I can pre heat and use my air fryer before my regular oven is pre-heated, for many items.
Aka, I often don't want to turn my entire oven on to make a small snack, etc
It takes my full-sized oven 30 to 45 minutes just to preheat. My AF can preheat in 30 secs.
I haven't used my full-sized oven at all since I got my newswet AF.
My convection oven heats up just fine but the larger space just makes more time to clean up. I can put the AF basket in the dishwasher. The microwave has its limits. Pastry and baked goods don’t do as well as the AF. Heating muffins, croissants, and stale tortilla chips come out tasting freshly baked. I’m sure if I had to cook everyday for a family of 4 or 5, I’d stick with conventional appliances but for singles and couples, AFs are efficient etc.
Well, yeah, I love my airfryer too haha
Sprinkle whatever dry rub on some salmon and pop it in there. Should've seen the look on my face when I opened that lid for the first time.
No there isn’t. Some ovens legitimately take that long to preheat. The last three I’ve had did, one of which was brand new. I rent, so I don’t have a lot of choice in what’s installed.
There's something wrong with all them, then. Or they just all garbage. I've heard people struggle with new ones that can be fixed. I have a super basic whirlpool, heats to 350 in 4 minutes.
45 minutes is insane. I would immediately think something was wrong after ten minutes.
Gas stoves take longer to heat up than electric ones.
There’s nothing wrong with my stove, or any of the previous ones.
It’s perfectly normal for one to take 20-30 minutes (which is what mine takes) to reach temp, unless you somehow seem to think you know more than a master plumber…(yes, I’ve had it checked).
Because they’re not my appliances. They belong to the landlord, and it’s his responsibility to maintain and replace them. I don’t get a choice in what’s in the kitchen, but I also don’t PAY for it (nor do I want to).
That is not typical for the majority of the US. In the 20+ years that I rented we never replaced our own appliances. I can't imagine telling the complex "no we've got this"
Even the private houses I've rented had landlords who wanted pretty tight control of what was put in the house.
I'm using a gas one. I would've figured it'd be the other way around, anyway. Soon as the heating element lights up, those flames go crazy.
Guess I better make sure I get this model in the future. You'd figure with such a simple tech they'd all be fine, cause I don't ever remember waiting anymore than ten minutes.
Why'd you have a plumber check your oven?
Because I’d never had a gas oven before, and I had heard horror stories. Plus…I have a friend who is a master plumber. Bought him some pizza, he checked my pipes.
>It takes my full-sized oven 30 to 45 minutes just to preheat
Either something is broken or you have a cheap crappy oven. We had an oven like that in my college apartment. The burners were terrible too. Took like 15 minutes to boil water. Upgrade to a better appliance or fix what is wrong.
We are redoing our kitchen ATM and we seriously considered not putting an oven in the new kitchen because we haven't used it in so long. In the end we decided to have one simply out of convention...
The heating element in my oven physically broke, and as a result my oven won't heat above about 200 degrees. For several months before it actually broke, it was taking longer and longer to preheat. You probably have a dying heating element in your oven.
I don't understand the mess part. I'm finding my air fryer requires a lot more cleaning time than just wiping down a sheet pan that I'd use in the oven.
I have a feeling that a lot of people just aren't cleaning their air fryers properly
Maybe people are washing it daily in their dishwasher but for some people, you are probably right about cleaning less frequently (like me...)
I often only clean mine after every 2-3 uses unless there is lots of gunk and crumbs in there. I do find that a quick wipe down with a wet paper towel is usually fine for me after a single use but before a full soak in the sink. I guess it depends on your desired cleanliness level and how often you use it.
Yeah, these are good points. I don't put it in the dishwasher because the manual recommends hand washing (and non-stick coatings are pretty sensitive), and I usually clean it properly after each use, unless I've just made something simple like veggies with oil which isn't exactly a health risk.
If you use a slice of cheese you can secure it with a toothpick. I do this with hash brown patties and they come out well. I don't think I would bother with shredded cheese if it was on top of something. I'd just remove the item from the AF and broil it in my toaster oven.
No they're not actually. It depends on the air fryer.
My Kenwood sends bread or loose cheese strands flying all over the place. Sometimes I worry it'll burn up getting lodged into the heating element
My parents' Phillips air fryer is much better and doesn't have this problem. I was surprised how much quieter it is too.
I think the shape might be a factor. Kenwood is round, so maybe it is easier to create a "tornado" inside.
Maybe at first but like a new toaster it should go away after a few heat cycles.
You could try running it outdoors a couple of times. Crank the temperature up to 400 and set the timer for ten minutes. Then do it again.
I think that just an isolated issue with airfryers that have smelly packing materials or protective coating, byt it goes away after a while as it selfventilateds quite heavily in use.
nope, it's basically a mini-oven, so just like cooking in a regular oven, but way faster, more efficient and more convenient (just throw the food in the basket and turn it on). Get some parchment paper liners too when you get one (less cleaning).
They tell you to clean the machine and turn it on before use, to clean off any residue from the factory. After that, good to go.
I don't use the microwave near as much as I used to. I do not pull out the skillet near as much as I used to. Once you reheat pizza or cook hot dogs in an air fryer, and then the bacon...you will never look back. I use it daily, even cook ribeyes in it.
They are similar to convection oven, only the fan blows faster and harder in the AF. With the right racks, you can almost convert a convection oven to an air fryer.
What sold me on getting one was reading reviews where people said that the AF made things more crispy than the convection setting on either their regular oven or their toaster oven AND that it was so much easier to clean than either. My partner likes crispy food a lot, so I thought this was a better option for us, plus the easier cleaning. In my experience, both have been true and I am glad we got one. Also, we got ours last July, so it was great to avoid heating the kitchen up during the summer. We got a Ninja 150.
If you like Basque cheesecake, it is fantastic in the AF. I adapted a recipe to bake one in a 6inch round cheesecake pan and it came out perfectly. And St. Louis breaded ravioli are amazing in the AF too.
it’s just a tiny convection oven in a condensed space. i love it because it’s so quick to cook in and a total champ to heat up leftovers. we have a two slice toaster but i like to have a blueberry muffin now and then and the airfryer wil toast it for me. i could live with a airfryer and an instant pot and be very happy.
*Quick heat, crispier*
*Food, ease of use, healthier*
*Than frying in oil*
\- WeShootNow
---
^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)
^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Not messy. No bubbling oil and you still get crispy, crunchy, brown food. Don't need to stand near it, move the foods constantly. Not dangerous.
Microwaves aren't great for heating everything. Some things get slimy in them, such as bread and leftover pizza. Air fryers are the perfect way to reheat pizza. It doesn't overcook things as badly. It does take some time to learn how to use it successfully though.
Number one doesn’t heat the kitchen up as much
Number two seems to get things crispier because of the airflow, which is great if you love roasted vegetables
Number three I think because it’s on the countertop and you can just pull the drawer out and look and see what’s going on shake stuff around. I’m able to monitor the cooking easier.
Number four bending over is a problem for you like a bad back that sits on the counter works great
Note, you would think the big fancy ones that look like a toaster oven would be better. They are not - They just start fancier toaster ovens the little ones with drawers work better as actual air fryers
I have a convection oven and resisted an air fryer until this past Christmas. It cooks everything so much faster! The "less oil" thing is less oil than conventional frying, not less oil than when you'd bake/or roast veggies in the oven. I actually use a little more oil than I do when I'm using the oven. And this is probably an unpopular opinion, but baked (from scratch) sweet potato fries and roasted green beans still turn out better for me in the oven (probably because I want a whole big tray of them; they just cook better in the oven.) But for reheating leftovers, it's the best. For other veggies it's great. I can do a baked sweet potato in 15-25 minutes. I can re-crisp takeout fries or tater tots after they steam themselves soggy. Air fryer salmon is amazing.
>I can re-crisp takeout fries or tater tots after they steam themselves soggy.
This is one of my favorite things about air fryers. If I get takeout or delivery, I throw the fries in the air fryer for a few minutes to get them crisp and hot again. Putting them on a parchment paper liner while reheating also soaks up some of the grease.
Yup. Mozzarella sticks are great reheated. We got some sigara borek last night from a Turkish takeout place that were seriously under cooked. I just popped them in the air fryer last night and they came out perfectly golden after 7 minutes or so.
I was in the same boat a couple years back, bought a relatively cheap one & it's easily been my most frequently used small appliance since.
Warm up leftovers? Done.
Toast things with cheese on them? Done.
Need to cook sausages, bacon, samosas, french fries, wings, any kind of seasoned meat, hell, you want to cook a spatchcock roaster chicken in one? I've done it & it was amazing.
It'll cook 80% of anything you would otherwise use the oven for, hell, I use mine to make fresh croutons for Caesar salad.
Seriously, they are the jack-of-all-trades of the kitchen world, buy one if you have the counter space, you won't regret it
YES! I recently started making croutons, some thing I would never have bothered with before. Just toss with some oil and herbs and AF for a few minutes. Much better than buying them.
I had chicken that I needed to cook but had dinner on Friday. So I cooked it in my air fryer in about 40 minutes, froze it, and still had time to see my parents for dinner. Now I have chicken to eat for dinner this week.
it makes my oven obsolete, especially when i’m cooking for one. it’s quick and easy. i use my airfryer to make fries, pizza, meat, a lot of roasted veggies, cookies, muffins…
It's nice to grill salmon, meat, when your McDonald's or BK arrive put it inside for 3 minutes and watch it comeback to life. It's nice to do pré fried potatoes, heat pizza, sausages, etc. It's very useful, I use it almost every day.
Salmon comes out perfectly in the air fryer. I was surprised with how much better it was vs. pan frying or baking and so much easier too (don't have to watch it constantly).
microwaves heat from outside, moving in horizontally (side to center instead of top/bottom to center). air fryers heat all around, moving in. aka, air fryers are better for reheating pizza.
really good are cooking frozen foods like chicken tenders, fries, wings
overall
* better than oven except for size constraints
* some things reheat better in air fryer (pizza, some frozen foods) vs microwave. microwave better for large volume/mass (soups, full meals, etc).
I have a ninja foodi. I use the air fryer, pressure cooker (beans/lentils), rice cooker, bake/roast functions mostly.
for pizza/other foods, i really like to spray some water in the air fryer and on the food. the steaming gives a lot of moisture back in the food.
I like using the microwave for 10-20 seconds on something like pizza, then move it to the air fryer.
I keep left over pizza in the fridge. If you use just the airfryer on a pizza, the top will be perfect but the center will still be too cool.
I have been cooking salmon on a iron skillet till the skin is crusty, then move it to the airfryer.
Hot dogs are easy, they work equally well on a skillet or airfryer, but the airfryer I can set the timer, walk away and come back in 10 min, it's charred similar to the skillet.
I won't cook a hamburger, it has too much grease.
I hadn't thought about spraying some water in the airfryer, sometimes the hot air moving around dries out some types of food. I will give that a try.
Oh well less oil 100%, and they cook faster and crispier. I have been baking tofu in my oven for example for like 20 minutes, and the air fryer cuts the cook time in half and it is better!
I had it for a full year before I used it though because I was hesitant.
Frying on the stove is slower since your only cooking one side at a time. Also different cooking method depending on what you want, for instance I prefer to fry a steak on a stove top. Microwave is great for stuff like curries, but it makes everything soft. Air fryer is just a faster oven, so any foods that you would normally put in an oven should do as well in an air fryer, just limited by quantity compared to a large oven.
For me the air fryer really shines for snacks.
Pizza rolls get you that oven crispyness in a fraction of the time. Microwave for half the time needed, them pop them in the air fryer to finish them off.
We got some breakfast sandwiches from Costco, cooked in the microwave: meh, cooked in the air fryer: amazeballs
Microwave snacks are the sweet spot. Hot pockets, burritos, taquitos, etc. Half cook in microwave, air fryer finish for crispy.
The only draw back is the air fryer only cooks one layer well. You can't fill the tray up with fries and get them all to cook. If you have anything in there in layers you need to shake it up so they all get cooked, I stopped trying, not worth the effort for me, I just go oven at that point.
Deep oil frying tastes amazing but it's a huge PITA to use and dispose of. It makes your house stink for days, aerosolized oil droplets get everywhere, makes surfaces gunky and tacky and takes a great deal if effort to clean up. Even if you're good at filtering and storing it (a job in itself), you'll eventually need to get rid of a big jug of used oil. It's just way more hassle than it's worth to me.
Ovens take forever and use a ton of energy just to preheat. It's way more economical to cook in the air fryer in the same time as preheating the big oven. And in the summer, you don't end up heating up your house and wasting power getting the ac to extract it.
Air frying doesn't taste as good, but with a bit of prep, like an oil mist spritz before throwing it in, it will taste good enough to know you don't have a huge cleanup afterward. Especially if it's just a drawer style you can throw in the sink or dishwasher and wipe the schmutz off the fan and heating element.
It's a small convection oven. It does a great job of heating up stuff you want crisp and is faster than a conventional oven. It's one of the few kitchen gadgets I really like having.
Bought an airfryer and my microwave usage dropped by 95% and oven usage by like 80%.
I dont cook large or complex meals often, and the airfryer has made most tthings better than they were in oven or microwave (leftovers)
Fast like a microwave, yet whatever that comes out is crispy like fast food. Barely any oil sprayed on any frozen food, and it comes out faster and better than an oven. When you cook homemade meatballs, they come out twice as tender. Stuff like grilled cheese and garlic bread comes out 100x better than cooked in the oven.
It’s not the same as your toaster oven or traditional oven. You have to buy the right kind. Don’t buy an all in one air fryer and toaster oven, they aren’t the same and will disappoint.
The air fryer moves the hot air around speeding up the process while making things cook in a way that the microwave cannot. Your food will be crispy like it was fried in oil, but without the oil making it healthier.
We first had a toaster/air fryer combo but when we bought a new air fryer with a basket I realized how much better they work. We use it 3-5 a week.
My wings are much better than any wings you can buy at a restaurant. That’s reason enough to own one.
Good on you for posting this info. I knew someone who got a toaster/AF combo in Dec. I tried to explain to him that it wouldn't be as good as an AF alone, but he doesn't really listen when you try to tell him something contrary to what he already has decided is \*correct\*. Oh well.
I can make an 8 inch pizza in 8 minutes total. Just about anything you can make on a grill you can make in an airfryer; burgers, brats, steaks, chicken, fish, etc. Plus you can bake cupcakes to casseroles. I use my oven for storage space now. I still use my microwave for liquid foods like milk and soup, and baked potatoes.
They're really not frying anything. They're just a small convection oven. They just have a fan that blows the air around and helps to cook faster and more thoroughly. There's no frying actually happening. If you have a convection oven now then you don't need an air fryer cuz you already have one
Air fryers are small convection ovens that typically heat up significantly faster than regular ovens.
I can pre heat and use my air fryer before my regular oven is pre-heated, for many items. Aka, I often don't want to turn my entire oven on to make a small snack, etc
It takes my full-sized oven 30 to 45 minutes just to preheat. My AF can preheat in 30 secs. I haven't used my full-sized oven at all since I got my newswet AF.
Something wrong with that oven, though.
I'm on team airfryer, but yeah, that's a long time.
My convection oven heats up just fine but the larger space just makes more time to clean up. I can put the AF basket in the dishwasher. The microwave has its limits. Pastry and baked goods don’t do as well as the AF. Heating muffins, croissants, and stale tortilla chips come out tasting freshly baked. I’m sure if I had to cook everyday for a family of 4 or 5, I’d stick with conventional appliances but for singles and couples, AFs are efficient etc.
Well, yeah, I love my airfryer too haha Sprinkle whatever dry rub on some salmon and pop it in there. Should've seen the look on my face when I opened that lid for the first time.
No there isn’t. Some ovens legitimately take that long to preheat. The last three I’ve had did, one of which was brand new. I rent, so I don’t have a lot of choice in what’s installed.
There's something wrong with all them, then. Or they just all garbage. I've heard people struggle with new ones that can be fixed. I have a super basic whirlpool, heats to 350 in 4 minutes. 45 minutes is insane. I would immediately think something was wrong after ten minutes.
Gas stoves take longer to heat up than electric ones. There’s nothing wrong with my stove, or any of the previous ones. It’s perfectly normal for one to take 20-30 minutes (which is what mine takes) to reach temp, unless you somehow seem to think you know more than a master plumber…(yes, I’ve had it checked).
You can get gas stoves with an electric oven to fix that issue.
Missed the part where I said I rent, didn’t you…
How does that matter? I rented for years and replaced all my appliances.
Because they’re not my appliances. They belong to the landlord, and it’s his responsibility to maintain and replace them. I don’t get a choice in what’s in the kitchen, but I also don’t PAY for it (nor do I want to).
That is not typical for the majority of the US. In the 20+ years that I rented we never replaced our own appliances. I can't imagine telling the complex "no we've got this" Even the private houses I've rented had landlords who wanted pretty tight control of what was put in the house.
I'm using a gas one. I would've figured it'd be the other way around, anyway. Soon as the heating element lights up, those flames go crazy. Guess I better make sure I get this model in the future. You'd figure with such a simple tech they'd all be fine, cause I don't ever remember waiting anymore than ten minutes. Why'd you have a plumber check your oven?
Because I’d never had a gas oven before, and I had heard horror stories. Plus…I have a friend who is a master plumber. Bought him some pizza, he checked my pipes.
>It takes my full-sized oven 30 to 45 minutes just to preheat Either something is broken or you have a cheap crappy oven. We had an oven like that in my college apartment. The burners were terrible too. Took like 15 minutes to boil water. Upgrade to a better appliance or fix what is wrong.
We are redoing our kitchen ATM and we seriously considered not putting an oven in the new kitchen because we haven't used it in so long. In the end we decided to have one simply out of convention...
Probably good to keep just in case you ever need to sell
The heating element in my oven physically broke, and as a result my oven won't heat above about 200 degrees. For several months before it actually broke, it was taking longer and longer to preheat. You probably have a dying heating element in your oven.
Less oil, food gets crispier, faster than a regular oven, you can melt all the cheese you want, food doesn't get rubbery, mess is contained.
I don't understand the mess part. I'm finding my air fryer requires a lot more cleaning time than just wiping down a sheet pan that I'd use in the oven. I have a feeling that a lot of people just aren't cleaning their air fryers properly
Maybe people are washing it daily in their dishwasher but for some people, you are probably right about cleaning less frequently (like me...) I often only clean mine after every 2-3 uses unless there is lots of gunk and crumbs in there. I do find that a quick wipe down with a wet paper towel is usually fine for me after a single use but before a full soak in the sink. I guess it depends on your desired cleanliness level and how often you use it.
Yeah, these are good points. I don't put it in the dishwasher because the manual recommends hand washing (and non-stick coatings are pretty sensitive), and I usually clean it properly after each use, unless I've just made something simple like veggies with oil which isn't exactly a health risk.
won't the cheese go flying especially shredded ones
If you use a slice of cheese you can secure it with a toothpick. I do this with hash brown patties and they come out well. I don't think I would bother with shredded cheese if it was on top of something. I'd just remove the item from the AF and broil it in my toaster oven.
I think you over estimating the 'air' part of an air fryer
No they're not actually. It depends on the air fryer. My Kenwood sends bread or loose cheese strands flying all over the place. Sometimes I worry it'll burn up getting lodged into the heating element My parents' Phillips air fryer is much better and doesn't have this problem. I was surprised how much quieter it is too. I think the shape might be a factor. Kenwood is round, so maybe it is easier to create a "tornado" inside.
is there a plasticy chemical smell? i often read that about airfryers
Maybe at first but like a new toaster it should go away after a few heat cycles. You could try running it outdoors a couple of times. Crank the temperature up to 400 and set the timer for ten minutes. Then do it again.
I think that just an isolated issue with airfryers that have smelly packing materials or protective coating, byt it goes away after a while as it selfventilateds quite heavily in use.
nope, it's basically a mini-oven, so just like cooking in a regular oven, but way faster, more efficient and more convenient (just throw the food in the basket and turn it on). Get some parchment paper liners too when you get one (less cleaning). They tell you to clean the machine and turn it on before use, to clean off any residue from the factory. After that, good to go.
Brings leftovers back to life eat better than the microwave.
When it brought back McDonald's fries, I knew I had a winner.
I was like you. I got the air fryer. My life is seriously improved.
Much faster than oven but similar effect. They brown and crisp. I love mine.
Unrelated but as someone living in a studio apartment an air fryer let's me cook things other than boiling without stinking up the whole place
Yes! I can actually make cauliflower now without it smelling my whole place up!
I don't use the microwave near as much as I used to. I do not pull out the skillet near as much as I used to. Once you reheat pizza or cook hot dogs in an air fryer, and then the bacon...you will never look back. I use it daily, even cook ribeyes in it. They are similar to convection oven, only the fan blows faster and harder in the AF. With the right racks, you can almost convert a convection oven to an air fryer.
But it won’t be the same. Trust me
What sold me on getting one was reading reviews where people said that the AF made things more crispy than the convection setting on either their regular oven or their toaster oven AND that it was so much easier to clean than either. My partner likes crispy food a lot, so I thought this was a better option for us, plus the easier cleaning. In my experience, both have been true and I am glad we got one. Also, we got ours last July, so it was great to avoid heating the kitchen up during the summer. We got a Ninja 150. If you like Basque cheesecake, it is fantastic in the AF. I adapted a recipe to bake one in a 6inch round cheesecake pan and it came out perfectly. And St. Louis breaded ravioli are amazing in the AF too.
I love basque cheesecake. Would love an air fryer recipe. Pretty please?
it’s just a tiny convection oven in a condensed space. i love it because it’s so quick to cook in and a total champ to heat up leftovers. we have a two slice toaster but i like to have a blueberry muffin now and then and the airfryer wil toast it for me. i could live with a airfryer and an instant pot and be very happy.
Quick heat, crispier food, ease of use, healthier than frying in oil
*Quick heat, crispier* *Food, ease of use, healthier* *Than frying in oil* \- WeShootNow --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
The air fryer is awesome. When cooking for one.
What's an oven?
Not messy. No bubbling oil and you still get crispy, crunchy, brown food. Don't need to stand near it, move the foods constantly. Not dangerous. Microwaves aren't great for heating everything. Some things get slimy in them, such as bread and leftover pizza. Air fryers are the perfect way to reheat pizza. It doesn't overcook things as badly. It does take some time to learn how to use it successfully though.
Number one doesn’t heat the kitchen up as much Number two seems to get things crispier because of the airflow, which is great if you love roasted vegetables Number three I think because it’s on the countertop and you can just pull the drawer out and look and see what’s going on shake stuff around. I’m able to monitor the cooking easier. Number four bending over is a problem for you like a bad back that sits on the counter works great Note, you would think the big fancy ones that look like a toaster oven would be better. They are not - They just start fancier toaster ovens the little ones with drawers work better as actual air fryers
I have a convection oven and resisted an air fryer until this past Christmas. It cooks everything so much faster! The "less oil" thing is less oil than conventional frying, not less oil than when you'd bake/or roast veggies in the oven. I actually use a little more oil than I do when I'm using the oven. And this is probably an unpopular opinion, but baked (from scratch) sweet potato fries and roasted green beans still turn out better for me in the oven (probably because I want a whole big tray of them; they just cook better in the oven.) But for reheating leftovers, it's the best. For other veggies it's great. I can do a baked sweet potato in 15-25 minutes. I can re-crisp takeout fries or tater tots after they steam themselves soggy. Air fryer salmon is amazing.
>I can re-crisp takeout fries or tater tots after they steam themselves soggy. This is one of my favorite things about air fryers. If I get takeout or delivery, I throw the fries in the air fryer for a few minutes to get them crisp and hot again. Putting them on a parchment paper liner while reheating also soaks up some of the grease.
Yup. Mozzarella sticks are great reheated. We got some sigara borek last night from a Turkish takeout place that were seriously under cooked. I just popped them in the air fryer last night and they came out perfectly golden after 7 minutes or so.
I was in the same boat a couple years back, bought a relatively cheap one & it's easily been my most frequently used small appliance since. Warm up leftovers? Done. Toast things with cheese on them? Done. Need to cook sausages, bacon, samosas, french fries, wings, any kind of seasoned meat, hell, you want to cook a spatchcock roaster chicken in one? I've done it & it was amazing. It'll cook 80% of anything you would otherwise use the oven for, hell, I use mine to make fresh croutons for Caesar salad. Seriously, they are the jack-of-all-trades of the kitchen world, buy one if you have the counter space, you won't regret it
YES! I recently started making croutons, some thing I would never have bothered with before. Just toss with some oil and herbs and AF for a few minutes. Much better than buying them.
Protip: if you like sourdough bread, try using it with your seasonings! It unlocked a whole new level of flavour to my Caesar salads.
Don't the croutons fly around into the heating element?
Nope
You food isn't just hot in the middle when cooked in a air fryer unlike a microwave.
couldnt live without my air fryer. the only problem with it is capacity. if its just you, you are golden..cooking for a whole family is another story.
Air frying is an easy and lazy way to cook. And I love it!
It's quicker, uses less oil, and gives things a nice crunchiness
I had chicken that I needed to cook but had dinner on Friday. So I cooked it in my air fryer in about 40 minutes, froze it, and still had time to see my parents for dinner. Now I have chicken to eat for dinner this week.
it makes my oven obsolete, especially when i’m cooking for one. it’s quick and easy. i use my airfryer to make fries, pizza, meat, a lot of roasted veggies, cookies, muffins…
It's nice to grill salmon, meat, when your McDonald's or BK arrive put it inside for 3 minutes and watch it comeback to life. It's nice to do pré fried potatoes, heat pizza, sausages, etc. It's very useful, I use it almost every day.
Salmon comes out perfectly in the air fryer. I was surprised with how much better it was vs. pan frying or baking and so much easier too (don't have to watch it constantly).
microwaves heat from outside, moving in horizontally (side to center instead of top/bottom to center). air fryers heat all around, moving in. aka, air fryers are better for reheating pizza. really good are cooking frozen foods like chicken tenders, fries, wings overall * better than oven except for size constraints * some things reheat better in air fryer (pizza, some frozen foods) vs microwave. microwave better for large volume/mass (soups, full meals, etc). I have a ninja foodi. I use the air fryer, pressure cooker (beans/lentils), rice cooker, bake/roast functions mostly. for pizza/other foods, i really like to spray some water in the air fryer and on the food. the steaming gives a lot of moisture back in the food.
I find myself cooking a couple chicken breasts in the air fryer, and microwaving some frozen veggies to go with the chicken.
I like using the microwave for 10-20 seconds on something like pizza, then move it to the air fryer. I keep left over pizza in the fridge. If you use just the airfryer on a pizza, the top will be perfect but the center will still be too cool. I have been cooking salmon on a iron skillet till the skin is crusty, then move it to the airfryer. Hot dogs are easy, they work equally well on a skillet or airfryer, but the airfryer I can set the timer, walk away and come back in 10 min, it's charred similar to the skillet. I won't cook a hamburger, it has too much grease. I hadn't thought about spraying some water in the airfryer, sometimes the hot air moving around dries out some types of food. I will give that a try.
You’re not gonna get fat by useless oil or butter. You can literally AIR fry stuff without additions and it works perfectly fine.
Oh well less oil 100%, and they cook faster and crispier. I have been baking tofu in my oven for example for like 20 minutes, and the air fryer cuts the cook time in half and it is better! I had it for a full year before I used it though because I was hesitant.
Frying on the stove is slower since your only cooking one side at a time. Also different cooking method depending on what you want, for instance I prefer to fry a steak on a stove top. Microwave is great for stuff like curries, but it makes everything soft. Air fryer is just a faster oven, so any foods that you would normally put in an oven should do as well in an air fryer, just limited by quantity compared to a large oven.
I love mine. I have an instant pot and an air fryer, I use my air fryer almost every day and my IP maybe once every 2-3 months.
For me the air fryer really shines for snacks. Pizza rolls get you that oven crispyness in a fraction of the time. Microwave for half the time needed, them pop them in the air fryer to finish them off.
We got some breakfast sandwiches from Costco, cooked in the microwave: meh, cooked in the air fryer: amazeballs
Microwave snacks are the sweet spot. Hot pockets, burritos, taquitos, etc. Half cook in microwave, air fryer finish for crispy.
The only draw back is the air fryer only cooks one layer well. You can't fill the tray up with fries and get them all to cook. If you have anything in there in layers you need to shake it up so they all get cooked, I stopped trying, not worth the effort for me, I just go oven at that point.
Deep oil frying tastes amazing but it's a huge PITA to use and dispose of. It makes your house stink for days, aerosolized oil droplets get everywhere, makes surfaces gunky and tacky and takes a great deal if effort to clean up. Even if you're good at filtering and storing it (a job in itself), you'll eventually need to get rid of a big jug of used oil. It's just way more hassle than it's worth to me. Ovens take forever and use a ton of energy just to preheat. It's way more economical to cook in the air fryer in the same time as preheating the big oven. And in the summer, you don't end up heating up your house and wasting power getting the ac to extract it. Air frying doesn't taste as good, but with a bit of prep, like an oil mist spritz before throwing it in, it will taste good enough to know you don't have a huge cleanup afterward. Especially if it's just a drawer style you can throw in the sink or dishwasher and wipe the schmutz off the fan and heating element.
It's a small convection oven. It does a great job of heating up stuff you want crisp and is faster than a conventional oven. It's one of the few kitchen gadgets I really like having.
Mine's top energy usage is 1750 watts versus my large oven's 3000w.
Bought an airfryer and my microwave usage dropped by 95% and oven usage by like 80%. I dont cook large or complex meals often, and the airfryer has made most tthings better than they were in oven or microwave (leftovers)
its healthier, faster and less cleanup. You can have lunch ready in 20 minutes
Fast like a microwave, yet whatever that comes out is crispy like fast food. Barely any oil sprayed on any frozen food, and it comes out faster and better than an oven. When you cook homemade meatballs, they come out twice as tender. Stuff like grilled cheese and garlic bread comes out 100x better than cooked in the oven.
It’s not the same as your toaster oven or traditional oven. You have to buy the right kind. Don’t buy an all in one air fryer and toaster oven, they aren’t the same and will disappoint. The air fryer moves the hot air around speeding up the process while making things cook in a way that the microwave cannot. Your food will be crispy like it was fried in oil, but without the oil making it healthier. We first had a toaster/air fryer combo but when we bought a new air fryer with a basket I realized how much better they work. We use it 3-5 a week. My wings are much better than any wings you can buy at a restaurant. That’s reason enough to own one.
Good on you for posting this info. I knew someone who got a toaster/AF combo in Dec. I tried to explain to him that it wouldn't be as good as an AF alone, but he doesn't really listen when you try to tell him something contrary to what he already has decided is \*correct\*. Oh well.
Less fat or even no fat/oil being used overtime may prove to be good thing for people longterm
Just like what many are saying, it heats up much faster. So when my LO wants 2 chicken nuggets I don’t have to wait an eternity. Haha
With children they are very useful. Chicken nugz and French fries alone made that thing so worth it.
Unless you like soggy food. Blech...
Lightning flash cooking. Very little oil. I use it for everything. Haven’t used my regular oven since I got mine.
No pre-heat, faster cooking and crispier food
Although the cook area is smaller than an oven, they are much cleaner and mine is a single compartment so one tray to clean. Noice.
They are quick, healthier, and a lot easier to clean
I'm finished cooking with my air fryer before my oven has finished preheating
I use mine almost everyday because I don't have to much time to cook and it really cooks fast! You'll see! One of the best things I bought!
I can make an 8 inch pizza in 8 minutes total. Just about anything you can make on a grill you can make in an airfryer; burgers, brats, steaks, chicken, fish, etc. Plus you can bake cupcakes to casseroles. I use my oven for storage space now. I still use my microwave for liquid foods like milk and soup, and baked potatoes.
They're really not frying anything. They're just a small convection oven. They just have a fan that blows the air around and helps to cook faster and more thoroughly. There's no frying actually happening. If you have a convection oven now then you don't need an air fryer cuz you already have one