker than in the normal oven, so not a massive saving.

It’s occasionally really handy if a child doesn’t like what I want to cook for dinner and I can just chuck three fish fingers in it.

Add the steak to the air fryer basket and cook it for about 7 to 9 minutes for a medium-rare steak or 10 to 14 minutes for medium, flipping the steak halfway through. When the steak is finished cooking, let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving

I get that some things might be good in an air fryer, and take less time. Bonus. However, the above is bat shit crazy. A steak on a griddle takes 2/3 minutes, and if you are using gas, will use much less energy price wise.

I suppose as with all things, it depends how you use them, for how long, and what you use them for.........

Our ninja has a pressure cook function.

Mines a cheap one compared to the ninja, but still larger basket than many. I can't do a full meal for four in it. Use it mostly for side dishes like portion of chips to go with grilled meat or spring rolls if having stir fry. I use it to save heating up oven rather than because food tastes better.

I thought you just wanted to hear from people that don't love their airfryer so have not posted. I love mine.

@pastabest

Did your silicone dish thing come with the air fryer or did you buy it separately? If the latter, where from please?

I had salmon and roasted vegetables from mine yesterday. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We used ours for roast veg, salmon, homemade koftas, breakfast muffins, toasted sprouts, homemade keto fish fingers and chicken kievs - very few carbs here as dp is on a consultant led keto diet

I did make cookies - but happier with these for a snack than processed from the supermarket and I've used it to make keto cookies in the past.

With this and an instant pot I don't use the oven

Mines sitting on the top of the cupboard gathering dust. Chips were dry and hard, I had no idea how long to put stuff in for and it took ages. Even my adult dc's don't want it. Mines quite small so is useless.

I find that if I can co ordinate cooking to maximise the oven, that works better for me. I might give my air fryer to a charity shop ( after I've cleaned the dust off 🙄)

@Moonflower12

Silicon pot : -
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082SRMT8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the thread, OP.

I've been pondering for a while as, like most people, we're looking at fuel savings.
However I've felt like I'm missing out as so many posters, on the many threads recently have been quite evangelical about these machines.

We rarely cook chips/wedges/jackets which so many people rave about when talking about AFs and we're not fans of roasted veg or crispy fish , preferring steamed.
We already have a slow cooker , toastie maker and bread maker so I'm thinking that an AF might be a waste of counter space.
As there's only two of us , I'm not sure that there'd be much by way of energy saving, given the cost of some of these machines.

I don’t have one but a few friends and relatives do and have cooked for me using one and I must say that I was disappointed each time and felt the equivalent cooked in the oven is better. They don’t seem big enough for an average family meal and that takes out the fun of cooking with leftovers for me…there never seems to be any! I said I would provide the chicken for a relative who gave me strict instructions on the size and I struggled to find one small enough. Granted, it’s not one of the bigger models but my friends that do have the bigger ones are rarely able to cook the whole meal in it and that kind of defeats the point for me.

I have been especially disappointed with the chips each time someone has made those!

If you put the silicone mat over the veg you will find that it will go to the top of the machine and cover the mesh. When I put the mat over something like a quiche I put a large metal spoon on it to stop it "floating up". Still trying to find a silicone lid.

There are youtube vids to show you how to make toasted cheese sandwiches - become my husbands favourite lunch, far better than the toastie maker plus you can make egg on toast together.

Ours is great, because we have three very young kids, so cooking lots of small amounts of varied finger foods. We are probably the opposite of the families here who don't get the use.

That and we have a house with an unusual layout, so kids plummeting around and a non-dining kitchen some way from our living areas. It feels safe to chuck some veg in the ninja where pots on the hob would be... brave.

@Georgyporky
Thank you 😊

i am also thinking about getting one
i use my oven to roast a butter nut squash, to bake cauliflower cheese,/macaroni cheese/lasagne
pizza
burgers
sausages
salmon <<but i guess i could use a microwave>>
dh can use the slow cooker for a casserolle, <<i dont like it>>
would it work for cakes?

I thought I would never get the hype as I cook from scratch most of the time. However, you can cook any type of meat in it - in the last week we've had steak, chicken breast/thighs, sausages, pork steaks, sausages and homemade kebabs. I have a fairly large one basket style one, and a family of 3, and often manage to cook potatoes and meat for one meal in it. The point is that it's a smaller, quicker and more energy efficient oven. So yes of course for making a big stew/bolognese I would use my slow cooker/hob or the oven. It's also fab for reheating stuff in a less "damp" way than the microwave - I'm about to Chuck some American style pancakes from the freezer in it to defrost and warm through for breakfast - they would come out soggy in the microwave. We have a toddler and it's also great for cooking small portions just for her, so I resort to "pasta with sauce" less often than I used to if we are eating at a different time to her! Last nights new potatoes for example become wedges for her in about 7 minutes, plus I can chuck a sausage in to cook at the same time. I would never switch the oven on to do that. When she was weaning I would reheat all the homemade croquettes, veg/potato cakes, fish cakes, pinwheels etc I would make for her in it too. Sooooo... yes I'm in on the hype now!

We were given a cheap one.
It's pretty small and I've not been overwhelmed by oven chips etc in it. But read the tips here for bacon and tried that yesterday and was good, plus great for quick baked potatoes at lunch after 4 minutes in microwave. Also can do crispy kale much easier than in the oven.

What's the trick for good roast potatoes, please? I tried for the first time this week, and they weren't great. Kind of dry and hard on the outside, rather than the kind of oily, crispy lovelyness of oven roasted.
Thank you

This.

I have an instant pot duo crisp which has an air frier function, but the pressure cooker is used by far the most.

I could never justify buying an air frier as a single unit, and even after reading this thread I am somewhat bemused by people who say they use them for cooking things like steak and burgers which you wouldn’t cook in the oven in the first place and could cook on a gas hob in a 3rd of the time at a 3rd of the cost.

I wonder in fact whether people have been taken in by the suggestion that you can cook everything in one and have lost sight of the fact that they’re probably spending more doing so.

The problem with posts like this is there are so many types of airfryers/combo airfryers it can be like comparing apples and pears. A small one basket AF off Amazon is used completely differently to a large dual basket AF which is again completely different to a combi model which pressure cooks as well as AFs.

it depends on how many people you cook for and the type of foods you cook.

I personally eat seasonally, mostly cook on the hob and don’t eat ultra processed foods. I use my AF a lot because it’s so versatile and means I can make meals I wouldn’t bother with normally as it’s a faff to turn on the oven to just roast tomatoes, make potato wedges, courgette fries or make a quick banana bread loaf.

do your research basically, one size does not fit all in the AF world.

I am somewhat bemused by people who say they use them for cooking things like steak and burgers which you wouldn’t cook in the oven in the first place

well, some people grill them and the AF does a pretty good job of that.

and could cook on a gas hob in a 3rd of the time at a 3rd of the cost.

excluding the cost of installing the gas hob and connecting to gas, obviously. 😉

what I like about the AF v Hob (electric!) is that it requires less input from me.