Some thoughts on my new Air Fryer

Youngatheart51

*hand up at the back of the class🙋🏻 *
My husband wants an af that does it all,says how it's cheaper to use (ie if dgc want a pizza for tea it takes longer to preheat oven than it takes to cook) I argue we already have a slow cooker & microwave & the type he wants is around £150. Also (& I apologise if I'm being really thick) I honestly don't get how roasting a chicken for example in less time than you would in an oven means the meat is safe to eat?

The size of pizza that will fit in an AF varies a lot from model to model, and obviously you can only cook one at once. It's fair to say that if you want to cook three pizzas you might find it's cheaper to use a normal over.

Blondiescot

My Ninja doesn't live on the worktop - it lives on a shelf underneath one of the kitchen windowsills, and is only popped onto the worktop when it's in use. I'm making a chicken and chorizo paella in mine today - done and dusted in less than 10 minutes. Same with risotto. I couldn't believe you could make risotto in a fraction of the time it takes to do conventionally, yet still taste just as good - but it does.

How do you cook risotto Blondiescot?

Nannashirlz

But if you had got the ninja you could have got rid of all the others because I can pressure cook roast bake dehydrate etc in my ninja mine is supposed to be for a family and they is just me lol I was thinking if family come. I’ve had mine ages in fact I love it that much I’ve also got the soup/blender maker and the kettle and the knife block set lol

I have a big Ninja but didn't buy the pressure cooking one as I already have an excellent pressure cooker, it's actually quite handy to be able to cook rice or potatoes whilst the rest of the meal is being "Ninjad". However if I ever need to replace mine I think I would buy one like yours!
I find that quite a few things are better airfried: chicken and oven cook fish and chips for example. And I have a grilling plate in mine so I can do excellent steak or chops. As I have a temperature probe I can also cook small joints to perfection. Is the pressure cooking version bit enough to take a larger joint?
Like M0nica I use ordinary dishes for things like sponge puddings and cakes and haven't had any breakages yet. My basket is rectangular so I need to use an oval dish.

I have had s basic one draw air fryer for a few years now. Amongst other things I do all my roast veg in it now, wouldn’t be without it. Only down side is it’s a bit bulky so takes up quite a bit of space.

My Ninja doesn't live on the worktop - it lives on a shelf underneath one of the kitchen windowsills, and is only popped onto the worktop when it's in use. I'm making a chicken and chorizo paella in mine today - done and dusted in less than 10 minutes. Same with risotto. I couldn't believe you could make risotto in a fraction of the time it takes to do conventionally, yet still taste just as good - but it does.

Nagmad2016

Are there any particular favourite makes? I would like one but I am afraid of choosing the wrong type/make. Any recommendations would be appreciated (if allowed). There are just the two of us, but we do eat quite a lot!

There are lots of threads on this, which might be worth a read to see what would suit you best. I posted near the beginning of this one about the differences between the Ninja-type ‘bucket’ ones and the ones with a door and shelves. It’s impossible to tell what would be best for you, but my own preference would be for the shelf type, if you already have a slow cooker and pressure cooker. If you haven’t got those, the Ninja does it all, but is less flexible when it comes to cooking more than one thing at once, and it is more difficult to take things out when it is hot. Someone else will disagree though.

Ps It’s about 10 x 12 inches base, 15 inches high, needs space round it for air.

I was happy with a small Remoska, until I got my Tower air fryer, which is really a very fast mini oven. (Drop down door, and 9”sq shelves) It cost just under £100. The Remoska is banished. I can now make fast and delicious crispy food, as it is a hot dry heat, with a thermostat, unlike the Remoska, which was slow and tended to stew meat rather than roast it. But, the Remoska uses 400 watts I think, the Tower is 2k. but isn’t heating constantly, and cooks better and faster and grills. Swings and roundabouts.

Are there any particular favourite makes? I would like one but I am afraid of choosing the wrong type/make. Any recommendations would be appreciated (if allowed). There are just the two of us, but we do eat quite a lot!

Susie42

If I had an airfryer I wouldn't have any worktop space as they all seem to be enormous.

Quite. Seems same to me.

Love my air fryer, gets used every day

If I had an airfryer I wouldn't have any worktop space as they all seem to be enormous.

I have a Tefal genius af thinking that the paddle would save having to give everything a shake as it cooked but I’m now feeling quite flummoxed by how to use it for anything except chips! Any gransnetters got one and make good use of it for lots of things?

M0nica is right - it doesn't matter what method of cooking you use, it's easy enough to test whether a chicken (or anything else, for that matter, is fully cooked through). For example, I can use my Ninja to cook a whole chicken in around half-an-hour using the pressure cook function followed by air crisp to crisp up the skin. The meat would literally be falling off the bone.

^I honestly don't get how roasting a chicken for example in less time than you would in an oven means the meat is safe to eat?

Quite simple, you take the chicken out of the air fryer, after cooking it for, I forget how many minutes shorter than usual, put a probe in to to check its cookedness, as you would when you put it in a large oven - and discover that the chicken is fully cooked through as throughly as if it had been in a larger oven for longer.

A cooked through chicken is a cooked through chicken is a cooked through chicken. How long it took to reach that stage is irrelevant and why should a thoroughly cooked through chicken cooked in an air fryer be any less safe than a throroughly cooked chicken cooked in a conventional oven?

Also useful for those part baked baguettes 5 mins at airfry and. Croutons for soup, I use home made bread cut into cubes, spray with oil and use hottest setting for 6 minutes.
Obviously do a lot more but these are two things I would resent heating up a whole big oven for.

hand up at the back of the class🙋🏻
My husband wants an af that does it all,says how it's cheaper to use (ie if dgc want a pizza for tea it takes longer to preheat oven than it takes to cook) I argue we already have a slow cooker & microwave & the type he wants is around £150. Also (& I apologise if I'm being really thick) I honestly don't get how roasting a chicken for example in less time than you would in an oven means the meat is safe to eat?

madeleine try sausages in your air fryer, really delicious!

I pressure cook my veggies and meats my jackets for ten minutes then 15 minutes in the oven of my ninja that’s when I’m also doing my yorkies they come out huge i do a lot of homemade bread scones etc too I got mine also from Qvc. My dishes from wilko and amazon but if you do egg on toast butter your bread before you crack your egg on top otherwise it will slide off my first thing I made lol it only takes 2 minutes

But if you had got the ninja you could have got rid of all the others because I can pressure cook roast bake dehydrate etc in my ninja mine is supposed to be for a family and they is just me lol I was thinking if family come. I’ve had mine ages in fact I love it that much I’ve also got the soup/blender maker and the kettle and the knife block set lol

Not sure why B9exchange causes you to be 'puzzled'Bluebell. Floradora9 obviously paid less than her daughters purchase of £200.00 , so you get so much with your air fryer according to price. One for less than £200.00 would do what Floradora's does. Quite simple really.

I had a basic air fryer which l used occasionally. I recently bought a Ninja Speedi, which is all singing all dancing . It does everything. I absolutely love it and haven't used my oven since buying it. I can do a whole meal in 15 minutes. A
consudwred purchase l know but l feel it was worth every penny of the £200.00 l paid for it.

I got a small airfryer a few years ago and loved it, so just after Christmas I treated myself to an oven type one with shelves. There are just the two of us and I haven't used the main oven since. I find that airfryer, slow cooker and microwave are all we need. Old oven is used for storage.

We bought cheap one from the middle of Lidl a year ago just to see how we would like it. The oven is hardly on at all now when it is just the two of us; the cooking time is less, plus there is no heating up time as with an electric oven. It is great for fish, jacket potatoes, roast veg, and my husband uses it to cook a rasher or two of bacon some mornings.

Hi everyone, I am really interested in comments and suggestions regarding AF's. I am on my third! The first was a single drawer, the 2nd a double drawer (1/3 & 2/3) sizes. Both from QVC which is great as you can try and return which I did. I now have a Instant vortex, I saw this and thought it was the best of all worlds as it has 2 drawers which cook separately and you can also sync cook however, you can remove the divider and use it as one large oven. It AF's roasts, bakes, grills and dehydrates. Only thing not so good is if you need to shake something you shake both drawers. I am still a novice but have achieved roast pots, fish, pies,scones and crumble. Not sure on veggies yet. All suggestions appreciciated