Suggest an Air Fryer

Digigear

Digigear

Disciple
Not sure if this is a valid question. But I'm looking to buy an air fryer.

These are my priorities:-
  1. Value for money
  2. Capacity (Volume and power)
  3. Ease of use
Quite simple really.

I was thinking of getting the Kenstar Aster-N air fryer, but just as I was typing this post, I found the Havells AirOven, which is of course more expensive, but comes with greater capacity and has the option of having multiple racks. I also think it would be easier to make pizzas in this. And I wouldn't have to flip stuff because it comes with a rotesserie basket. I wouldn't mind paying almost double if it meant I would have better experience through many years.

I'm looking for recommendations from those who have used air fryers before. This would be my first. Kindly let me know.
 
tapestry said:
hi @Digigear, which one did you go for? could you share your experience? thanks
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Haha ended up not getting it. I just kept seeing reviews from people who were disappointed by the quality and taste of the food made with it. It just comes out dry and not as delicious. Plus not necessarily more healthy because you'd be consuming starch from the potatoes or whatever you're cooking.

I thought I'd just eat healthy generally and if I needed to indulge I'd go for the tastier ways of eating those foods. ‍♂️

Also if you must go for it, you should rather get a convection microwave. They do a lot of the same. At least I think.

Overall verdict, they're not that worthy of having a separate dedicated device.

I will say howeber that i recently got myself a Sandwich maker/panini press type device which is useful for making sandwiches and toasts and I will recommend that in a heartbeat. It is so easy to make super nice sandwiches with it and I use it a lot.
 
My brother and his friends used one for quite some time. For the most part, it was used to cook pre-cooked frozen stuff, which one would otherwise fry, like burger patties, french fries etc. If one already has a convection oven, then that is a more versatile appliance IMO.
 
rdst_1 said:
My brother and his friends used one for quite some time. For the most part, it was used to cook pre-cooked frozen stuff, which one would otherwise fry, like burger patties, french fries etc. If one already has a convection oven, then that is a more versatile appliance IMO.
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One of the main reasons I was interested in this was to have healthier ways of consuming stuff that would be fried otherwise. But if you're gonna eat frozen processed food on the regular enough to warrant owning a fryer for it, there's not a significant point cooking it in healthy ways lol
 
tapestry said:
hyperlink doesn't seem to work. would you suggest any option for a sandwich maker?
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Here's the link -

KENT 16025 Sandwich Grill 700W | Non-Toxic Ceramic Coating | Automatic Temperature Cut-off with LED Indicator | Adjustable Height Control, Black, Standard https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07GWTWFS2..._dl_5E7C0RYD2N7MB6T6JPT1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


There are actually a lot of other products but you need to be very careful. A lot of them come with less than ideal types of material and/or aren't the ideal size. I went for this one because of the ceramic material. It's best for health reasons and easier to clean and also this one is the perfect size to fit 2 sets of Sandwich with large breads at the same time. Some of the other options only take regular sized breads. It also adjusts for taller sandwiches by design.

And this one does cook relatively evenly and has an auto switch off mechanism which works perfectly. You might get better results if you flip the sandwiches inside out after it turns off for super even toast because the center does cook more than the outside.
 
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Air "fryer" - wrong term, and thats why not so great results/reviews.
They should call it air convection "roaster".

Frying = using oil to heat the surface of food. Hot oil rapidly transfers heat to the surface of the food. Which in terms heats the internals (because the food will have water content). This internal water becomes steam and cooks everything (at 100 deg C) - as long as the food has moisture. The bubbles that you see while frying is the steam escaping. Outside surface is exposed to higher temperatures and thus results in maillard reaction, caramelization etc - which enhances taste.

Now in "air fryer" there is no oil. Air gets heated and is forcibly thrown against the food surface. Heat transfer though is hundred times better than grill / tandoor oven and ten times better than convection oven (due to high speed air in air fryer compared to low speed air in convection) - it cannot match the heat transfer that happens with hot oil. So what you end up with is higher exposure time (in order to compensate for poorer heat transfer) and thus the food looses too much moisture and becomes hard/dry/chewy. What one should do is to cut the food into small bite sized chunks and then use the air fryer.
 
Air Fryer is great if you know what to use it for and how to use it (see youtube videos to decide if that's your use case). I use it a lot for dehydrating purposes.
 
Air fryer is a great equipment and you have to learn how to use it. Food items will become dry if you cook at higher temperature than required for more time than required. Every air fryer is different and you have to spend some time experimenting with the temp and time settings to understand the air fryer.

There are a lot of Youtube channels which have indian recipes made in air fryer.

I have the Havells basket type air fryer. I ak quite happy with it. Cake turns out quite good in it (and takes less time than convection oven/OTG because of the smaller cavity of the air fryer)
 
hotshot05 said:
Air fryer is a great equipment and you have to learn how to use it. Food items will become dry if you cook at higher temperature than required for more time than required. Every air fryer is different and you have to spend some time experimenting with the temp and time settings to understand the air fryer.

There are a lot of Youtube channels which have indian recipes made in air fryer.

I have the Havells basket type air fryer. I ak quite happy with it. Cake turns out quite good in it (and takes less time than convection oven/OTG because of the smaller cavity of the air fryer)
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It's faster but serving portions are also small, right? Maybe fine for one person but it gets inconvenient if you got more mouths to feed, no?

Also the temp settings being right leading to better output is something I haven't heard before. Let's say you do it right, is the taste and how well it is cooked gonna compare to more conventional ways of cooking?

Also what about even cooking? Because in the videos I've seen unless you put in ridiculously small amounts of food in the already small chamber it doesn't do well in the even cooking department.

I'm asking more out of curiosity than making a point fyi. I only have second hand information, so can't be too confident.
 
Digigear said:
It's faster but serving portions are also small, right? Maybe fine for one person but it gets inconvenient if you got more mouths to feed, no?

Also the temp settings being right leading to better output is something I haven't heard before. Let's say you do it right, is the taste and how well it is cooked gonna compare to more conventional ways of cooking?

Also what about even cooking? Because in the videos I've seen unless you put in ridiculously small amounts of food in the already small chamber it doesn't do well in the even cooking department.

I'm asking more out of curiosity than making a point fyi. I only have second hand information, so can't be too confident.
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I'll throw my two cents in here. I was looking at getting an air fryer. Ended up ditching the idea because I already had a convection oven. Just followed the temperature settings but changed the timings mentioned for airfryers for my oven.

It's not going to taste as good as just deep drying. It's always going to be slightly drier texture wise when being chewed into. I've tried the usual frozen stuff; nuggets, fries etc. I've tried lightly brushing them with oil/spraying oil, just cooking them without any oil too [in the case of frozen meats like kebabs/nuggets]. I'd say it gives you about 70-80 percent of the taste? Granted, the oil used is obviously lesser than deep frying so in that case it is definitely "healthier". Especially if you consume a lot of them. Depending on how picky you are about food I'd say it is good enough to satisfy cravings.

The real downer is the prep time. In the case of a fryer it's pretty much cook for 10-20 mins [but small batches of food] . In the case of my oven it's an additional 10 mins of pre-heating first so 20-30 mins. Granted, it's usually unsupervised cooking after the food is put in to cook. But compared to deep frying where the food is ready in 5-10 mins that is a potential downside. Regarding cooking big batches/even cooking- I'm using a 40L oven so I can have things spread across two trays for more even cooking and even bigger batches can be done without any hassle.
 
rdst_1 said:
My brother and his friends used one for quite some time. For the most part, it was used to cook pre-cooked frozen stuff, which one would otherwise fry, like burger patties, french fries etc. If one already has a convection oven, then that is a more versatile appliance IMO.
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I have a convection Oven(Samsung) and I know a friend with an Air fryer(Philips). Used both products extensively and there is a big difference in the output.
Convection oven can certainly do what air fryers can do, but will take a lot more time than a air fryer(2x-3x time) and the output isn't the same.

For example, in the airfryer, mccain fries get cooked within 10 minutes on 200C and in my oven it takes around 20-25 minutes on 200C without adding the time it takes to take it out and flip the food multiple times. Even then, the fries made in air fryer are more crispy and taste better.

Convection Ovens are good for baking, nothing beyond that.
 
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