The air fryer hype train shows no signs of slowing down and with Cyber Monday deals advertised all over the place, thats no surprise. But with such concerted marketing campaigns, its smart to wonder if you should even bother.
Im saying that from personal experience. I was an air fryer skeptic for years. When I worked on other magazines testing vacuums and lawn mowers, I would scoff a little when colleagues would go off to the test kitchen to review an air fryer. I always thought of them as tiny heaters with a little heating element. In my mind, an air fryer was little more than a step up from an Easy-Bake Oven.
But when I finally caved in last year and bought a big 8 quart model, everyday use totally changed my mind. Even when I recently switched to a humble 2 quart, Ive found that a good air fryer is faster and easier to use than an oven. If you want a quick, no-fuss evening meal, one of these will do the the job for you.
Theyre not perfect. Even the best air fryer cant replace a full sized oven. There are also legitimate health concerns surround these ovens. However, from my experience as product tester, as someone who uses an air fryer daily, and chatting to chefs and energy efficiency experts, Ive been converted.
Do air fryers actually save money on your utility bills? (Image credit: Future PLC)
Another place to be skeptical about air fryers is energy efficiency. Theyre often touted as reducing your energy consumption but Ben Dhesi, an expert in saving energy, says that any utility cost savings are generally minimal and contingent upon usage habits.
Hypothetically, air fryers are more economical than an oven. Air fryers heat much faster, so little preheating is needed; money and energy could be saved at that point, says Ben. He adds that Air fryers also use less oil, so the ingredient savings could offset some energy costs.
But Ben ultimately told me that though air fryers are much faster than an conventional oven, the shorter cook times likely wont outweigh the wattage difference between a 1200-1400W air fryer versus a 2000-5000W oven. He concluded that while air fryers are more energy efficient for smaller tasks, they likely wont make a significant dent in most households utility expenses.
Its definitely slightly cheaper to use an air fryer for your tater tots than firing up a big convection oven, but ultimately youll save a few cents. If you were planning on booking a vacation with the money you save on your utilities, think again.
Ben Dhesi, the creator of the energy-saving mobile app HUGO, built his career providing energy-saving software to businesses. He has won two ‘Energy Buyer of the Year’ awards and the Energy Awards ‘Energy Technology Innovation of the Year’.
I think you should be very skeptical about some of the claims that air fryers are healthier. They use less oil, sure, but ultimately the difference is tiny.
Compared to a deep fryer, there are fewer calories. Thats simply because air fried food uses less oil. But calories in themselves arent bad, and lots of air fryer food is ultimately the same as a deep fryer. Air fryers are great for quickly cooking frozen fries, but a French fry is a French fry. Delicious, sure, but the trans fats and additives are all still there.
More significant are worries about air fryer toxicity. When we looked into claims that air fryers are toxic, we found that they can be toxic, but under very limited circumstances. Most air non-stick fryers use PTFE, PFOA, and PFOS chemicals (think Teflon). Its not yet proven, but when heated, these chemicals can enter your food and have been linked to reproductive and developmental issues. However, this can only happen if your air fryer is scratched or damaged, so the likelihood is very low. If youre worried, some air fryers use stainless steel, like the Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid.
Are air fryers just glorified convection ovens?
Chef Dennis Littley told me that the main difference between air frying, baking, and roasting is the circulation of hot air. Air frying blows hot air directly onto the food from all sides for crisping but baking relies on ambient heat in the oven. Roasting uses hot air but at lower temperatures than air frying.
That means that an oven can bake and roast low and slow in a way an air fryer cant match. Weve roasted whole chickens in our air fryer tests and they always come out slightly drier than the equivalent recipe in an oven, because youre essentially broiling an entire chicken. Air fryers are much faster than traditional ovens, but theyre far worse for baked dishes.
Whats more, after testing a fair few of these, Ive found that lots of air fryers have separate baking, air frying, and roasting functions. Youd think these would mean an air fryer can bake like an oven, but Im yet to see any real difference between these air fryer functions. Thats because they all use the same basic method. Almost all air fryers have two broilers above and below the basket and fan to whip the hot air around and bake. Thats the same process across all of these functions, so the difference between any of them is either tiny or non-existent.
Chef Dennis Littley is a classically trained chef with 50+ years of experience in the kitchen, who shares his time-tested recipes, knowledge, and chef tips to help you create easy-to-make restaurant-quality meals in your home kitchen.
The TRUTH about Air Fryers
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