Fried foods are a guilty pleasure of many, I bet just thinking about chicken fry, French fries, wings, and all the other goodness makes everyone hungry for some of those delights.

Delicious as they are, asking anyone who made these will tell you that making them is a mess and quite the hassle. On top of that, the ridiculous amount of oil they use is a sin.

But innovation has brought a gift for us once again in the form of Air fryers. An air fryer is a little ledge convection broiler intended to reenact the frying functionality without deep frying the food in oil. Now the question arises, is it worth getting an air fryer?

How Do Air Fryers Work?

It’s a mini-convection oven that cooks food by circulating hot air around it with a fan. This way, food is cooked by convection, which means it can approach the crispiness of fried food while using far less oil. 

In an air fryer, the food is designed to be in a nest in which the hot air can flow from all directions. This way the food gets cooked thoroughly and quickly.

It does require a little bit of oil which is nothing compared to deep frying. So basically, the function of an air fryer is as the name suggested to fry food using air instead of using a lot of oil.

Pros and Cons of Air Fryer

Now, to answer whether you should buy an air fryer or not we first need to look at a few things. 

Reasons Why You Should Buy an Air Fryer

When cooking food that is meant to be deep-fried the air fryer is the best option. It uses a fraction of the oil and delivers near perfect deep-fried foods, so in terms of a healthy alternative it is awesome.

Another benefit is that air fryers get incredibly hot very rapidly, and the cooking is even all throughout and gets extremely crispy. So, it saves a lot of time competitively.

Deep frying something requires a lot of skill and experience in the kitchen and the margin of error is very high. So, for someone who just started cooking, an air fryer is going to be very friendly. It doesn’t require a lot of attention and using it is as easy as putting the food in and turning it on.

Benefits of Having an Air Fryer

Air fryers cook food faster than traditional methods. This is because they circulate hot air more evenly around the food. As a result, food is cooked more evenly and faster.

Another benefit of air fryer is that they are very easy to clean. Since there is less oil used, there is less of a mess to clean up afterward. Additionally, most air fryers have removable parts that can be washed in the dishwasher.

Air fryers are a healthier alternative to deep frying food. By using hot air to cook food, they can reduce the amount of oil used by up to 80%. This not only makes air-fried foods healthier but also reduces the risk of fire.

Health Benefits of Air Fryers

Depending on what is being cooked in the fair fryer, the answer is various. First of all, if we are talking about foods that are not usually deep-fried like poached fish, chick tenders, etc. It makes little to no difference whether you are cooking it in the oven or air frying it.

The biggest difference comes when you deep fry food. Deep frying food takes a lot of oil and the more oil the food soaks the more calories it has. In an air fryer, a very minimal amount of oil is needed so the calorie intake decreases drastically. So, in a sense, it is a healthier way to cook.

Air fryer vs Oven Cooking

Both air fryers and convection ovens use convection cooking or hot air. Especially to equally prepare your food, yet they contrast in size, appearance, broiling capacity, and time.

Firstly, in terms of healthy alternatives, one is not better than the other. Perhaps in some situations, the air fryer might use less oil than the oven, but that difference is pretty minuscule.

Now, since the air fryer is compact and uses hot air circulation via a fan the air flows fast and cooks quickly and thoroughly. Compared to the oven the air fryer cooks food a lot fast, so cooking in the air fryer can save a lot of time.

Furthermore, since the food sits in a nest it doesn’t need to be flipped often like in the oven. Also, in terms of power uses air fryer is far friendlier compared to an oven. On the other hand, air fryers are meant to be small and compact countertop appliances. While the oven can fit a large amount of food to cook, that’s something to keep in mind.

This can be seen as an advantage of air fryers too since compared to ovens they are compact so they can be placed anywhere and don’t take up a lot of space so there’s a lot of room for anything else.

Capabilities And Limitations

Air fryers are the ideal choice for preparing any frozen food that you would typically place in an oven. The dissemination of hot air in the unit will assist you with accomplishing your ideal crispiness and flavor, utilizing next to zero added fat.

You can use an air fryer for baking cupcakes, brownies, cookies, cheesecakes, doughnuts, and other dessert items. Also using an air fryer with appropriate accessories is able to cook steak and pork. Bacon, fish sausages, eggs, etc.

Furthermore, roasting vegetables is also a good feature of an air fryer. Lastly, one of the most common uses of an air fryer is reheating frozen food such as pizza, mozzarella sticks, burgers, and many more.

That being said, air fryers are not meant for food with wet batters like tempura seafood and corndogs. Also, avoid putting vegetables that are not meant to be roasted like spinach and broccoli. Putting fresh cheese in an air fryer should be especially avoided and rice dishes are not meant to be Cooked in an air fryer.

Now it’s time to reveal the FAQs we have gathered while searching.

FAQs

1. What is an air fryer?

An air fryer is a mini-convection oven that cooks food by circulating hot air around it with a fan. According to this, food is cooked by convection. And it means you can get less oily yet crispier food.

2. Does an air fryer cook food faster?

Air fryers are relatively compact and the hot air flows rapidly from all directions which results in cooking the food incredibly fast compared to ovens.

3. Can aluminum foil go inside the air fryer?

Yes, aluminum foil can be used inside the air fryer but only inside of the basket but avoiding food with acidic nature is recommended as they can react with aluminum.

4. What is the cheapest way to cook?

You may want to consider an air fryer if you are looking for a cheaper way to cook. Air fryers use less oil than traditional methods, so they can save you money on your grocery bill. They also cook food faster, so you can save time in the kitchen.

5. Can pizza be cooked in an air fryer?

Yes, pizza can be cooked in an air fryer! 

Final Verdict

We have discussed all the bits and pieces about the air fryer so far. It’s a fascinating invention that makes frying food easier than ever. It has its pros and cons and specific areas where it’s amazing and some areas where it fails. But its overall usefulness is undeniable starting from its compact size, easy usability, faster cooking method, large-area coverage in terms of cooking foods, etc.

So to answer the question, Is it Worth Getting an Air Fryer? I would say, yes, it’s worth purchasing. If someone finds what the air fryer provides is appropriate for them while accepting what small disadvantage it has, the air fryer is an amazing option.