Air Fryer.. yes or no ?

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yes, it's a small and convenient fan oven, not a replacement for a deep fat fryer.

Frozen croissants, chicken wings and potato wedges are the best 3 things I've done in mine. (not all together before anyone asks..!!)
 
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yes, it's a small and convenient fan oven, not a replacement for a deep fat fryer.

Frozen croissants, chicken wings and potato wedges are the best 3 things I've done in mine. (not all together before anyone asks..!!)

I haven't used my deep fat fryer in ages and I'm unconvinced by the people dismissing air fryers as not being a replacement for a deep fat fryer. If you are using your deep fat fryer for chips, pre battered/breadcrumbed fish, chicken nuggets and the like then you absolutely can cook all that in an air fryer. What doesn't tend to work is wet stuff e.g. if you want to fry your fish freshly dipped in batter. And air fryers are great for chicken, sausages, burgers etc.
 
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I haven't used my deep fat fryer in ages and I'm unconvinced by the people dismissing air fryers as not being a replacement for a deep fat fryer. If you are using your deep fat fryer for chips, pre battered/breadcrumbed fish, chicken nuggets and the like then you absolutely can cook all that in an air fryer. What doesn't tend to work is wet stuff e.g. if you want to fry your fish freshly dipped in batter. And air fryers are great for chicken, sausages, burgers etc.

I don't know a single person that bought an Air Fryer as a replacement for a deep fat fryer, all the people harping on about them seem odd to me. I bought it as a cost effective way to quickly cook good, healthy food for 1-2 people and that's exactly what I got.

I'd rather not keel over before 50 due to deep frying everything.
 
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Certain things will never be able to replicate the full deep fat fryer experience BUT when it comes to joints or whole chicken cooks. The Instant Pot Air fryer "hat" has produced results I've never managed successfully using convectional oven and it is consistent every time. Joints of crackling pork perfect every time. Whole chicken, with a pressure cook prime, perfect crispy skin. Wings, which I indulge in far too often, are perfect every time, using a variety of different flour rubs and mixes. The device catches all the drained oils and fat, so it's potentially healthier too :)
 
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I've got a 6L Ninja and barely use it. It's only big enough to cook about half of a meal for one, so impractical for most things.

It cooks a decent roast chicken though
I’d love to see the size of one of your meals.

I’m planning a kitchen renovation in 3-5 years time and will go with one of these and an oven rather than the current two ovens. I should probably get one to try out ahead of that, of course! Maybe move the bread maker out to make space - that last saw use about a year ago.
 
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I’d love to see the size of one of your meals.
You would be disappointed.

Take a meal such as salmon fillets, sweet potato and asparagus. I could comfortably cook 2 portions of that in the oven at the same time, but if I were to cook it in the air fryer it would need 3 or 4 batches by which time the first batch would be cold.

The main selling point is that its quicker than an oven but that's not really true if you need to use an oven anyway or cook things in multiple batches.

The food doesn't come out any better/worse than an oven either, with a few exceptions (e.g. whole roast chicken as mentioned).
 

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I have an ninja af400 and can feed 4 people no problem. Its no better than an oven but it takes 9 minutes from frozen rather than 20 as there is not the warm up time for example.
 
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Yes, but it's not a replacement for a deep fat fryer it's just a small oven. Because of it's size it means it will cook things quicker and more efficiently.

This. Though I've never owned a deep fat fryer, it's essentially an efficient micro oven. We just use ours like an oven really. We use the big oven if it won't all fit in the air fryer.

Everyone bangs on about chips tasting exactly like fried chips... IMO they are nothing like proper fried chips, but better than conventional oven chips. A lot less faff too!

Because of the relatively direct heat it's great at browning things too eg sausages, bacon, chicken kebabs etc
 
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We both use the Ninja Foodi, Ninja Speedi and Instant Pot Duo all the time and will probably sell the range cooker, to replace with a smaller 5 ring burner.

Shallow fry is taken care of with the wok, although it is possible to do many deep fried dishes in the air fryer.
 
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We both use the Ninja Foodi, Ninja Speedi and Instant Pot Duo all the time and will probably sell the range cooker, to replace with a smaller 5 ring burner.

Shallow fry is taken care of with the wok, although it is possible to do many deep fried dishes in the air fryer.
Do you mean you own and regularly use all of these? From a brief search, am I right in thinking they are all pretty similar? Some have a feature more / less e.g. pressure cooking

Is that just if you can’t fit everything in one or if you need to run a combination of cooking types like oven and slow cooking?
 
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Do you mean you own and regularly use all of these? From a brief search, am I right in thinking they are all pretty similar? Some have a feature more / less e.g. pressure cooking

Is that just if you can’t fit everything in one or if you need to run a combination of cooking types like oven and slow cooking?

The first was the Instant Pot Duo, which I bought mainly to replace a different sous vide machine I had and to pressure cook.
Have used the air fryer function a few times.

Bought the Ninja Foodi Max Health grill next as the price was good and is used pretty much all the time, with the temp probe being an added bonus.

Next was a the Ninja Speedi, which again was a good price and is used mostly atm to do complete meals that for example require steam and or air fry.

Yes, very similar, with slight differences, which if you use/need are a real bonus.

We can on occasion have all three running at the same time for larger meals, complex, batch cooking or a complete breakfast.

The Instant Pot will accept just about any size chicken, which the Foodi, would struggle on a medium and the Speedi I would say, would also accept a large chicken (all within reason)

Most of the time, with just being two of us, we can load up the Speedi and make a meal ready to eat in one hit, or use that for roasts etc, while the Foodi is taking care of a large cut of lamb.

Instant Pot hardly gets much use, but now and then I will do a 50hr sous vide, or use it to turn stewing steak into Korean shredded beef in 25 minutes.


Bit of a waffle and sea of text and hope it made sense.
 
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Our Ninja (air fryer / steamer / pressure cooker) is excellent and extremely flexible, range cooker only gets used once a week now.

Only thing I use the range cooker oven for now it's pizza lol

Got the range cooker with the house. Certainly not needed for how much space or takes up
 
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Soldato
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Only thing I use the range cooker oven for now it's pizza lol

Got the range cooker with the house. Certainly not needed for how much space or takes up

Much the same.

The OH can come home for lunch each day and now and then buys those small pizza's that can fit in the air fryer (Foodi Max)
 
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