Air Fryers?

Lovetopaint037 this hopefully is the link to a recent thread about air fryers. I love mine and have used it daily since I bought it a couple of months ago. It’s a fairly basic Tower 4.2litre. Supposed to be family size but it wouldn’t hold the meal you describe. Perhaps the more multi function ones are what you’re looking for and someone might be along to offer suggestions.

www.gransnet.com/forums/aibu/1306688-Your-fav-Air-fryer-recipies

I have a Ninja Foodi 14 in 1, and am just getting used to it.

You could cook fish and chips in it by using a rack, with the fish on the top and chips in the air fry basket. I've made a countess pudding, which is a sort of cake, and that turned out well, and I've just air fried a whole chicken for a salad, and that went well too. The Ninja Foodi has pressure cooker slow cooker functions as well as the fryer, but I prefer to use my existing one. That may just be that I am used to them, though, and friends who went straight to the Ninja before getting PCs or SCs say that they work well. Actually, I steam crisped the chicken, which is a sort of cross between pressure cooking and air frying, and it is very juicy.

I got mine to save fuel, and although we haven't had a bill since I got it, I'm sure it will. They are small to heat up, and the chicken only took about 40 mins (it was a very small one) from start to finish, whereas it would have been at least an hour from turning on the oven to taking it out.

Oh, and if you are planning to use it as a pressure cooker a lot, you might want to go for the 15 to 1, as it has an automatic pressure release feature which would be handy. That model was an extra £100 when I got mine, though, and I think the only differences are the automatic thing and a meat temperature probe in the more expensive one. As I have an Instant Pot pressure cooker I didn't think it was worth the extra.

Thank you so much Grannynannywanny for that link. It is full of interesting info. Ninja was mentioned several times in a positive way. Looking at Amazon I had been put off somewhat by reviews on Amazon saying that the customer service was dreadful. I will look at them again. Tefal was mentioned and I saw another by Vortex . I must find somewhere to look at them as I would like an idea of what impact they will have on my kitchen top!!! Thank you Doodledog for your suggestion about a rack and the pressure cooking idea although I had a pressure cooker many years ago which scared the life out of me.

We just got a Ninja Foodi multi cooker from Amazon and have hardly used our oven since. It makes the most delicious baked potatoes and cooks a chicken in an hour. We cooked chips last Saturday they were very successful too, we used very little cooking oil. It has 14 functions but I don’t think we will use them all. We were able to pay in interest free instalments and know that if we have a problem Amazon will deal with it.

Lovetopaint037. We have used Amazon for many years and have been very happy with their customer service. I bought our two grandchildren a children’s Tablet a few years ago which were guaranteed for two years even against damage. Our grandson was heartbroken when he dropped his and broke the screen but we contacted Amazon and they replaced it without any question, it arrived the next day. I bought an iPad from them and after six months I had a problem with it charging. I contacted Amazon and they responded straight away saying as it was supplied by a third party they couldn’t have it back to fix but would refund me in full, they sent a postage label with the response. As soon as they received the faulty iPad they paid the money into my account and I was able to buy a new iPad which has lasted manybyears. Because we have Amazon Prime we never have to pay postage for deliveries and most things are delivered the next day, if we aren’t happy with anything we just download the bar code onto our phone and take the package to our local shop which accepts Amazon returns. The only negative thing about them is that they use too much cardboard and paper in their packaging but at least we can put it in the recycling.

Jane43 I misled you when I said Amazon service had been criticised. Like you I love Amazon Prime. What was being referred to was Ninja customer service and Amazon said the problem should be referred to them. Since posting I settled on buying the Ninja AF 400 which is a dual drawer 9and a half litre model. I was going to buy it from Curry’s but they had just sold out, Amazon couldn’t deliver until June, John Lewis the same and also Very all sold out. The only place to offer one was Argos so ordered one to pick up at a Sainsburys later this week. Hopefully it will be okay. Will have some fun trying it out and so pleased you are so satisfied with yours. Looking forward to cutting down on my oven use. The cost of putting it on so often is a little worrying with the fuel costs. Thank you for your help.

Collected my Ninja dual drawer (AF400) yesterday and air fried breaded fish and sweet potato chunks (chopped them up myself). Today I made some scones. I used a normal recipe and just shortened the time and they were fine. Also baked a M&S quiche which fitted in one of the drawers perfectly. My only trouble is that I have had trouble trying to change time and temperature and then I found I had to really give it sharp short heavy hits. Yesterday I synched two programmes but today trying to match the two drawers didn’t work. It must be me and the way I am doing it so it is still work in progress. The results have been really good.

Lovetopaint037, I had to contact Ninja Customer Service when I broke the basket of my Ninja. There was a bit of to-and-froing because it was a Christmas gift from my son and daughter in law, so I didn't have the receipt. Once that was sorted, they were very efficient and sent me a replacement at no cost.

That is so encouraging GrandmaKT. Thank you for that. I filled in the online guarantee so hope that will help. Loving it so far, my only problem is that I haven’t got the hang of the timer and temp switches. They need a sharp high impact to work and the second drawer didn’t come on today when I tried pressing it. It did yesterday (only collected it yesterday.).

We bought the Ninja dual zone air fryer for DD for Christmas. She loves it and uses it daily. She discovered that you can cook gnocchi in it, and won't make it any other way now.
The Salted Pepper YouTube channel has loads of recipes and demonstrations for the foodi, grill and air fryer. She also has Facebook groups for the various ninja products which are very useful when you are new to air frying.

I can understand your DD loving her Ninja MiniMoon. That was a lovely present. I will look at the Salted Pepper You Tube channel. It’s really a good way to revitalise our meals and it’s fun. Yesterday cooked red onion sausages and also matched some little cakes so managed 12 - six in each drawer. ( Not different but it’s an experiment every day). Aim to reduce using the oven by various means. Scones were lovely although using my usual recipe with time adjusted. Cakes were light but browned on the top only. They were in silicone so that was the reason I should think. Bought the cup cake size as could only get those in Lakeland and they are smaller than I usually make but dh enjoyed them.

I have a tower basic small air fryer. Only myself at home. I can make a breakfast of sausage bacon tomato and mushrooms in there in 10 minutes

Yum, yum Happygirl. Sounds great.

I also live on my own and my small air fryer is the best thing since sliced bread. I have not used many double electric ob=ven since Christmas and I am certain my air fryer has paid for itself since I bought it late last November.

I am no cook but even I was thinking I could make bread in it. I use it most days and now I am used to it, it is so easy and clean.

Love to know how the bread/ rolls turn out.

Still using my Ninja A400 and loving it. Tried all sorts and so far everything has been great. Got the hang of pressing the controls and everything works well.

Decided to get one of these machines to save using main oven for one small item,. Purchased a compact Tower one, = just me here. Most evenings my main meal consists of a large salad and either fish or chicken.
Fist (Salmon usually) cooks in microwave for less than three minutes. Chicken I will try in this airfryer. Last night had a salmon fishcake and this was cooked perfectly in less than 15 minutes in there.

I rarely have any fried food, which i why I have not bought one of these machines earlier - but reading of uses on here and other thread realised that it will be ideal for single portions that would, otherwise, need the main oven.

I note your delicious sounding breakfast HappyGirl - but TBH, I could cook that with no added fat on my hob in less than ten minutes, using just one wipe clean pan.

I note the removable base in my Tower drawer. Are there any recipes in which this should NOT be used does anyone know?

I have the smallest tower, 2litre. I can squeeze in a salmon fillet wrapped in foil plus a few sweet potato chips that I have part cooked first. I have bought a second identical tower as they have a small foorprint and are light, so I can cook a bigger meal.

I found small cake tins and will happily bake a cake in one. Also small round foil dishes are good. It is ideal for one person but even so, I do like that I have another so I could have two on the go at the same time. They are very economical with energy, max is 1 kwh, I usually use much less than full power and generally only 15-20 minutes. My electricity consumption has gone down considerably

I already had a good pressure cooker so a tower air fryer is a good compliment to that

Charleygirl, I am a breadmaker, it is in my genes. I would not use an air fryer to bake a loaf from scratch, maybe mini rolls would be just about ok. Bread really needs all around heat, not just top heat plus the air flow will stop the yeast rising that well. I would use one to bake bought part-baked rolls

I think the title puts some people off because it does not fry, it is hot air which is used to cook the food.

I occasionally buy items which cannot be cooked in my microwave but would take up little space in my double oven but take over 30 minutes, such as Tempura prawns including heating time. I pop them from frozen in my air fryer and they are ready in 10- 12 minutes.

To date I have halved the air frying time on items for a double oven and for me, with trial and error it has worked out.

@franbern.I agree however the hob uses quite a bit more in energy than my little airfryer

I love my Ninja Max and use it most days but am frustrated at trying to keep the area behind the heating element clean. The basket and crisping plate are very easy to clean, just need a quick soak in hot soapy water before rinsing and all the grease and food bits are gone.

But there is an area behind the element that is now quite greasy, it’s the fan and a metal backing plate which form part of the lid. I struggle to get through the rings of the heating element to clean that area, I can’t get a standard bottle brush through the rings not a cloth. All I can do is wipe the outer edges but I’m worried about grease building up in the impossible to reach areas.

Researching online, this appears to be a common problem and no one has come up with a solution. I turn my fryer upside down to reach as much as I can and I am currently looking for a small bendy bottle brush and long handled cotton buds to help - having fat sausage fingers makes access even more difficult!

Any suggestions?

Bread really needs all around heat, not just top heat plus the air flow will stop the yeast rising that well.

I don't understand that statement. My oven has an element at the top and a fan. So does my air fryer. What is different?