Is an air fryer really worth it?

[Flockofbirds]

I don’t understand the current trend in air fryers - please help me see what people see in them?!!

Are they not just small counter top ovens?
What makes them so special? Are they really worth it?

thank you!

I love mine. Think low fat fried food. Best ever oven chips. Great for sausage and hash browns. Brilliant roast potatoes. I use mine evey day.

Love mine use it all the time don’t use my oven much at all now

Quick and cheap to use.
I did baked potatoes today - 10 mins in the microwave and then 18 in the air fryer. Perfect. Also cheese on toast for lunch and some grilled veg. I rarely use the oven these days.

I got one about three weeks ago and since then ahve only sued the oven twice for big Sunday roasts, which you couldn’t fit in a fryer. There only two do of usually so I’ll definitely save money with the air fryer. Our oven is a big range cooker, about 20 years old so I think will be very energy inefficient!
The air fryer is much cheaper than a new oven.

Sorry for all the typos!

I use mine several times a day and only use the oven occasionally now for things like Yorkshire puddings. I want to get a bigger two drawer air fryer but they are all out of stock at the moment

I bought one about a month ago. I’ve turned the oven on about 3 times since then.
It’s so much quicker than the oven, and I find it’s quicker too.
For example I cook a lot of roasted Mediterranean type vegetables. In the oven that would be about 20 minutes. In the air fryer it’s 10.

Are they not just small counter top ovens?

Thats exactly what they are.

You don't need to pre heat. That's the beauty of it.

So far found great for chicken, chips, salmon fillets, jackets, mini pizza, roast veg, roast potatoes, part bake rolls, general freezer food like fish fingers.

Definitely not just a gadget.

@Nadal how do find it is to clean?

@SoupDragon presumably it's somehow different to a bench top oven? I'm another one that just not 'get' the air fryer fuss when bench top ovens have been around for decades?

@TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination goes in the dishwasher but all non stick so would be fairly easy to hand wash.

Honestly there's about 5 of these threads every day. Search for them and there will be collectively 1000s of responses.

I absolutely love mine, and I recommend that you don't get a small one. My husband and I use ours multiple times a week and it's wonderful for certain leftovers that don't do well in the microwave.

I’d go out and buy another one in the morning if mine broke. Take a bag of little potatoes, put them in the air fryer with a teaspoon of oil, salt, pepper, and sprinkle over some dried mixed herbs. Put it on for 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees - open and shake a few times - and hey presto, delicious mini roast potatoes.

No, it's basically just a small fan oven.

I love mine and we use it a lot - the main oven has only been on when we"ve had pizzas. It is just a small fan oven though - heating element and fan. Nothing magic. The size is what makes it cook things better/faster/more efficiently than a big fan oven.

I rarely use mine. You can only do one thing at a time. Just another thing gathering dust like the slow cooker.

Cooks beautifully and a lot cheaper.
At the moment, I have to go online for temperature and timing advice, but as I get more used to it, I won't have to. I look forward to them adding air fryer cooking instructions to food packaging, as they do with conventional ovens and microwave ovens.
i haven't used the oven at all since I got mine.

Honestly? Homemade chips stick unless you give them a shake every 28 secs, it’s a twat to wash up and the house smells like it would if I had a proper fryer. It is healthier and sausages are lovely, as are ‘frozen’ chips (McCain or whatever). In theory more efficient as no pre heat time and a smaller thing to heat than a whole oven, reality is kids often want fishfingers (in normal oven) plus French fries (in ninja) so doubt we often save much.
tefal actifry was better in hind sight as the moving paddle meant no/less shaking, but that snapped hence replaced by a ninja (no paddle to snap)
I wouldn’t replace at all but husband seems to like them (hence ninja once actifry broke)

Would it work for a family of 5, with 3 teenagers
, or realistically it won't be big enough?

I got one about 3 weeks ago. It may be a small counter top oven, but it's one with a fan on steroids. The much higher speed air movement means it does a much much better job of crisping things than my oven does. If you spray things with a bit of oil I can actually get close the the deep fried finish - I've done chips, doughnuts and corn on the cob and they've all been amazing. A bonus compared to cooking in the oven is you can open and stir in situ, rather than having to get things out of the oven and put down on the worktop to be able to do it.

@TR888 I cook on probably a similar scale. I haven't tried doing an entire meal at once in one and don't think it would be. I tried doing a traybake in mine, I'd normally do 3 dishes worth in the oven and it didn't really fit. However, I can do enough chips or sweetcorn everyone. It's also good for reheating when you need to do it on a larger scale - you can get most of a meal in at once rather than shuffling batches through a microwave.

I would worry about food poisoning, how do you know how long to cook things for?

How do you convert normal oven instructions when you use an air fryer? If there aren't any on the packet or you're cooking from scratch This is what puts me off - having to get used to a different set of timings and temperatures

Half the wattage of the oven and half the cooking time👌

@LilacPoppy

Well congratulations! Of the 78 billion threads on air fryers, this is the first time I've seen this worry!

78 billion &1 and I still can't decide whether I want one or not 💁🏻‍♀️

@adagio I rather suspect my feedback would be like your!!