Air Fryers
 

I've been thinking about buying an air fryer to avoid cooking in oil. I've seen many comments on the quality of food cooked in an air fryer compared to the same food cooked in hot oil. Most people said they can't tell the difference in food cooked in an air fryer and a convection oven, but it isn't at all similar to oil fried foods.


I'm curious if anyone on this forum uses an air fryer and likes the results.

I haven't tried tomatoes. Overall a mixed bag. You can get pretty decent "fried" chicken, but if you have a good convection toaster oven (say 1200 watts and up) the toaster oven will do almost everything the air fryer does. To me, the fryer doesn't justify the space it takes up over a toaster oven.

When I find a new convection toaster oven of the perfect size and features for the two of us, I plan to get rid of the air fryer and our old toaster oven. That Emeril 360 thing looks pretty good, but a little too large. Still looking...

-GG

We just gave one away. It did cook tater tots, hash browns (patties), and a few other things quite well, but something was missing from the taste of everything. We tried a light coating of several different oils, but even those still left us with something missing in the taste. So, we did a final taste test by doing French fries both ways. Right after the test, we decided that the Air Fryer would not be staying with us.

Our daughter-in-law said she wanted to try it, so there it went. She loves it so far after doing some fries, and last night a roast. Glad somebody can use it. LOL !!!!!

There is something in the oils we cook with that adds to or enhances or changes the flavors of the item(s) we cook and we are accustomed to that taste. When that component is missing, we notice right away. So, the fried potatoes will come from a skillet in this house for now.

The Air Fryer taste was not helped with salt, pepper, cayenne, Cajun, Mexican, or European spices or flavorings. So, Don, this brings to mind that line from the movie "El Dorado". Robert Mitchum (the now sober sheriff) said to John Wayne (the gun for hire), "....you're on your own".

We have one and use it daily. We hardly ever fry anything now. (emphasis on hardly).

I wouldn't try it on steaks, but everything else comes out very tasty.

As with anything, a little experimentation will help you decide what works for you and what doesn't.

I'm air frying at work as we speak.

Cooks Illustrated did a review of air fryers if anyone has a membership.
This is what they had to say about air fryers in general:

We were pleasantly surprised to find that we liked a fair number of the air fryers and ultimately recommended about half the models we tested. That said, an air fryer isn’t for everyone. If you usually cook for more than two people or are expecting deep-fried food from one of these, then an air fryer probably isn’t for you. Air fryers hold only one or two servings, and the food ultimately isn’t any different from what you can achieve in your home oven.

However, if you prepare a lot of frozen foods, cook in small batches, or find waiting for an oven to preheat a big pain, then an air fryer might be a good choice. These gadgets also won’t heat up your kitchen the way a conventional oven does (in fact, the outsides almost always stay cool to the touch), which is nice for hot days. And because our favorite models have automatic shutoff functions and hidden heating elements, they’re about as safe as a microwave, making them handy for teenagers looking to make a quick after-school snack.

I have way too much homemade hog lard and beef tallow to be getting an air fryer anytime soon.:lol:
Twice fried french fries in beef tallow is the bomb.
Tossed the dreaded hot air popcorn popper years ago.
But may mom and dad got me a Joe Namath butter up popcorn popper for Christmas when I was around 15.
Used it a lot. :yes:
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We love our air fryer. We didn’t have room for another appliance on the counter, so we replaced our toaster oven with the cuisinart combination toaster, oven, convection oven, air fryer. We use it daily as an air fryer and love the way the food comes out. I will have to admit that we haven’t deep fried any food in years and years, so we cannot make a direct comparison. We do appreciate the quality of the food prepared by air frying method very much. We do use each feature of that versatile appliance, so it earns its spot on the counter.

I had a very good deep fryer,it had a container that the oil drained into than you could put it in the fridge to keep it fresh. It was still a lot of work to set up and clean it. Plus the thing about living healthy. So I got a Air Fryer things cooked in it are just as good Last week I even made Fried Pickles in it. I by the way l give the deep fryer to a friend. Mike

There are lots of food prep videos on YouTube to help you decide if an air fryer will be useful. My favorites are from Kelly's Cookin' She has many recipes for everyday "fried" foods. They are typically short -- maybe 5-7 minutes.

I think if you gave up fried food for health or other reasons and never really fry foods, but would still like to enjoy them and don't have a convection oven, or don't want to heat up the oven, or only want to cook for 1 or 2, you might enjoy an air fryer. If you have a convection setting on your oven you can probably "oven fry" equally well without one. If you fry foods traditionally on regular or semi regular basis and expect an air fryer to give you the same results, you might be disappointed. I occasionally toy with idea of getting one, but honestly, I keep several appliances in the basement because I am out of room in the kitchen and don't use them often enough, so I keep deciding I don't need one more.

I have two types and use them both. My favorite is the egg shaped Farberware that I use frequently for 1-2 serving homemade chicken nuggets and french fries. I thought about replacing it with a two rack version egg style which seemed to have mixed reviews from people who had the same idea about cooking larger quantities of food. It was taking them too long with the larger unit. Instead I bought a cheaper version of nancyruhls's Cuisinart. I should have sprung for her Cuisinart. I bought a huge Black and Decker toaster style convection oven. It's too slow for fries but works well for cooking fish and warming pizza. Toasting bread is impossible. Slow and dries the bread out. I have a small old Panasonic infra-red toaster oven that runs laps around this monstrosity.
- Lisa

[QUOTE=SueCT;743208]Cooks Illustrated did a review of air fryers if anyone has a membership.
[/QUOTE]

They (America's Test Kitchen, that is) have an air fryer review that is available now on YouTube: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFyMMUUt6ns[/url]

My sweetie really wants one, whereas I feel we have too many appliances and kitchen gadgets already. Two "on-paper mature" adults moving in together, we're still whittling down the "two of everything" kitchen.

I was getting opinions from folks who hate them and folks who love them. One of our friends who I gave a lot of okra to, called to tell me they ate their air fried okra and it was the best fried okra they have ever eaten. That comment made our minds up and we ordered one with a large basket on Amazon and received it today..


I started experimenting with French fried sweet potatoes. The taste and appearance were great. The texture was like wet noodles. I doubt you can cook crisp sweet potatoes in an air fryer.


I cooked two large, bone in pork chops in it. They were great in all aspects except I will lower the cooking time in the future.


I used my friends recipe for fried okra (he got it from the allrecipes.com web page. Look for "air fryer fried okra"), and cooked about one pound of sliced okra. It turned out perfect in all aspects. I won't say it is the best I've ever cooked, but it was very good and better than any restaurant fried okra I've eaten.


My wife also ordered the "Americas Test Kitchen" air fryer recipe cookbook. It has some great recipes in it.

I'd say, that I prefer things that are not air-fried, but the things that I have tried that were air-fried did not suck. Everything was OK. Nothing to write home about but the air fried cooking did a mediocre job at cooking.

I have Smart oven Breville with air fry function. I grow potatoes and absolutely love air frying them. Zukes are not as great.
We do not eat meat so can not comment on that.
After getting Instant pot and Smart oven my life and my cooking changed miles away from what I used to do. I converted just about every recipe I used to do and this is it.

We had a really good microwave with a convection oven function. We wore the microwave out, but didn't use the convection oven one time. When it finally broke down, we replaced it with a smaller and cheaper microwave. With the microwave, we never cook anything in it, but it does a lot of heating liquids and thawing of frozen foods. Add an instant pot, an air fryer, a couple of induction cookers and other handy devices; and I enjoy learning new ways to prepare food.


My wife was given some large containers of various dried and dehydrated prepper foods today. I've never eaten much instant foods before, but I'm looking forward to trying stuff like dried strawberries, dehydrated beef stroganoff and various other products which are packaged to be stored for years. It may take me back to my Army days and the dried field rations we ate. I saw some peanut butter powder in a store recently. I have to buy it and try it. I may hate it and toss it, but I will know how close it comes to one of my favorite foods.

Don, the peanut butter powder is something I have used in the past and it is versatile and good. From a peanut sauce for chicken to baking in cakes and cookies and making some really good peanut butter cream frosting, some use it in smoothies I think.

I stuck a whole turkey out the window yesterday on the way home from work.
It was fried by the time I got home.

[QUOTE=Worth1;744925]I stuck a whole turkey out the window yesterday on the way home from work.
It was fried by the time I got home.[/QUOTE]


Was the breast meat tender and succulent or dried out like shoe leather? It's really hard to not over cook the breast meat when you cook it out the car window. Did you cook it with or without stuffing?

I decided this morning to open the one gallon can of "prepper" strawberries and see how they tasted. My intent was to open the can and add some dehydrated strawberries to some oatmeal and eat it for breakfast.


I now know why it will last forever in the containers. My can openers (electric and manual) didn't come close to opening the can. A large screwdriver and hammer finally created a hole large enough to pour it into a one gallon zip lock bag.


I wasted my time. The straw berries tasted horrible. They were bitter and ruined some perfectly good oatmeal. The cooked oatmeal and the zip lock bag now reside in the bottom of my trash can

actual dried strawberries from the oven or dehydrator(not powder) at least I think are good, don.

[QUOTE=upcountrygirl;744966]actual dried strawberries from the oven or dehydrator(not powder) at least I think are good, don.[/QUOTE]


I've had very good dehydrated strawberries in the past and they were good. The prepper one's I tried this morning were horrible. I was surprised at their bitterness. I wondered if they were prepared in some kind of chemical to extend the shelf life.

[QUOTE=upcountrygirl;744966]actual dried strawberries from the oven or dehydrator(not powder) at least I think are good, don.[/QUOTE]


I've had very good dehydrated strawberries in the past and they were good. The prepper one's I tried this morning were horrible. I was surprised at their bitterness. I wondered if they were prepared in some kind of chemical to extend the shelf life.


I also have a large can of dehydrated bananas. I will not open them until some day when I have no choice but to eat them. I don't like dried bananas when they are perfect.

[QUOTE=DonDuck;744963]Was the breast meat tender and succulent or dried out like shoe leather? It's really hard to not over cook the breast meat when you cook it out the car window. Did you cook it with or without stuffing?[/QUOTE]

It was dried up worse than a dead West Texas cactus.
No stuffing.

I think it is against the law to cook the turkey outside the vehicle window without stuffing it first.



If the turkey is not stuffed and you hold it by the leg, it makes a loud whistling noise like a whooping siren. If you hold it by a wing, it makes a tornado sound and scares people.

Yep! In Texas, it is illegal to use your cell phone while driving thank goodness. I do think it is still legal to mix stuffing, fill the turkey; and hold it out the window for cooking while driving.

We're drifting a little here.

[QUOTE=mikemansker;745243]We're drifting a little here.[/QUOTE]


Been adrift so long now, am not even looking for land, LOL!

Okay, I'm climbing onto the rescue boat.


After finally deciding to purchase an air fryer, we have tried many things with about 80% good to great results and 20% bad results. I was afraid the cooking basket would be so small, only small quantities can be cooked. We got a fairly large basket in ours and it has worked well cooking for two people in a single batch, You don't want to overcrowd the basket because it restricts the air circulation.


I've not been happy with the results of Panco coated foods in the air fryer because the Panco dries and almost burns before the food is cooked. Regular yellow cornmeal also gets a little dry and gritty before the food is cooked. I plan on trying masa corn meal and finding out how well it will work in an air fryer. I do like plain or seasoned bread crumbs on many things because it cooks well and retains some moistness.



I've been most impressed with cooking meat because the hot air seems to drive the seasonings deeper into the meat. It has the appearance of "well cooked meat", but the meat continues to be moist and tender inside. I've never owned a meat thermometer. I'm not totally comfortable guessing if the meat is cooked correctly inside even when it appears cooked on the outside. I now own a digital meat thermometer and will use it on some pork chops tonight. I don't like over cooked meat and I don't really like under cooked meat. I'm not a fan of steak tartar or chicken tartar.


I haven't tried baking whole potatoes yet, but potato wedges cook perfectly with a brown skin on the outside and a fluffly, soft interior. They are perfect with a sour cream dipping sauce or ranch sauce.


I don't know anything about other brands of air fryers, but we bought what I think of as an off brand named Ultrean. I don't know if other brands are as easy to use with good results as ours, but I am happy with our air fryer.