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Not yet jumped on the air fryer trend? If you’re miles behind the bandwagon and are only just considering buying an air fryer, then you’re probably wondering if they’re worth the investment.
You’ve probably heard your friends and family raving about their air fryer, and have probably skipped over Channel 5’s never-ending schedule of air fryer programming. But, if you’ve finally decided to cave and get yourself one of these nifty countertop kitchen appliances, then you might be interested in finding out both sides of the story.
In this article, we take a balanced look at the pros and cons of air fryers – as well as how these differ depending on the type you choose to get.
What is an air fryer and how does it work?
Contrary to its name, an air fryer is actually a countertop convection oven, not a fryer in the traditional sense. An air fryer is a compact kitchen appliance that cooks your food using a combination of infrared radiation and convection. If you saw the word radiation and panicked, don’t worry, infrared radiation is just a way of transferring heat.
Air fryers come in a multitude of different types, styles, and complexities and can completely replace not just your oven, but your slow cooker, microwave, grill, pressure cooker, and more. The air fryer itself consists of a heating element and a fan which work together to circulate hot air to produce crispy food. If you’re looking at getting an air fryer with a grill function, this setting uses just the heating element so heat is directed down only.
Now that you know what they are and how they work, let’s delve into the pros and cons of air fryers.
Pros
- Healthier – Air fryers require far less oil than a traditional deep fat fryer. You can easily cook all your food in an air fryer without any oil at all. Some foods, particularly those that are on the drier side, would achieve a far more succulent finish and a crispier coating if brushed with a small amount of oil beforehand.
- Easy to use – Turn it on, find the setting you want, press start. Some foods, like chips and chicken mini fillets, might require a good shake mid-cooking, but overall, it makes cooking simpler. Basket air fryers are less complex feature-wise than multi-cooker ones, but even so, the same principles apply: turn it on, find your setting, and start.
- Uses less energy than a normal oven – Since air fryers don’t need to be pre-heated, you don’t need to turn them on 15 – 30 minutes before you put your food in, saving you money on your energy bills. The time displayed on the clock at the start of the cooking process is the total time you’ll be paying for, so all of your money will go on heating food, rather than warming an empty space.
- Versatile cooking – Basket air fryers aren’t just for chips, onion rings, and finger food. You can cook everything from fry ups and jacket potatoes to bread, cake, and biscuits, as you would in your oven. And that’s before we even get to the possibilities of the multi-cooker models. There are some limitations of both types that we’ll go into below.
- Streamline your kitchen – The versatility of air fryers can remove the need of having various different appliances. A multi-cooker air fryer will take the place of your microwave, oven, pressure cooker, slow cooker, and grill. Cutting down on the number of appliances you need can be a godsend if you’re limited on space.
Cons
- Limited space – Large families may find that the air fryer isn’t spacious enough to cook dinner for the whole family. While you might be able to bake a lasagne or shepherd’s pie big enough for six people in a multi-cooker air fryer, you won’t be able to then cook your sides and veg in with it. You can get large capacity basket air fryers, like the 8.5l Instant Pot Vortex Plus VersaZone or Salter’s 15l XL Air Fryer Oven, but you still find yourself stuck for space.
*Tip: Since a lasagne only takes up the bottom part of the cooking pot of my Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker, to make use of the empty top section, I separate my garlic bread off by using a mid-rack. This keeps the base of the bread from going soggy and means I don’t have to put my oven on.
- Uneven cooking – This con is similar to one you’ll find with traditional ovens. Heat can be unevenly circulated around your food. If your food overlaps, if the heating element and fans aren’t properly clean, or if you’ve overfilled it, then you’ll find some parts of your food crisp quicker than other bits. You can often solve this problem by giving your food a quick shake during the cooking process, or by making sure the fan and heating elements are clean from fat and burned on food.
- Bulky – Dual basket and multi-cooker air fryers have a massive footprint and are quite deep. Double stack air fryers might save on counter space, but you won’t be able to put them under a kitchen cupboard (unless they’re really high!) and you might find storing them away to be difficult. Single drawer air fryers are smaller, however aren’t practical if you’re cooking for more than two people.
- Expensive – To avoid the high price tags, once you’ve determined which type of air fryer you want, look for older models in clearance sales. If you want the newest model available, then wait until a sales period is on and then browse for the best air fryer deals.
- Cleaning can be difficult and fiddly – Not all of the parts you want to clean can be removed. With basket air fryers, you can easily remove the basket and crisper tray and wash them up in the sink. The internal parts are a bit more awkward. The same goes for multi-cooker air fryers. Air fryer cleaning can be a chore.
- Non-stick coatings aren’t dishwasher safe – See above: air fryer cleaning can be a chore.
- Not all foods are suitable for air fryers – Watery, battered, and saucy foods are best avoided as splashes can easily clog up the fan and heating mechanisms. This can stop your air fryer working its best, and at worst, cause it to catch fire.
