Air Fryers - What's Up With That?

[Jimmy Stang]

I'll be a bit of a contrarian here and suggest getting a larger, counter top convection "toaster" oven instead. And then use a cooking rack/grill over top of a pan for drippings. It might even come with one as part of the "air fry" marketing buzz. Boom - you've got an air fryer.

And it also does toast, bagels, can cook a whole 13" pizza, can fit a reasonably-sized pan/casserole dish for whatever else you want to cook, etc. A much more versatile appliance.

I have a Breville Smart Oven and it rocks. The exact same thing, sold with a basket rack thing, is now marketed as an "air fryer". But is also does a lot more than some of the smaller, single-purpose air fryers out there.

[PepsiFree]

I get spending money on convenience, but these things just seem like wild wastes. I feel that way about 99% of redundant kitchen gadgetry though.

[photon]

Yeah I got my dad a larger convection toaster oven as a gift and it had a really nice basket thing to do wings, it's quite wide so you can do quite a few wings.

And yeah about the size, the Foodi works for us as a family of 3 but feeding 4 would be a lot less convenient, but we've had it for a year or more and still use it constantly.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Best Buy has a $50 Black Friday sale discount on Instant Vortex, which has a very high review rating. This is the one I bought.

Oh hey I have this exact same one and it's great!

The large 6qt size is great. Can cook quite a bit in there in one go.

[REDVAN]

We have a normal sized one that my wife likes a lot- it's enough to really cook stuff for one person, and it does a very nice job quickly, on things that usually take a long time to bake.

I bought her a larger one then, thinking this might be good for making stuff for more than 1 of us, but it's basically an expensive toaster oven with a few different features- including "toast".

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

For us the air fryer is like a lot of appliances where you use them a lot at first but then it ends up sitting in a pantry or closet collecting dust. I'm sure there are bigger ones out there but you just can't cook enough food in ours for more than two people. It does do a good job on fries, wings, etc so if you eat those kinds of foods frequently and you only have to feed one or two people it's pretty useful.

We got the Ninja one that's an air fryer and pressure cooker in one. Big pot that can cook enough meat for a family of 4 in one go, and the pressure cooker does a very respectable job for stews and roasts. My wife also uses it sometimes for a quick pho if she doesn't want to spend all day on making a broth. It's not better than traditional cooking methods for most things, but it gets 90% of the way there in a fraction of the time

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I get spending money on convenience, but these things just seem like wild wastes. I feel that way about 99% of redundant kitchen gadgetry though.

Rice cooker step on down.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Rice cooker step on down.

Tell me you're not Asian without telling me you're not Asian. A rice cooker is the single most important appliance in any Asian's family kitchen I've seen, and with my wife's parents staying with us ours sees use at least 2 times every single day

[photon]

Oh man a rice cooker is the best thing I bought all year.

[PepsiFree]

I have a pot and a timer, works flawlessly

[Scroopy Noopers]

Yeah I don’t understand rice cookers either. We make rice like 3 times a week. In a pot on the stove, which is next to our toaster oven. It’s arguably the easiest thing to cook, I’ve never understood the need for a separate appliance.

And by all means, cram your counter tops and cupboards full of whatever you want. Just quit telling me “you need one of these!”

[EVERLAST]

What havent I cooked in my airfryer?
Got one at a garage sale that the peeps never used and wow.....game changer.
Boneless ribs....yummy!
Sweet potatoes.....yummy?
Chicken breast with Grape seed oil......yummy!!

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Tell me you're not Asian without telling me you're not Asian. A rice cooker is the single most important appliance in any Asian's family kitchen I've seen, and with my wife's parents staying with us ours sees use at least 2 times every single day

Awesome!

If you and your family use it a lot and find it indispensable then wicked.

We don't eat rice that much, 1 or 2 times a week. But maybe if we had one it would be more. Currently our single use appliance space is taken up by a toaster.

[Johnny Makarov]

wow. i bought one 16 months ago and it's still sitting in the basement in the box.

Time to crack it open.

oh i also have a instapot from amazon prime days from 5 years ago still in a box. I doubt i'll ever crack that open.

[81MC]

God damn I miss Good Eats.

[FireGilbert]

An anecdote about the usefulness of an air fryer: I made falafel the other day. It won’t work in an air fryer and must be deep fried. Later I used the microwave to reheat the falafel and they turned soft. I then reheated some in the air fryer and they stayed crispy tasting almost as good as fresh.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Tell me you're not Asian without telling me you're not Asian. A rice cooker is the single most important appliance in any Asian's family kitchen I've seen, and with my wife's parents staying with us ours sees use at least 2 times every single day

Tomato rice in a rice cooker is so good. Cheese cake was mighty tasty too. Bread was surprisingly good, but also weirdly cakey.


The humble rice cooker can do a ton of stuff no one realizes it can.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

An anecdote about the usefulness of an air fryer: I made falafel the other day. It won’t work in an air fryer and must be deep fried. Later I used the microwave to reheat the falafel and they turned soft. I then reheated some in the air fryer and they stayed crispy tasting almost as good as fresh.

Other than heating up liquids, I absolutely refuse to use a microwave for food. It ruins it, makes it soggy, bland, and removes all flavour.

You know what, maybe I'll remove the microwave and install a built-in air fryer instead.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

An anecdote about the usefulness of an air fryer: I made falafel the other day. It won’t work in an air fryer and must be deep fried. Later I used the microwave to reheat the falafel and they turned soft. I then reheated some in the air fryer and they stayed crispy tasting almost as good as fresh.

Air fryer for re-heating is awesome.

[indes]

I have a convection microwave and it works fantastic for "air drying" foods. Basic microwave is a waste of good leftovers!

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