Air Fryers….honest opinions!

I have a basic one and use it most days. Only use the oven for baking or if I’m doing whole pizzas. But I would like to replace it with a bigger one with 2 drawers.

Use mine every day but find if you double stack the bottom tray doesn’t cook very well. Also pastry items are raw on the bottom.

I’ve had one for about 3 months, never used the oven since I bought it. I have a Tefal 2-in-one. It’s quite small, but fine for me. Single drawer with a tray inside, easy to clean. I’m not a great cook, so have mainly used it for chips, wedges, heating up quiche and pizza. I do plan to experiment a bit more. I tried cooking fish in it, but the result was a bit dry, I prefer to pan fry.

MissInterpreted

glammagran

Can anyone recommend a good cookbook that isn’t American?

Join some of the Ninja groups on Facebook - there are plenty of UK-based ones with great recipes on there. Pinch of Nom have just brought out a new air fryer cookbook too.

Thanks for that. I didn’t think of looking on FB.

I really don't think an air fryer is for me.

I'll wait a bit longer.

I find most of my air fryer recipes on Pinterest.

We were given one for Christmas and it sat in the garage for a year as I didn’t know what it could do. I had a go at roasting spuds and went on from there. It is particularly good for cooking small amounts quickly. I don’t use a liner and the drawer goes in the dishwasher so it’s much easier to clean than the oven.

I have an Instant Vortex Plus Dual Drawer Air Fryer with ClearCook and love it. I got the dual drawer as I am gluten intolerant so I can cook food for hubby and grandson in one drawer and use the second drawer for my food. I bought two silicone liners so I just have to put them in the dishwasher, or depending on what I’m cooking, I’ll use baking parchment or tinfoil tray. I rarely use my oven anymore.

I bought my first (drawer-type) air fryer about 4 years ago
I then replaced it with an oven-type almost 3 years ago because it gave me a lot more flexibility around the types of things I could cook in it.
This weekend, I replaced that with another oven-style machine, but this one does a lot more than the other one does, and it's also got a 30litre capacity, so will be able to manage bigger batches of whatever I'm doing in it.
Between an air fryer and an electric pressure cooker, I've not even opened the door to my main oven in around 6 years!

What a waste to just use it for those things!

I love mine. Use it daily at least. It's a quick and reliable way to cook lots of things, plus provide extra capacity when doing a big meal (I only have a single oven). Meat tends to stay moist and things brown more evenly. Husband was very skeptical, but now a convert.

I wouldn't be without mine! Saves me money time and energy (my own and electricity)

I just received one yesterday and tried it out for the first time cooking breasts of chicken. Yes, it was fast and easy and had plenty of space when cooking for two. I'm not a fan of appliances but I will try to use it again. It does need cleaning after each use (sides and top) which my oven does not. Seems to be a healthier way to cook since any grease drips down into the bottom, removable, catch-tray. The chicken was incredibly moist when done. I might gift it onward again since I don't like the clutter of appliances in my kitchen.

I just found out I was using it wrong. Now I have put on my glasses and read the manual, I like it. Just removed my toaster, microwave and toaster oven from the kitchen since those appliances are no longer needed.

You will still need your microwave. You cannot defrost anything in an air fryer, nor reheat, say, a cup of coffee. I still use my microwave when baking potatoes to save energy and time. 5 minutes in the microwave and 20 minutes in the air fryer. An air fryer takes 45 minutes or more to bake a potato from scratch.

You also cannot cook vegetables in an airfryer unless you are roasting them. I cooked some cauliflower to perfection in my microwave yesterday. I couldn't have done that in an airfryer.

Getting rid of a micro wave because you have an airfryer, would be like getting rid of your hob because you have bought an oven.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202407/medium-818152-liners.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202407/medium-555515-paper-liners.jpg

I have no cleaning problems with my AF, because I use silicone liners and often a greaseproof paper one too, which is usually the only thing that gets dirty. These extras don't impede the cooking at all.

I just bung mine in the dishwasher. It is one of the saucepan type.

I don't have a dishwasher, so avoid having to clean the main drawers. They still look like new after daily use for 8 months.

I really don’t think there’s an issue with cleaning at all. A quick wipe round the interior and exterior after every use once cool enough should prevent any build up of grease and gunge. The removable parts are easy to wash either by hand or dish washer, whatever your preference. Now, if you left the gunk to build up …

No issue with cleaning, Mine doesn't get that dirty. A quick swill under the hot tap wth a bit of detergent is all it ever needs, but as I have a dishwasher, I put it in it.

M0nica

You will still need your microwave. You cannot defrost anything in an air fryer, nor reheat, say, a cup of coffee. I still use my microwave when baking potatoes to save energy and time. 5 minutes in the microwave and 20 minutes in the air fryer. An air fryer takes 45 minutes or more to bake a potato from scratch.

You also cannot cook vegetables in an airfryer unless you are roasting them. I cooked some cauliflower to perfection in my microwave yesterday. I couldn't have done that in an airfryer.

Getting rid of a micro wave because you have an airfryer, would be like getting rid of your hob because you have bought an oven.

My Cosori AF has a 'Reheat' function, as well as a 'Defrost' function. As with so many other things, these appliances have evolved in design. I seldom use my microwave.

Mine also bakes frozen croissants in 15 mins. Start to finish and they're perfect

I don't cook a lot of the things that the air fryer does quickly.

I know I'd be lazy about cleaning it, too.

I do find cleaning my Ninja fryer lid a pain. The stands and things are fine, easy to take out and wash. But because I cook meat quite a lot the lid behind the element gets very greasy. I had to buy special tools to take the element off so that I could clean behind it.

If all you are doing is reheating pastries and things it won't get so dirty. I suspect cooking veg won't cause an issue either, or anything that uses the steamer lid (very easy to clean).

Thank you.
My flat is very dusty, and I can just picture it sticking to any grease.

I'm enjoying the thread though.