Air Fryers - should I get one?

That does not mean I find them useless, but I have simply not found a use for them.

They did not save me time or energy and didn't even reduce fat intake that much since I didn't eat much fat to begin with. Most of the time they just gave me aggravation and wasted food as I tried to figure out how to make them work.

YMMV, of course, and it might work well for you, but maybe not that much better than a decent countertop broiler.

the couple that we tried were so small, you couldn't cook much at once.... a convection oven is basically the same thing???

Smaller versions

While they are a particular type of convection oven and not exactly like a conventional one, they are in not in any way a “frier”.

I suspect many people buy them thinking they will produce the same results as a conventional frier in a more healthy way and are disappointed on both aspects.

I have a small one, which suits my purposes for the most part. However, if you are going to be cooking for more than yourself, and if you're interested in making meals, not just snacks, get something over 2 liters. Also, a square basket, not a round one. Buy some filters, they are definitely worth the small investment and make cleanup so much easier. Sometimes I just wipe my basket clean and don't wash it.

As to what kind to get, research it on the internet. I'd go look at buyers' comments on Amazon. Those can be a real eye opener.

There are so many recipes on Youtube and elsewhere. I love my air fryer, but I am really limited by it being so small. As to importance in the kitchen, Instant Pot is #1, and then air fryer follows.

Best of luck!

Edit to add: Go look at the recipes on youtube and you will find out what you can do with an AF. It's just another tool for you to use, like a crockpot or instant pot.

we got from Costco

Gotta love the fast-cooking convection oven, and of course the fat-free frying.

Also has a toaster.

I quite like it. The pizza setting is nice too.

It's good for tater tots and such. I also just made chicken breasts, and it was good!

I'd say, try $60 one, and see of it's worth the counter space l.

Mine also cost about $60 and I use it mostly for frozen potatoes. Also good for hot dogs. I use it for baked potatoes (about 45 min) in the summer when I don’t want to use the big oven. Was worth the $60 but I wouldn’t bother getting a fancier one.

and it’s a pain to clean 😖
I already have a convection oven, and it works fine for the same purpose, plus it’s larger …

What I would like is a conventional oven/ convection oven combo, I’ve seen microwave/ convection combos but I don’t want that …



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I'm sure your dream of a combination of conventional and convection will come true eventually!

The thing I use it most often for in bone-in chicken. Coat the chicken up with whatever spices you like, then spray everything with some Pam, and it comes out crispy, juicy and very tasty. Used it a lot when the weather was warm so heating the oven didn’t make the house hotter.

It’s not hard to clean, no worse than washing a pot. The juices that collect in the bottom are good dumped on your potatoes or rice.

I cook for one, so the small size is a bonus. It wouldn’t work well if you're feeding more than two people at a meal.

We grill a lot but that's not always practical time wise

tiny convection ovens.




that is all.

It's great! The toast feature works like a toaster oven, not a pop-up toaster.

What kind do you have and what size?

bigger one. This is fine for 1 but when cooking for 2, I need to do batches, which is not good.

Works well, though. And the basket of this small size goes right in the dishwasher.

No, it doesn't really taste fried, but it is good and isn't hard to clean either. I had bought his a Ninja Foodie before that and he hated it - was so complex and difficult to use or clean. He used it twice and returned it.

So this is helpful! I'm back to looking at basic

It's also easy to clean, unlike the fancy ones.

convection ovens.

I will say that I knew almost nothing about them, other than I'd see them hyped a lot.

Would never have purchased one myself but got a Ninja fryer/toaster, etc., etc. for Christmas so I have really tried to learn to use it. Unimpressed. potato chips supposed to take 20 minutes but take closer to 40 and are still soggy in the middle. Chicken burned on the outside before it cooked on the inside and was far afield from "fried". tried squash and it burned as well. toast does ok, but so did my $15 toaster (which, sadly, I gave away when I got the fryer. and DO NOT buy the cookbook; it is poorly written, senselessly arranged and unimaginative at best.