Do you own and use an air fryer? Are you in love with it? Why? What's all this "you gotta have it!" noise about?
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It doesn't do anything that other appliances I own don't do, but it does them way, way faster, and to clean it I just put 3 pieces in the dishwaser. Couldn't be easier
I have one of the countertop convection oven style ones. It's a 13 quart model from Costco. Gets up to 400F. Came with a rotisserie basket that makes the best wings and fries you've ever made at home.
I don't think I'll use the oven except for cooking turkeys.
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I've got one. They are a mini convection oven that is the modern replacement for a toaster oven. Great for small items that would normally go in the oven like a few chicken fingers. The "fryer" name is nothing but marketing and there is no comparison with foods like chips or wings cooked in a deep fryer.
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There is no frying, that’s more a marketing gimmick. It’s just a mini convection oven. If you’re doing single serve stuff it’s much faster than starting up the oven and cleaning the oven of spattering. I have a Ninja and it’s one of the most used appliances in my household maybe even more than the microwave. For $100 it was totally worth it. If you’re cooking large dishes that actually require the oven then the oven has its place but from a day to day standpoint the airfryer is so quick. Wings = 15 minutes, chicken breasts maybe 20 minutes, fries, 12 minutes. It’s very useful. I have an instant pot and that’s kinda gimmicky and poorly designed in many ways button wise.
I had one. It didn’t suit my wife’s old-school cooking style so we handed it off to our daughter who finds it more useful occasionally. She also prefers cooking a complete meal from scratch when she has the time.
Air fry is designed for fast fry of prepared foods.
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We've got a Ninja Foodi that is more like an indoor grill than an air fryer but basically it's the same thing as others have said; a small convection oven.
We use it quite a bit, faster and uses less energy than the oven if all we want to do is grill some chicken or roast some veggies.
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I've got one. They are a mini convection oven that is the modern replacement for a toaster oven. Great for small items that would normally go in the oven like a few chicken fingers. The "fryer" name is nothing but marketing and there is no comparison with foods like chips or wings cooked in a deep fryer.
I think this is mostly true. Most air fryers (not to be confused with an acti-fry which is a totally different product) are like a mini convection oven with a slight "extra" feature that allows it to be a slight step towards a deep fryer. This is done with the ability to push quite a bit of hot air under the food (rather than moisture trapped under a baking sheet).
This allows the ability to make appetizers in a manner that would be more uniform and crispy than if you made it in an oven. I love grabbing Cavendish fries from Costco. While the deep fry version at the Costco food court is superior, the fact I feel I can make the fries to around 90-95% of the Costco food court quality using an air fryer is a huge win for me.
Additionally, deep fryer might be tastier, but there's no damn way I'd ever whip one out just for a small batch of Cavendish fries, especially since I have kids. The air fryer wins hands down in that regards. It's just so awesome to have random appetizers in the freezer than I can whip out and have ready to consume on a whim in around 15-20 minutes, including a couple minutes of preheat.
EDIT: It's also great for heating up pizza without being as soggy. And it's awesome that unlike the oven, in the summer your home isn't extra uncomfortably hot from the oven after making something in it.
The only issue with some air fryers is the space they take for the amount of food they can fit. They are different kinds that avoid this issue, but the ones you typically see at stores are big and unless you are buying huge ones, its hard to get a family sized serving of anything out of it.
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