Should I Buy An Air Fryer?

[odanny]

My assessment of the air fryer is this:

Think of it like a whisk, a colander, or a large stock pot. It has its uses for only a few types of food.

I have had mine for nearly a year now and I have invested like $50 in cookbooks to find recipes to make in it. I have tried everything from sausage to chicken to frittatas to just reheating. Only a handful of recipes works consistently well every time in the air fryer. I'm sure if I played around with it and could devote a week or so to cooking the same thing 3 or 4 times, I could get close to the quality I get out of my cheap oven/range top for some other tried-and-true recipes I have.... but it just tastes better when you can add stuff in while cooking.

That being said,my quick go-to are Yummy brand chicken strips... 400 degrees for 8 minutes gives you better results than the 20 minutes it takes in the oven and you don't have to flip them half-way through. Clean up is super quick and easy as well. Frozen french fries--I only use the air fryer. But beyond that...it collects dust. That isn't to say I don't love it. It just has limited uses.

I like this take, and can understand what you're saying. There is already one use I will utilize that I can't right now, and that is poached eggs. There is a special holder and setting for making poached eggs and I'm gonna be all over that. I have looked at a couple air fryer cookbooks and I'm thinking most of the recipes I've found so far I'll skip, but once you find something that works, and hopefully there will be more than a handful, I'll use it quite often for them. The counter space it now occupies was once where my blender sat, which was rarely used, and before that, was a juicer, also rarely used. I'm thinking the air fryer is gonna get far more use than those two combined.

 

[candycorn]

I like this take, and can understand what you're saying. There is already one use I will utilize that I can't right now, and that is poached eggs. There is a special holder and setting for making poached eggs and I'm gonna be all over that. I have looked at a couple air fryer cookbooks and I'm thinking most of the recipes I've found so far I'll skip, but once you find something that works, and hopefully there will be more than a handful, I'll use it quite often for them. The counter space it now occupies was once where my blender sat, which was rarely used, and before that, was a juicer, also rarely used. I'm thinking the air fryer is gonna get far more use than those two combined.

I use mine like 3 days a week. But I use my oven/stove multiple times daily quite often.

Yeah, the same with my blender.... Its now on the bottom shelf of my banquet.

 

[HaShev]

I just made honey mustard pretzels in my air fryer. Probably needs the pretzels broken in pieces to soak up the mustard better, because the flavor was faint compared to some store brands. Just take your regular bag brand and coat with GV or dollar store honey mustard set at lowest level 170 (used for dehydrating) and it only took 20 minutes (+cooling down and further drying out leaving it in the basket).
If you are bored with your regular dry pretzel and need to spruce up your snack, it's a lot better then paying 4-5dollars for a small handful bag full of air and stale pretzel pieces in mustard powder flavoring.
You can do peanuts as well and make your own honey mustard trail mix.

 

[Jodi774]

I recently purchased an air fryer as well! My first attempt at real food was chicken wings. Worth it specially during winter time where BBQ is not an option. Quick clean up.

 

[Mindful]

My daughter has one, and the food came out great. Only problem with all these kitchen gadgets is storing the damn things.

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[Mindful]

The only thing l’d promote is my new halogen oven.

 

[eagle1462010]

We got one for Xmas. And it's GREAT.

 

[Circe]

I'd say no; I bought two and tried to learn to use them; the stove works better for me. Both machines, one expensive, are in storage now.

The gadgets I like best right now (and I love kitchen gadgets) are the rice cooker and the new pressure cookers, like Instant Pot. I like the Cuisineart pressure cookers better than the Instant Pot, which has lots of pointless buttons. I have three in different sizes and use them constantly. The little one for meals and the big ones for broth, broth, broth.

 

[SmokeALib]

I don’t get it.

How is something fried if there’s no grease or oil involved?

It's not fried. It's just a marketing gimmick. It circulates heat with fans. I would just buy a fryer.