How To Buy A Good Air Fryer

Is this the answer to fat-free frying? We explain how air fryers work and what you can do with them.

Air fryers promise delicious "fried" food without the use of oil. While they perform more like a mini oven than a deep fryer, they can be used to cook many foods that are normally deep fried, shallow fried or grilled, and some can even bake and roast foods. They can also be used to make your own crispy fries from scratch, cook frozen foods like chicken nuggets, and grill small pieces of meat.

Here, we explain how air fryers work, what you can do with an air fryer, controls and features to look out for, and more.

How does an air fryer work?

An air fryer is a small countertop oven that circulates hot, dry air to produce crispy food, much like a fan-forced mode wall oven. Just like an oven, food cooked in an air fryer needs to be rotated or shaken periodically to ensure even browning.

Depending on the design of the air fryer, this can be accomplished in three different ways.

Pull-out drawer

Air fryers with pull-out drawers and baskets need to be manually shaken every five minutes or so to ensure even cooking. Most models don't have a timer or alarm to remind you to shake your food, so you'll need to work on remembering this yourself. These models are best for foods you typically shallow fry or grill, such as fish, chicken, meatballs, vegetables, and ground foods.

Stirrer

Self-stirring air fryers have a paddle that gradually stirs the food around the bowl throughout the cooking process. This eliminates the need to manually shake the food, but while some models mix better than others, you may still end up with unevenly browned food or items bent or twisted by the mixer.

These models are best suited for foods that are usually fried, lightly fried or baked, such as small portions of meat, vegetables or fries. Some models may come with an extra bowl without a paddle, which is suitable for grilling meats or even baking cakes.

Rotating Basket Multi-Purpose Cookers

These more versatile air fryers have a rotating basket that automatically rotates the food inside. They include accessories that allow for additional functions such as baking, roasting and grilling. Some models can even cook a whole chicken.

Air fryers are smaller compared to ovens, so they usually heat up faster since their elements are close to the frying basket. Some manufacturers even say you can eliminate preheating. In some cases, the cooking time may be faster compared to the oven, which makes the air fryer more energy efficient.

However, this depends on the amount of food you are cooking. If you need to cook multiple batches of food to complete a meal then it will outweigh the energy savings, in which case you are better off using an oven so that you can cook an entire meal at once, which may save you time.