Why do you use an airfryer?

it is quicker, and if cooking roast potatoes or chips they only need to be lightly coated in oil, so it's healthier, also chicken fillets don't take as long to cook,

Mine is more than just an airfryer - it's a Ninja Foodi 9-in-1, so I use the other functions a lot too, especially the pressure cooker. Makes fantastic soups, stews, risottos etc in a fraction of the conventional cooking time.

Why? To save time and money.
I am on my own. I don’t know when I last used my oven. I’ve been told you can even bake a cake in an airfryer. I don’t bake, so I’m not sure

To save money (we have a gas oven), to save time and it’s easier to use and to clean. I often use just the Air fryer and the microwave to make a meal. I’m a reasonable cook, but I’ve made so many meals over the years - and there’s usually only the two of us now. I use the cooker if the family come round.

Our is a pressure cooker too. We used it every day. We make soups, stews, we boil eggs in it, cook veg, make scones. We cook fish, pies, chips, sausage rolls etc - most things you can cook in an oven. We only really use the oven on Boxing Day when we have a few people round.

Rarely use my oven its the airfryer and hob to do veg or stews. Its quicker easy to clean and uses less electric than a larger oven. So i use it for quickness and if i save on the the electric too its win win.

Crazyh yes you can bake a cake in the airfrier, I was a bit wary at first, but I tried a lemon drizzle cake and it came out lovely,

I live alone so only cook for one. Why use time and power to heat the oven when you can produce any of the same meals in a fraction of the time with an air fryer? There is a misconception that users live on chips and junk food.
If I had my time again I would buy one with a full width dividable drawer to sometimes take a family sized baking dish rather than my dual drawer.
The element of my fan oven failed months ago and I still haven't got around to getting it repaired because I just don't need to use it.
I imagine you would need your oven, Kitty, as you have family visiting all the time, but when it is just the two of you you would find the AF quick and easy.
I am having salad today so have made some croutons in 3 minutes. You wouldn't bother turning on the oven for that!

I have baked cakes, made those bread rolls someone on GN gave a recipe for, apple or rhubarb crumbles as well as main meals I cook my toast in there of a morning
It’s quicker, it’s cheaper, and it’s cleaner just take out the tub shelf and wipe it over, ovens are the pits for cleaning
Haven’t used my oven for 2 and a half years since I bought an Airfryer
Like Luckygirl I m on my own but my children all use them in family situations.
Things like stir fries, omelettes, pancakes, noodle dishes I use my hob Rice I ve got a rice cooker but my Airfryer which is a basic one is used every day

Fast pre-heating (my oven takes ages), less oil for "fried" items (I make chips fresh in mine in 20 mins with light spray of olive oil, no need for ghastly frozen ones), bake muffins in 16 minutes ... so I guess I'm saving money too. Easy to clean compared to the oven.

I don't have an airfryer. I find the name a bit misleading. We don't eat much fried food, chips, things in breadcrumbs, pastry. I thought it was literally a fryer. I don't know what I would use one for.

Our friends have one. They made sausages and bacon in it for us once. It took just as long as it would have done under the grill.

I have an instant pot, it will fry, roast, bake, pressure cook, slow cook and more.

I use mine to save electricity and time.

PinkCosmos

I don't have an airfryer. I find the name a bit misleading. We don't eat much fried food, chips, things in breadcrumbs, pastry. I thought it was literally a fryer. I don't know what I would use one for.

Our friends have one. They made sausages and bacon in it for us once. It took just as long as it would have done under the grill.

The name is misleading. They don't actually 'fry' things in the conventional sense, but use hot air to cook the food. It's definitely quicker to cook most things.

They are basically a mini oven.

Air fryers are cheaper to run, and cook quicker. And healthier.
I don't use my oven anywhere near as much these days.

The word fryer is misleading.
It’s simply a small electric oven. You don’t fry oven chips, or cakes or lemon meringue pies or roasted vegetable or meringues or bread or biscuits, or joints of meat.
It wastes no time or fuel heating up.
E.g. Half the cooking time for cooking a pizza in a gas oven is taken up by pre heating the oven, which uses more gas. A third of the time for cooking oven chips, is used for pre heating the oven.
My first air fryer took 2 to 3 minutes to heat up (the blue light went out).
I love our current one. You can cook two separate parts of the meal at different times and different heats or I can take the centre panel out and use the trays at which ever height I want them.

As people say the term airfryer is a bit of a misnomer, mine also roasts, bakes, reheats and dehydrates. My single oven is quite a large one and it seems overkill to have it for, say, two jacket potatoes. Instead, I microwave the potatoes then finish them off for ten minutes in the airfryer. The difference in cost is very noticeable on my energy monitor.

They are quicker and easier than using the oven or grill for small or single portions and perfect for making pommes parmentier. We never had those before I bought an airfryer.

I will use it this evening to cook some bought fishcakes for supper. Two fit in nicely, will cook crisply without me having to keep an eye on them to stop them burning.

I just have a small airfryer. For me it is the euivalent of having a slow cooker, it is another way of cooking something without having to constantly monitor it and check that it isn't burning or needs the oven turned up a bit, and so on.

pably 👍

To save money. I could see my electricity bill drop when I started using it.

Much cheaper to run. We can tell from our smart meter monitor.

Cheaper than turning your oven on if you are cooking, say goujons.

kittylester

Following on from the aurfryer recipes thread, I started to wonder why people choose to use one.

Some people seem to only us their airfryer - never, or rarely, the main oven. I wonder why?

Is it to save money, time, a dislike of cooking?

We have an aurfryer but it would not be my main source of cooking. My range cooker has a tall fan oven wuth a small capacity. That is the one I use the most - which suppose it not too different from using the airfryer all the time.

How, and why, do you use yours?

Hi I use mine to save both time and money. It’s also easier for me than my main oven as I have a few health issues as well. It’s been a godsend

To save time and money. Why heat up an oven if you can use an airfryer!