Better efficiency but more importantly it heats almost instantly. Thing is like magic. No preheating for 5+ mins.
Plus having a second oven is fucking awesome. I’m out there on thanksgiving with an oven full of turkey, baking dinner rolls on the side like an absolute gangster.
The oven that comes with your stove is huge and it takes forever to preheat. I remember mine used to take like 20 minutes to preheat. For a lot of things that doubles the cooking time.
A toaster oven has way less space to heat, together with the fast convection makes it heat up almost instantly and also evenly. It's just such a huge quality of life improvement.
I wish we had space for either one. Assuming an air fryer can grill cheese as well as a toaster oven, I'd be fine with just the latter though. I miss my toaster oven.
If you have the money, I'd definitely recommend a toaster oven with "air fryer" capabilities (air fryers are just convection ovens... with more convection). However they are more expensive than just an air fryer. Air fryers are also smaller so that can be a big pro if you are limited on space.
Basically this for me but for christmas, the thermometer burnt out or something and caused the oven to turn into a charcoal oven, so we made the rest of the food in the air fryer
It sucks how immediately after Thanksgiving it's illegal to cook turkey or bake dinner rolls. It's particularly annoying that it's like, a global rule even though Thanksgiving is a US thing.
If you're going to be pedantic, the full quote is "out there on thanksgving", not "out here on thanksgiving". The "there" makes it implied past tense. But I'm sure it's more important to nitpick trivial parts of someones comment on the internet.
Ok, sooo it's not like a deep fryer and I feel like I can't be the only one to learn that lesson. I battered up some cod, set it for 15 minutes, and ended up with flat fish pancakes. It's really a mini convection oven.
No but if you’d used breadcrumbs they come out great. It’s not a fryer, but it will elevate any oven-style “fried” food, like oven fried chicken, oven fries, etc. nothing wet, it will just blow it off.
Yeah it just turns out that convection ovens make great bagged frozen fries.
I wish my normal oven was a convection oven so I didn't need an air fryer.
People are just not getting it. No lengthy preheat times and you can stick a handful of fries in it to go with your sandwich and it will be done in under 10 minutes. Not inefficient if it can run for less than half the time of a big oven
The negative I always hear is people think you can only cook processed food like fries and chicken fingers. But it also works well with less processed food like chicken
It is great to re-heat food and the texture of the re-heated food is a lot better than a microwave.
It's great for breaded food and takes a lot less time than a conventional oven since it heats up pretty much instantly.
For example, when I make Parmigiana Chicken, if I do it the air fryer, it takes about 15 minutes overall cooking time, including melting the cheese to a golden crips texture. If I use my conventional convection oven, it takes 10 minutes just to heat-up.
It is also easy to clean.
It does not replace the conventional oven for everything, but it does a lot of things faster with the same result. It's a big boon.
Frying is all about quickly imparting heat into the surface of a food at high temperature. Air fryers mimic that by moving a much higher volume of hot air past the food -- they're "super convection" ovens.
Yes but more so. I don’t think there’s any objective criteria but where a convection oven blows hot air over food to brown it all around, sn air fryer blows more to crisp the food
And for me the convenience is key. Like a microwave, just click a few buttons and wait for it to beep
My only problem is the lack of recipes. A few processed snack foods have directions, but I’m still figuring out how to vobvert instructions for real food. “subtract 20° and 20% of the time” is inconsistent
Usually I just go with whatever the instructions are for toaster ovens if they don't have air fryer specific, I don't think I've ever really had any issues doing it. If there are only conventional I go with that temp but check it early and add time if needed.
My theory - they got popular in the US because everyone was still microwaving stuff like it was 1980 because their electricity is girly 110v so they can't have good ovens. The air fryer is an improvement on both those things
In modern countries with 240v, everyone bought an air fryer cos the yanks said they were amazing, and now they're scared to admit they fell for marketing hype and it's just the same as their fan oven that they've had for 20 years except it heats a bit faster and they can't fit stuff in it
Hate to break it to you, but most oven ranges in the US are 240V. They have 240V into the home which gets split into -120V and +120V lines with a neutral in the middle for regular appliances.
Bigger appliances can get wired up for the full fat 240V experience
I'm guessing its more to do with the size, ovens in the US are massive! Probably double the volume of a regular EU oven
Also got a Ninja one, but we got the thing with dual baskets so you can optionally cook two foods at different temps. Really makes getting those tendies and fries much easier.
I got some $15 one from bestbuy 8 months back I think and it gets used almost every day. I haven't turned on the oven in so long I wonder if it even works...
Biggest disadvantage is that you have another bulky piece of equipment taking up counter space. Best option is to get a convection oven with an air fryer setting. It's even more convenient because it doesn't take up additional space and you don't have to move it in/out of storage. It's always there ready for immediate use.
That just sounds like a shitty oven tbh. Modern electric ovens also have strong fans and can potentially draw much more current from a high-voltage outlet.
Air fryers are excellent at cooking up enough food just for 1 or 2 people, ovens are excellent at cooking up a family roast
There's a good reason they are popular lol, I can have a side of chips ready in 15 minutes flat versus waiting for the oven to heat up then waiting another 15 minutes for my chips to be ready. Plus heating up an entire oven just for 1 serve of chips is just inefficient
There is a good reason why they're popular, but it's mostly due to the foodie trend. You can cook one meal for one in an air fryer, or like two dozen meals for one in an oven (meal prep, divide, freeze).
Not everyone has a convection oven. They are portable convection ovens, not portable ovens.
I have a toaster oven because I don't need to heat my entire oven and use much more energy and time to heat the entire thing to reheat a slice of pizza.
I use the convection function when I'm working with large amounts but for 1-2 people, the air fryer is much faster.
Practically, things labeled "air fryer" make different tradeoffs than things labeled "convection ovens".
In particular, air fryers have comparatively big fans, and vent way, way more air out the back to keep humidity down, so they make food much crispier than a convection oven does.
Yeah, I keep trying to use my convection toaster oven as an air fryer and it doesn't work out and then I'm like "SEE?! AIR FRYERS ARE STUPID." But really I've never tried one.
I should try this. We recently moved, and now have a gas stove, the over heats up INSANELY fast and I swear food cooks faster in it even with the fan off (Is there some humidity factor?).
This was so uncanny I did some direct comparisons with the oven in our old house (Went back to clean it up for a weekend). And it actually cooks things faster, after preheat. Literally no idea why.
It's probably just a higher end appliance. After growing up with my family only ever getting used ovens and replacing with more used ovens when they broke, I finally tried a more expensive new unit and it was an induction stovetop with convection oven and it's unreal how different it is. I still use the air fryer pot lid for various things though.
Gas (UK) delivers heat much faster than electric does. This is part of our problem in changing over from "conventional" fuels to electric, and the reason why I remember my mother's gas eye level grill so fondly. Cheese on toast under a gas grill was so much better than you can ever do under an electric one.
Recent fan ovens help, but you're still limited to the amount of KW compared with the insane calorific value of fossil fuels per unit of volume.
But convection ovens aren't necessarily air fryers. To be fair though some air fryers I wouldn't even consider air fryers. If they can't turn something that already has a decent oil content to at least 60% of their deep fried version then it's just a piece of junk.
And it actually fries food, because it's cooking your food with oil (generally), but much less than an actual fry attempt.
Edit: uh, downvoting folks, you do realize that when you cook something in fat, you're frying it, right? When you make browned butter, for instance, after the water is cooked off, the milk solids are being fried in the remaining butter fat.
Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat.
Frying techniques vary in the amount of fat required, the cooking time, the type of cooking vessel required, and the manipulation of the food. Sautéing, stir-frying, pan frying, shallow frying, deep frying, and air frying are all standard frying techniques.
Even with an expensive convection oven I can't get things to come out as good as they do with an air fryer. The small area through which the warm air circulates is probably the reason. The fan in my air fryer is the same size as the fan in a household oven with convection options, but a much smaller volume of air.
Most people don't actually have convection ovens. Whoever wrote that post probably doesn't even understand that there's a difference between a convection oven and a traditional oven in the first place.
The things that consistently come out better for me in my air fryer (with less cook time) over the traditional oven are:
Home fries
Bacon
Salmon
Chicken thighs
Any vegetable
Leftover steak
Leftover pizza
There are actually very few things I care to use my traditional oven for, it's all just quicker and comes out better in the air fryer. Pretty much anything where you want it to be browned/crispy without overcooking the inside or using a ton of butter will be better in the air fryer.
Because it’s not just a convection oven that’s needed, it’s also venting the moisture that comes off the product being cooked. It also needs to be powerful enough to keep the temperature up while that moist air gets exchanged. That’s a lot easier with a small cavity like an air-fryer than a regular sized oven. Commercial combi-ovens can do the same thing, and maybe there’s some high end consumer models available, but it’s a lot easier on the pocketbook to get an air fryer than a full size oven. I’m not totally sure, but they might also use impingement(concentrated streams of hot air, as opposed to just regular convection), which is another thing that’s available commercially, usually in pizza ovens or things like the merry-chef/turbo-chef(Subway’s sandwich toasters) but not common in consumer equipment.
Haha yeah it's tasty and effective for sure. I just find it a little too filling when I'm trying to bulk up and eat more protein so I use a Misto sprayer with either olive oil or canola oil. I've had the air fryer set off the smoke alarm a few times when I used butter so I prefer the oils with a higher smoke point.
In the vast majority of convection ovens the heating element is on the bottom. In airfryers the heating element is on top and it circulates the air a lot faster.
They are actually making convection ovens with an airfryer mode now, where it uses a heating element on top and has a more high powered fan.
The household ovens with convection settings that I've seen had the fan at the back, in addition to the radiant heating element at the bottom, but I definitely found the air fryer to be better.
I have seriously thought about buying a second air fryer because there are quite a few things that it's completely better for, the problem I run into is trying to do larger meals (5+ people.) You either have to do batches which means more time actually engaged in cooking, or you have to break some things into the oven, and some into the air fryer.
I don't know where you live and which ovens are common in your country, but convection ovens are the cheapest and most common thing in Europe. "Regular" oven mode is usually an extra feature for extra money. This is because convection is more energy efficient and the EU has strict efficiency rules.
It's not just a convection oven, it's a particularly small convection oven. Due to the size, the air blows faster and the heat requires less energy. It's absolutely brilliant for certain applications and it should be recognized as such.
I reheat everything in it. Fried rice, tacos, burgers, pizza... All shit the microwave would turn into soggy much comes out of the air fryer like it was fresh made or sometimes better.
Fascinating. What country? The only non-convection oven I've ever seen in Germany was the fire fueled oven my grandma had, and I'm pretty sure that thing was pre-war.
Same here, in the US. Natural gas dominates where I live, and I’ve only seen it for electric ovens.
It’s also still a “new” feature, in the context of major appliances lasting decades. My new oven is convection but I don’t remember it being a reasonable choice 18 years ago when I last did, it maybe that’s just natural gas
And even today, this was a “premium” feature. Most low to midrange appliances do not seem to have it
Generally (in the US) the term convection oven is used to refer to an oven that forces hot air around with a fan, instead of an oven with the radiant heating elements.
Someone else commented that all ovens are convection and the correct term is "fan forced"... which might be technically correct, but that's just not how the terminology is commonly used at least in the US. Some newer ovens have options clearly labeled "convection" that turn on a fan, sometimes in addition to the radiant heating elements.
The main reason I think people like convection ovens or air fryers is because the air circulation crisps the outside without overcooking the inside and without all the fatty oils required in a traditional deep fryer.
Thanks for the context! I only know that if you are following a recipe from the US, you have to be careful because it will assume no convection (unless it explicitly tells you) while if you follow a recipe from somewhere else, it's the other way around.
Yeah they’re not very common in the US unless the kitchen was renovated for a “home chef” type. The average oven you go and just “pick off the shelf” in the US doesn’t have convection. I don’t know anyone with a convection oven, I’ve only seen home cooks/chefs on YouTube with them.
Convection has been standard for ovens for over 10 years. My 13 year old KitchAid oven from a big box store has convection. It wasn't even promoted until air friers became popular.
Also all microwaves with bake feature are convection ovens. Again it was normal, but now they put big "like air frier" stickers on them to let people know.
I’ll take your word for that, I don’t know anyone who has bought an oven in the last decade. 😅 Every home/apartment I’ve lived in has had basic appliances and every home I’ve visited even with older mid-range hasn’t. I’ve also never seen a microwave with “bake” function in person. But I might live in a different circle than you as well.
I bought my oven 20 years ago. Convection ovens were for sale but at a premium and I thought it was a gimmick and didn't want to buy in. I've never used one either and I may have the same experience as you, old houses and poor friends? Lol.
I'd argue it's better than a convection oven. I think it's the placement of the fan and the higher air flow rate that differentiates the two.
My parents and SO's parents have name-brand convection ovens but they're no where as good as a dedicated air fryer. We've tried the same recipe (potato roasties) across them all and they achieve vastly different results.
This. It's something to do with the fan placement or just the smaller volume of air in the air fryer. I've tried to use a convection oven and it both took way longer and the results were nowhere near as good.
What's really strange to me is that every oven and every toaster oven I've ever owned has a connection setting. So people are buying these huge space-consuming appliances to do something that they can already do with what they have in their house.
The convection is much stronger than on a regular oven, as someone who has a full sized convection oven, toaster oven with convection, and air fryer.
Also you would have to use a mesh or rack with a cookie sheet on a lower shelf to expose the bottom of the food to the moving air in your oven without drips sticking.
Not every oven has a convection setting. I'd go so far as to say most rentals don't. Every (electric) oven does have a broil setting. But for some reason you seem to think buying a toaster oven (a small broiler) is fine but an air fryer (a small convection oven) is strange? And an air fryer is "huge"? Are you confused about what an air fryer is? It's like once square foot of countertop space at most.
Believe me, I thought the exact same thing until we were gifted one, so i get the skepticism! The convection bake setting on my oven is just not even comparable to a $75 air fryer.
As another commenter posted, air fryers use a much more intense airflow. It's nuts just how much faster and crisper things like chicken thighs and frozen snacks come out compared to the oven.
Actually closer to a sub category called impingement ovens.
Wikipedia:
Another form of a convection oven is called an impingement oven. This type of oven is often used to cook pizzas and lightly toast bread in restaurants, but it can also be used for other foods. Impingement ovens have a high flow rate of hot air from both above and below the food. The air flow is directed onto food that usually passes through the oven on a conveyor belt.
A convection oven is a normal oven. "Convection" means it radiates heat and it flows through the oven by convection currents - hot air rises and cold air falls. As opposed to a microwave oven.
You probably mean a fan-forced oven - they have been standard in the US since the early 1970s.
In spite of what the words "convection" and "oven" mean on their own, a "convection oven" refers to an oven with a fan to circulate the air. An air fryer is a small convection oven.
That is probably less work since you are only wiping a little mess each time. I would be spending an hour to scrub mine because I have never cleaned it down to the bare metal since I bought it. I just toss the trays and fat catcher tray in the dishwashers.
I seasoned my fry basket the same way that one would do a cast iron skillet. It did require a small amount of disassembly, and reassembly, but after doing the seasoning process (baking it in the oven @ 275° F caked in oil-soaked salt for 30-45 minutes, repeat as needed), I can just wipe mine out with a paper towel. The grease tray I wash each time, but that's just cause I don't want my fries to taste of fish.
Cause its so convenient, fast and efficient. I have kids so I can make food quickly (sous vide'd chicken I've done some days earlier, usually) and it doesnt draw electricity as much as my normal oven. I quite like it, and it makes my life easier.
I orginally bought it like 6 years ago to make chicken wings, but nowadays I use it for pretty much everything.
Because most air fryers are countertop units that plug into a 15 amp outlet, vs most residential electric ovens that require 2x 240v 30 amp connections, or roughly 8x the available power...
That’s a bit of a stretch since most residential ovens also have a range on top, so the power requirements are to cover multiple elements, not the oven alone. It’s probably actually less efficient, but still lower energy because you’re heating a smaller cavity.
That's 14kW a whole range doesn't pull that much on full blast. There's plenty of ovens in the 3600W range meaning they run off bog-standard 240V@16A lines here but chances are you're in luck and your kitchen has 20A three-phase... also 14kW (in star configuration), intended precisely for the range, roughly divided into two for the top and one for the oven. Not much more copper so it became standard quite a while back, while 30A would be massive. Also more neutral wires.
Can't speak for them, but I've had a smart monitor which shows live consumption. Took note of the consumption while using the oven against baseline consumption, and the same for the air fryer.
Air fryer consumed approximately half the electricity for an equivalent amount of time in my case, but it's made better by the air fryer needing less time to reach temperature and cook whatever it is I'm making.
I can monitor my power usage via my solar panels and powerwall. The app lets you see how much you're using at any given time, so I just turned on one appliance at a time to test their power consumption.
Yep. Giant superpowered toaster. Useful for ... anything that could do. Which is actually quite a bit.
Best way to reheat pizza for instance. It's nice that they're a little more energy efficient than doing it in the oven, and don't leave it soggy like the microwave.
Not better than stovetop, which is actually best imo, but that takes actual effort.
I reheat pizza in my air fryer in a moderately involved way (but still low effort). Mine's got a reheat setting, which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout. Then I hit air broil for maybe 1.5 minutes. It bubbles up the cheese and the oil in the crust without causing anything to char. Tastes pretty great, you just have to be willing to wait 25 minutes.
Butter up the bread slices both sides and slap as much cheese as you want inbetween and put the whole thing in there. Flip it at 5-10 mins depending on your temp and device and let it go another minute or two. It takes a few tries to get all the timings perfect and you might even want to do the two bread slices open face with cheese and then slap them together halfway and finish.
Air fryers have fans to keep the air circulating. That makes the food cook very differently than a traditional oven. It's more like a convection oven, but with even more airflow.
Not sure how that's even relevant. I didn't say anything that even mentioned what kind of oven I have. I was just comparing traditional ovens vs convection ovens vs air frying.
It mostly is though? It's definitely not a fryer. But I agree it still has it's place even next to a convection oven, if not for anything else, then at least for heating the leftovers.
I guess it's like a phone vs a tablet. They have a lot of similarities and a lot of functionality overlap and you could get by using one in place of the other but their use cases are different. Some people may only have one or the other, others may have both and use each at different times for different things. You wouldn't say someone with a tablet has been fooled into buying a rebranded phone.
There’s literally no difference between a conventional oven with a fan forced function and an air frier.
My regular, full-sized convection oven has an air fryer mode. The main difference with the normal convection mode is that the fan runs much, much faster in air fryer mode. Because hot air circulates faster over the food, heat is transferred at a greater rate.
I got a toaster oven with a convection oven/air fry option that also folds up so that it takes up less space. The only down side is that you have to be vigilant about cleaning up crumbs, but I like having a motivator. Second favorite appliance, after the dishwasher.
There is a difference between an air fryer and a convection oven. An air fryer has its heating element in the top with the fan so it is actively blowing hot air down on the food. It's basically a convection broiler.
This right here. A lot of people saying ugh it’s just a convection oven, but they have a weak fan blowing from the back of the oven while the heat source is at the top and bottom, 8-10 inches away from the food. In an air fryer the heat source is only a few inches from the food, and the much more powerful fan is right behind it, blasting the hot air down and through the food. And the small size means no warm up time necessary so it’s far cheaper to run.
An air fryer is a small convection oven, but convection ovens aren't particularly common in my experience. It's definitely different than a traditional oven.
I have an oven in my apartment, I use the stove top but I have honestly never once used the oven part. I cook for one so I just simply never make meals large enough to need it, I just make anything that needs ovening in the air fryer. Also don't own a toaster, same deal pop it in the air fryer. It and and instapot are some actual goat level kitchen appliances.
I've been considering to buy one for some time and recently found a model capable of "air frying", de-hydrate food and a third function I can't remember right now.
For a relatively small footprint, having three machines in one sounds nice.
I already have one but the machine loses a good deal of heat and the circular trays it uses are horribly expensive, hence my consideration for buying an "air fryer", that is enclosed.
Have you ever tried dehydrating mushrooms? The flavour kick it gives when adding to soups, stocks or meats... The fruits and vegetables. The flavour gets so concentrated and sharp.
Not a big mushroom fan, but I do like dehydrated fruit and jerky. I've never tried dehydrating things to add to soup, though. I'll have to try that if I ever have space for a dehydrator. Thanks.
[This one ](http://www.Ninja.com/ Foodi 8-in-1 Digital Air Fry Oven, Large Toaster Oven, Flip-Away For Storage, Dehydrate, Keep Warm, 1800 Watts, Stainless (SP101C) – Canadian Version https://a.co/d/5secbNO)
Actually got one 2-3 weeks ago and damn, these things are freaking awesome! It doesn't really fry like a deep fryer would but I haven't touched the deep fryer since and I used that thing more than I care to admit.
Recent? Air fryers have been a thing off and on since the late ‘70s when they used to sell those funny shaped stovetop versions. So that’s 40+ years of air fryer trends.
We got one a few years ago and, while I was highly skeptical about their usefulness, found that it does a fast job of cooking things evenly. I can toss a pork loin in it and it’ll be done in 10 minutes while I’m maybe cutting up some veg for steaming.
The problem is it's damn near impossible to actually find a good one that isn't meant for a commercial kitchen.
I've found the fastest way to heat up any food that's supposed to stay crispy on the outside is the microwave it and then bake it. If I could do this at the same time in the same machine that would be awesome.
I love my Sharp microwave/convection combo! Perfect for frozen pie and leftover pizza. 15+ years old now, not sure whether they still make 'em like that any more.
I have one of these, claims to be a combination Microwave/air fryer/convection oven. I was given a broken air fryer once, and when I took it apart to make it work again, I decided that an air fryer IS a convection oven.
Yeah, and? I'll take any oven I can get! I've got a toaster oven too! I've seen people with two ovens stacked on top of each other like a washer/dryer combo! Now that's living the dream
I have the stacked ovens! When we moved in, I thought we'd never have a use for it, but it's surprising how often it comes in handy. It's especially helpful around the holidays when there are lots of people prepping stuff in the kitchen at once.
Then why does it taste better? If I bake chicken tenders in an oven, it tastes, well, baked, but if it's cooked in an airfryer, it tastes so much better.
Convection, but like much more than a regular convection oven. If a regular convection oven is a tortoise, the air fryer is a car. It has a much larger fan to push the hot air around the food.
As to why it tastes better, that's because of the maillard reaction. Basically crispy brown bits good and air fryer makes lots of crispy brown bits.
Air flow and preheating mostly. Air fryers generally use higher temperatures as well. The big thing is moving Air helps transfer heat more effectively. If you don't preheat an oven you get soggy stuff because it's not hot enough to get the maillard reaction, before the surface gets waterlogged. An air fryer can preheat In a couple minutes, so there's less time to get soggy, and the fab helps a bit too with evaporation.
Ovens have the problem that volume is directly related to the time and energy it takes to bring the temperature up. The oven size isnt designed well for cooking for small number of people, or for snacks.
I dont know why but moving the air around just isnt a standard thing in conventional ovens. It greatly speeds up the heat transfer so things cook faster, and crispier.
And the smaller sizes are nice, I dont typically need 2'x2' cooking space, it ends up being a waste of time and energy preheating these big things.
I have a nice convection toaster oven, which I think is a bit more versatile for the counter space it takes than an air fryer. On convection mode it does a good job moving the air around and I can cook stuff following the air fryer directions, and I don't have to heat up a giant metal box with three racks.
My parents have had an air-frying capable oven of decades. They also paid a lot, lot more than what the typical air-fryer costs for it.
Cheap convection ovens do a poor job at moving the heat around, the "pulsated" heat function is mostly a marketing gimmick. Great convection ovens are doing a much better job but they are also five times the price.
Ours weighs less than a normal stand mixer, takes up about the same footprint and gets used 10x more often. If we didn't use it all the damn time it would 30 seconds to unplug and put away. Not that big of a deal tbh
Microwave goes in a cabinet or mounts underneath it. Yes I am an extremist, but I have never seen a counter with an air fryer on it which wasn't a cluttered, anxiety inducing mess.
Microwave goes in a cabinet or mounts underneath it.
Microwaves don't mount in a rental and not once have I ever seen a cabinet both with an outlet and large enough to hold a microwave that wasn't divided in the middle for two cabinet doors. I'm also pretty sure you're not supposed to run a microwave in an enclosed space and im not just gonna leave the cabinet door open to hit my head on while its running.
Plus I need my cabinet space. And the stovetop/air fryer combo is objectively better at heating or crisping food evenly.
I have never seen a counter with an air fryer on it which wasn't a cluttered, anxiety inducing mess.
I have a convection toaster oven that I have had for years. It is incredibly useful and has enough room to rotisserie a chicken in it, which is much more capacity than any air fryer I have personally come across while not taking up much more room. I highly recommend getting a convection capable toaster oven over anything branded as an air fryer.
Yeah I really don't get the point my yousemate has one and he insists it cooks certain things better than an oven, but its really just the same and it just seems like a mindless fad people are following that's being pushed to sell useless tat.
My aunt who has been interested in cooking for decades swears they are great. I have yet to do research but I think there's more to it than "smol oven".
We have a small oven, we bought an air-fryer as an additional oven. Kids love how chips (fries) are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside with it. I definitely notice a difference compared to my gas oven. Things cook quicker
I'm guessing it's mostly driven by people renting tiny bedsits where the only cooking facilities they'd normally have room for are a microwave and a kettle. The fad seemed to blow up during the pandemic when everyone's nearby restaurants were shut, so they'd have to live on instant meals and pot noodles. Be a game changer for those folks.
It's probably cheaper to run than a regular fan oven because it's heating less space. Otherwise yeah, it's just a small oven.
I think it just depends on what you make. I have one and I find anything that's breaded or fried warms up in that so much better and crispier then the normal oven. Also it usually warms up faster by about half the time sometimes.
They also suggest you use oil when trying to fry things. You just use a lot less oil when you do.
But if you try frying, like, french fries in an air fryer, even with some spray on oil, it doesn't come out the same. It comes out like they were baked. If I wanted them baked, I wouldn't have used a frier.
Yours probably just isn't great. Some you need to let preheat, some just aren't very good. I've always really felt like food comes out of air friers nicely fried, with no oil.
I have a Ninja. It's not great for frying because they don't actually fry anything. They're convection ovens. It's better for the pressure cooking features than the so-called frying.
Yes, they accurately do not fry things, that would be magic. They do make them crispy though. Most Americans don't have convection ovens, so air fryers are as close as wet can get, and they usually do work well. Sorry yours isn't working well for you, apparently.
I can make them crispy the exact same way by baking them in my normal oven. There is still a textural and flavor difference between that and deep frying. It's not that my device does not work well. You may like it; I fucking don't and looking at the comments, many others also don't like the difference.
Better efficiency but more importantly it heats almost instantly. Thing is like magic. No preheating for 5+ mins.
Plus having a second oven is fucking awesome. I’m out there on thanksgiving with an oven full of turkey, baking dinner rolls on the side like an absolute gangster.
The oven that comes with your stove is huge and it takes forever to preheat. I remember mine used to take like 20 minutes to preheat. For a lot of things that doubles the cooking time.
A toaster oven has way less space to heat, together with the fast convection makes it heat up almost instantly and also evenly. It's just such a huge quality of life improvement.
I wish we had space for either one. Assuming an air fryer can grill cheese as well as a toaster oven, I'd be fine with just the latter though. I miss my toaster oven.
If you have the money, I'd definitely recommend a toaster oven with "air fryer" capabilities (air fryers are just convection ovens... with more convection). However they are more expensive than just an air fryer. Air fryers are also smaller so that can be a big pro if you are limited on space.
Grill cheese in an oven? Gotta use a stovetop for that.
Or a grill. Ya know, 'cause it's grilled cheese.
Technically, it's a Welsh Rarebit, but most people in the U.S. don't know what that is, so I call it grilled cheese.
I'd heard of "Welsh Rarebit", but I thought it was the name of a cryptid.
A delicious, cheesy cryptid.
Our oven literally broke (screw you fridgidaire btw) and we made thanksgiving dinner in the air fryer/ toaster oven. Even the turkey! Came out great!
I do appreciate the irony, less so the oven that broke a year plus 3 weeks after I bought it
Basically this for me but for christmas, the thermometer burnt out or something and caused the oven to turn into a charcoal oven, so we made the rest of the food in the air fryer
I don’t know how to tell you this, but…
Thanksgiving was last week.
It sucks how immediately after Thanksgiving it's illegal to cook turkey or bake dinner rolls. It's particularly annoying that it's like, a global rule even though Thanksgiving is a US thing.
I… what? They literally said they’re out here “on Thanksgiving”.
If you're going to be pedantic, the full quote is "out there on thanksgving", not "out here on thanksgiving". The "there" makes it implied past tense. But I'm sure it's more important to nitpick trivial parts of someones comment on the internet.
Totally agree. We use "here" and "there" to imply distance. So saying "there on Thanksgiving" is implying distance in time from the "here and now".
I understood OP immediately and it actually took me time to figure out why the guy who replied mentioned Thanksgiving.
See: Above.
They edited it after my post, homie.
Hey would you look at that, you're right. Totally missed that part, must have been too excited about the dinner rolls. Sentiment still stands though.
He's not correct. Don't let him have this.
You’re out of order!
You mean two months ago, right?
October 1st/2nd?
Oct 9th this year, 14th next year
Ah, gotcha. Fair shakes.
Oh shit. Probably too late to thaw the turkey, huh?
You can make that meal anytime you want!
I’ve never said otherwise, my guy.
I'm not your guy dude.
Clearly you don't own an air fryer
Ok, sooo it's not like a deep fryer and I feel like I can't be the only one to learn that lesson. I battered up some cod, set it for 15 minutes, and ended up with flat fish pancakes. It's really a mini convection oven.
So you didn't read the manual at all, huh?
Manuals are for women and the english.
I've learned in my life that I just really appreciate some good documentation, y'know?
No, I shall always brute force a problem only after I have cave manned my way through all possible options will I consider looking for the manual.
You were the kid who read the video game instructions, weren't you?
I just liked Lego a ton as a kid. They had some sick ass documentation.
RTFM
Is this a car joke
No this is a joke on my hatred for manuals, mostly cause half of them are wastes of paper that tell you nothing.
No but if you’d used breadcrumbs they come out great. It’s not a fryer, but it will elevate any oven-style “fried” food, like oven fried chicken, oven fries, etc. nothing wet, it will just blow it off.
Yeah it just turns out that convection ovens make great bagged frozen fries.
I wish my normal oven was a convection oven so I didn't need an air fryer.
I have a fancy oven with convection but it takes a while to heat up and often I just want a couple servings of fries.
People are just not getting it. No lengthy preheat times and you can stick a handful of fries in it to go with your sandwich and it will be done in under 10 minutes. Not inefficient if it can run for less than half the time of a big oven
The negative I always hear is people think you can only cook processed food like fries and chicken fingers. But it also works well with less processed food like chicken
Mine has a rotisserie function and I've made some great roasts in there
It also has a popcorn basket and imo the popcorn turns out better than stovetop
Not just the fries, it's great for toasting the sandwich too 😋
Here, pretty much everybody has a convection oven. I wish I understood why air fryers are so popular here.
I've heard one argument: "Mine can stir the fries"
It is a small efficient oven that is easy to use.
It is great to re-heat food and the texture of the re-heated food is a lot better than a microwave.
It's great for breaded food and takes a lot less time than a conventional oven since it heats up pretty much instantly.
For example, when I make Parmigiana Chicken, if I do it the air fryer, it takes about 15 minutes overall cooking time, including melting the cheese to a golden crips texture. If I use my conventional convection oven, it takes 10 minutes just to heat-up.
It is also easy to clean.
It does not replace the conventional oven for everything, but it does a lot of things faster with the same result. It's a big boon.
Frying is all about quickly imparting heat into the surface of a food at high temperature. Air fryers mimic that by moving a much higher volume of hot air past the food -- they're "super convection" ovens.
Yes but more so. I don’t think there’s any objective criteria but where a convection oven blows hot air over food to brown it all around, sn air fryer blows more to crisp the food
And for me the convenience is key. Like a microwave, just click a few buttons and wait for it to beep
My only problem is the lack of recipes. A few processed snack foods have directions, but I’m still figuring out how to vobvert instructions for real food. “subtract 20° and 20% of the time” is inconsistent
It's nice that some freezer food is coming with air frier instructions. Lots of trial and error before that.
Usually I just go with whatever the instructions are for toaster ovens if they don't have air fryer specific, I don't think I've ever really had any issues doing it. If there are only conventional I go with that temp but check it early and add time if needed.
What do you guys talk about?
*is it this model?
Or maybe one of these?
Why is this even a meme? Omg why do can openers exist? 9 inch angle grinders already exist. We had a kids toy lolol
Yeah why does anything exist, we already have rocks and fire
My theory - they got popular in the US because everyone was still microwaving stuff like it was 1980 because their electricity is girly 110v so they can't have good ovens. The air fryer is an improvement on both those things
In modern countries with 240v, everyone bought an air fryer cos the yanks said they were amazing, and now they're scared to admit they fell for marketing hype and it's just the same as their fan oven that they've had for 20 years except it heats a bit faster and they can't fit stuff in it
Hate to break it to you, but most oven ranges in the US are 240V. They have 240V into the home which gets split into -120V and +120V lines with a neutral in the middle for regular appliances. Bigger appliances can get wired up for the full fat 240V experience
I'm guessing its more to do with the size, ovens in the US are massive! Probably double the volume of a regular EU oven
Hate to break it to you, but my oven range is 400V three-phase :P
From what I've seen in the comments it's "Americans discovered an alternative to a microwave".
It's more like our corporate overlords weren't making enough on microwaves alone and decided to push air fryers.
Yep, compared to a microwave, a candle is better at cooking lol
Yeah that's what I said before I got one too.
Air fryers are the shit.
Agreed, it's the best thing I ever bought.
We have a Ninja hybrid type. That thing is AMAZING almost equal to the value of a microwave
Also got a Ninja one, but we got the thing with dual baskets so you can optionally cook two foods at different temps. Really makes getting those tendies and fries much easier.
Same. Picked it up on Black Friday.
The fries are so much better than from the oven, and nuggets came out super crispy on the outside.
Looking forward to testing more stuff.
I got some $15 one from bestbuy 8 months back I think and it gets used almost every day. I haven't turned on the oven in so long I wonder if it even works...
Biggest disadvantage is that you have another bulky piece of equipment taking up counter space. Best option is to get a convection oven with an air fryer setting. It's even more convenient because it doesn't take up additional space and you don't have to move it in/out of storage. It's always there ready for immediate use.
Ovens are so funny it’s just a fire in tinfoil
When did everyone get too good for sticks and rocks?
When their huts burned down from leaving the cookies in too long
I've been throwing food into hot coals. It gives it a crunch.
Cooked food is so funny. It's just raw food but hot.
Air fryers dont heat the entire house 5 degrees. Also they are like 15x faster to make food for 1.
That just sounds like a shitty oven tbh. Modern electric ovens also have strong fans and can potentially draw much more current from a high-voltage outlet.
That's not great when you're paying for the power
Air fryers are excellent at cooking up enough food just for 1 or 2 people, ovens are excellent at cooking up a family roast
There's a good reason they are popular lol, I can have a side of chips ready in 15 minutes flat versus waiting for the oven to heat up then waiting another 15 minutes for my chips to be ready. Plus heating up an entire oven just for 1 serve of chips is just inefficient
There is a good reason why they're popular, but it's mostly due to the foodie trend. You can cook one meal for one in an air fryer, or like two dozen meals for one in an oven (meal prep, divide, freeze).
It's mostly a microwave for crispy foods. I do more re-heating than anything else.
air fryers are machines for heating up frozen french fries, and as an added bonus they can do other things too!
Not everyone has a convection oven. They are portable convection ovens, not portable ovens.
I have a toaster oven because I don't need to heat my entire oven and use much more energy and time to heat the entire thing to reheat a slice of pizza.
I use the convection function when I'm working with large amounts but for 1-2 people, the air fryer is much faster.
Does everyone else start it in the pan with cheese side down?
Cheese down for like one minute or less, then flip.
In my experience they work better than convection ovens. Air fryers can move much more air over the food.
Air fryers are convection ovens.
Fundamentally, yes.
Practically, things labeled "air fryer" make different tradeoffs than things labeled "convection ovens".
In particular, air fryers have comparatively big fans, and vent way, way more air out the back to keep humidity down, so they make food much crispier than a convection oven does.
Yeah, I keep trying to use my convection toaster oven as an air fryer and it doesn't work out and then I'm like "SEE?! AIR FRYERS ARE STUPID." But really I've never tried one.
Small, very concentrated convection ovens. I have both a medium sized convection oven and an air fryer. They do different things well.
I can bake stuff in my convection oven but would never try to get a crisp fried chicken from it.
I should try this. We recently moved, and now have a gas stove, the over heats up INSANELY fast and I swear food cooks faster in it even with the fan off (Is there some humidity factor?).
This was so uncanny I did some direct comparisons with the oven in our old house (Went back to clean it up for a weekend). And it actually cooks things faster, after preheat. Literally no idea why.
It's probably just a higher end appliance. After growing up with my family only ever getting used ovens and replacing with more used ovens when they broke, I finally tried a more expensive new unit and it was an induction stovetop with convection oven and it's unreal how different it is. I still use the air fryer pot lid for various things though.
Gas (UK) delivers heat much faster than electric does. This is part of our problem in changing over from "conventional" fuels to electric, and the reason why I remember my mother's gas eye level grill so fondly. Cheese on toast under a gas grill was so much better than you can ever do under an electric one. Recent fan ovens help, but you're still limited to the amount of KW compared with the insane calorific value of fossil fuels per unit of volume.
Air fryers are convection ovens that circulate air much faster, resulting in a larger transfer of heat.
My convection oven actually has an air fryer setting and it basically turns up the fan to 11.
But convection ovens aren't necessarily air fryers. To be fair though some air fryers I wouldn't even consider air fryers. If they can't turn something that already has a decent oil content to at least 60% of their deep fried version then it's just a piece of junk.
But windy, not breezy.
In how much of a hurry are you if you can’t wait 4 minutes for the oven to warm up?
What kind of oven do you have that warms up in 4 minutes?
A Bosch series 8, specifically model no. HBG976MB1
I cook chicken and steak in ours and it comes out way better than any other method I know and it’s easier than any other method I know
Maybe it’s the wrong name but the device is amazing, it’s my favorite kitchen appliance by far
It’s a mini convection oven. Many modern convection ovens come with an air fry mode.
Toaster ovens are a popular thing, why is this one frowned upon?
Or just an enclosed heat gun. The basket kind is where it's at.
And it actually fries food, because it's cooking your food with oil (generally), but much less than an actual fry attempt.
Edit: uh, downvoting folks, you do realize that when you cook something in fat, you're frying it, right? When you make browned butter, for instance, after the water is cooked off, the milk solids are being fried in the remaining butter fat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frying
Even with an expensive convection oven I can't get things to come out as good as they do with an air fryer. The small area through which the warm air circulates is probably the reason. The fan in my air fryer is the same size as the fan in a household oven with convection options, but a much smaller volume of air.
Most people don't actually have convection ovens. Whoever wrote that post probably doesn't even understand that there's a difference between a convection oven and a traditional oven in the first place.
The things that consistently come out better for me in my air fryer (with less cook time) over the traditional oven are:
Home fries Bacon Salmon Chicken thighs Any vegetable Leftover steak Leftover pizza
There are actually very few things I care to use my traditional oven for, it's all just quicker and comes out better in the air fryer. Pretty much anything where you want it to be browned/crispy without overcooking the inside or using a ton of butter will be better in the air fryer.
Because it’s not just a convection oven that’s needed, it’s also venting the moisture that comes off the product being cooked. It also needs to be powerful enough to keep the temperature up while that moist air gets exchanged. That’s a lot easier with a small cavity like an air-fryer than a regular sized oven. Commercial combi-ovens can do the same thing, and maybe there’s some high end consumer models available, but it’s a lot easier on the pocketbook to get an air fryer than a full size oven. I’m not totally sure, but they might also use impingement(concentrated streams of hot air, as opposed to just regular convection), which is another thing that’s available commercially, usually in pizza ovens or things like the merry-chef/turbo-chef(Subway’s sandwich toasters) but not common in consumer equipment.
Haha yeah it's tasty and effective for sure. I just find it a little too filling when I'm trying to bulk up and eat more protein so I use a Misto sprayer with either olive oil or canola oil. I've had the air fryer set off the smoke alarm a few times when I used butter so I prefer the oils with a higher smoke point.
In the vast majority of convection ovens the heating element is on the bottom. In airfryers the heating element is on top and it circulates the air a lot faster.
They are actually making convection ovens with an airfryer mode now, where it uses a heating element on top and has a more high powered fan.
The household ovens with convection settings that I've seen had the fan at the back, in addition to the radiant heating element at the bottom, but I definitely found the air fryer to be better.
Tilapia is also great.
I have seriously thought about buying a second air fryer because there are quite a few things that it's completely better for, the problem I run into is trying to do larger meals (5+ people.) You either have to do batches which means more time actually engaged in cooking, or you have to break some things into the oven, and some into the air fryer.
I don't know where you live and which ovens are common in your country, but convection ovens are the cheapest and most common thing in Europe. "Regular" oven mode is usually an extra feature for extra money. This is because convection is more energy efficient and the EU has strict efficiency rules.
Ah, yer in the US it's the opposite, i recently bought a new oven with an induction cook top, spent $1k and even that one wasn't convection.
No, it's not an oven. It's a convection oven, which has existed for decades but never caught on until they were rebranded as air fryers.
It's not just a convection oven, it's a particularly small convection oven. Due to the size, the air blows faster and the heat requires less energy. It's absolutely brilliant for certain applications and it should be recognized as such.
I will never reheat fries in anything else.
I reheat everything in it. Fried rice, tacos, burgers, pizza... All shit the microwave would turn into soggy much comes out of the air fryer like it was fresh made or sometimes better.
Air fryer hotdogs are incredible.
Those too, I threw some precooked brats in the other day for lunch.... Better lunch than I deserved in ten minutes.
Yes! People have little patience to know the difference and the effects when they already know it's just an oven.
What? All ovens I've used in my life have been convection ovens.
And I've never used a convection oven. What a world.
Fascinating. What country? The only non-convection oven I've ever seen in Germany was the fire fueled oven my grandma had, and I'm pretty sure that thing was pre-war.
Canada. It's a standard gas oven with a broiler inside. They're for sale, but I've always lived in old houses.
I see. Gas ovens are quite rare here, overwhelming majority is electric.
I looked it up: In 2014 7% of households in Germany used gas stoves, and 4% used gas ovens. So probably even less today.
Same here, in the US. Natural gas dominates where I live, and I’ve only seen it for electric ovens.
It’s also still a “new” feature, in the context of major appliances lasting decades. My new oven is convection but I don’t remember it being a reasonable choice 18 years ago when I last did, it maybe that’s just natural gas
And even today, this was a “premium” feature. Most low to midrange appliances do not seem to have it
Right, 20 years ago I bought a gas oven. They were the "new big thing" the. But I'm not really a "new big thing" kinda guy.
Generally (in the US) the term convection oven is used to refer to an oven that forces hot air around with a fan, instead of an oven with the radiant heating elements.
Someone else commented that all ovens are convection and the correct term is "fan forced"... which might be technically correct, but that's just not how the terminology is commonly used at least in the US. Some newer ovens have options clearly labeled "convection" that turn on a fan, sometimes in addition to the radiant heating elements.
The main reason I think people like convection ovens or air fryers is because the air circulation crisps the outside without overcooking the inside and without all the fatty oils required in a traditional deep fryer.
Not having a convection fan is pretty much a US-only thing.
Most ovens in the past 15 years have convection. People didn't notice the button on the oven until air friers became a big thing.
Thanks for the context! I only know that if you are following a recipe from the US, you have to be careful because it will assume no convection (unless it explicitly tells you) while if you follow a recipe from somewhere else, it's the other way around.
Wait. People don't have convection ovens in the US? I think every home over here has been equipped with one since the 1990s or something.
Yeah they’re not very common in the US unless the kitchen was renovated for a “home chef” type. The average oven you go and just “pick off the shelf” in the US doesn’t have convection. I don’t know anyone with a convection oven, I’ve only seen home cooks/chefs on YouTube with them.
Convection has been standard for ovens for over 10 years. My 13 year old KitchAid oven from a big box store has convection. It wasn't even promoted until air friers became popular.
Also all microwaves with bake feature are convection ovens. Again it was normal, but now they put big "like air frier" stickers on them to let people know.
I’ll take your word for that, I don’t know anyone who has bought an oven in the last decade. 😅 Every home/apartment I’ve lived in has had basic appliances and every home I’ve visited even with older mid-range hasn’t. I’ve also never seen a microwave with “bake” function in person. But I might live in a different circle than you as well.
I bought my oven 20 years ago. Convection ovens were for sale but at a premium and I thought it was a gimmick and didn't want to buy in. I've never used one either and I may have the same experience as you, old houses and poor friends? Lol.
I also haven’t seen many of those combo ovens, most people just use commodity microwaves
That's pretty weird, wonder why that is. I bet it's the opposite in Europe.
No wonder Air Fryers were lauded as magical then
I'd argue it's better than a convection oven. I think it's the placement of the fan and the higher air flow rate that differentiates the two.
My parents and SO's parents have name-brand convection ovens but they're no where as good as a dedicated air fryer. We've tried the same recipe (potato roasties) across them all and they achieve vastly different results.
This. It's something to do with the fan placement or just the smaller volume of air in the air fryer. I've tried to use a convection oven and it both took way longer and the results were nowhere near as good.
Absolutely. I just bought a new range that does convection oven, and it's not as good as a countertop air fryer.
What's really strange to me is that every oven and every toaster oven I've ever owned has a connection setting. So people are buying these huge space-consuming appliances to do something that they can already do with what they have in their house.
The convection is much stronger than on a regular oven, as someone who has a full sized convection oven, toaster oven with convection, and air fryer.
Also you would have to use a mesh or rack with a cookie sheet on a lower shelf to expose the bottom of the food to the moving air in your oven without drips sticking.
If you've tried both, you would see what I mean.
Can confirm. Had an oven that could 'do' convection. Didn't seem to make a difference.
Then I got an actual air fryer. Made a massive difference.
Not every oven has a convection setting. I'd go so far as to say most rentals don't. Every (electric) oven does have a broil setting. But for some reason you seem to think buying a toaster oven (a small broiler) is fine but an air fryer (a small convection oven) is strange? And an air fryer is "huge"? Are you confused about what an air fryer is? It's like once square foot of countertop space at most.
Believe me, I thought the exact same thing until we were gifted one, so i get the skepticism! The convection bake setting on my oven is just not even comparable to a $75 air fryer.
As another commenter posted, air fryers use a much more intense airflow. It's nuts just how much faster and crisper things like chicken thighs and frozen snacks come out compared to the oven.
I didn't know that. Thanks for the education.
Actually closer to a sub category called impingement ovens.
Wikipedia:
Another form of a convection oven is called an impingement oven. This type of oven is often used to cook pizzas and lightly toast bread in restaurants, but it can also be used for other foods. Impingement ovens have a high flow rate of hot air from both above and below the food. The air flow is directed onto food that usually passes through the oven on a conveyor belt.
I did not know about them. Thanks for the new information.
A convection oven is a normal oven. "Convection" means it radiates heat and it flows through the oven by convection currents - hot air rises and cold air falls. As opposed to a microwave oven. You probably mean a fan-forced oven - they have been standard in the US since the early 1970s.
In spite of what the words "convection" and "oven" mean on their own, a "convection oven" refers to an oven with a fan to circulate the air. An air fryer is a small convection oven.
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-a-convection-oven/
I live alone. I can fit the same amount of stuff I would cook in my oven into my air fryer and cook it better with less electricity and less clean up.
Do you clean your entire oven every time you use it
No. But when I do it takes forever. Cleaning my air fryer takes a couple of minutes once a week.
Do you clean your air fryer every time?
Yes, every single time.
That is probably less work since you are only wiping a little mess each time. I would be spending an hour to scrub mine because I have never cleaned it down to the bare metal since I bought it. I just toss the trays and fat catcher tray in the dishwashers.
I seasoned my fry basket the same way that one would do a cast iron skillet. It did require a small amount of disassembly, and reassembly, but after doing the seasoning process (baking it in the oven @ 275° F caked in oil-soaked salt for 30-45 minutes, repeat as needed), I can just wipe mine out with a paper towel. The grease tray I wash each time, but that's just cause I don't want my fries to taste of fish.
I don't have one.
It’s just like cleaning a pan., very quick and easy.
For me, the win is the programmability. I think of it more like a microwave, where you just click a few buttons and wait for the beep
They're a trend because they're really good
Cause its so convenient, fast and efficient. I have kids so I can make food quickly (sous vide'd chicken I've done some days earlier, usually) and it doesnt draw electricity as much as my normal oven. I quite like it, and it makes my life easier.
I orginally bought it like 6 years ago to make chicken wings, but nowadays I use it for pretty much everything.
You dont have to like it, thats your prerogative.
how do you even know that?
Because most air fryers are countertop units that plug into a 15 amp outlet, vs most residential electric ovens that require 2x 240v 30 amp connections, or roughly 8x the available power...
Plus the time savings of cooking faster in the air fryer than the regular oven to further compound those savings.
That’s a bit of a stretch since most residential ovens also have a range on top, so the power requirements are to cover multiple elements, not the oven alone. It’s probably actually less efficient, but still lower energy because you’re heating a smaller cavity.
That's 14kW a whole range doesn't pull that much on full blast. There's plenty of ovens in the 3600W range meaning they run off bog-standard 240V@16A lines here but chances are you're in luck and your kitchen has 20A three-phase... also 14kW (in star configuration), intended precisely for the range, roughly divided into two for the top and one for the oven. Not much more copper so it became standard quite a while back, while 30A would be massive. Also more neutral wires.
Can't speak for them, but I've had a smart monitor which shows live consumption. Took note of the consumption while using the oven against baseline consumption, and the same for the air fryer.
Air fryer consumed approximately half the electricity for an equivalent amount of time in my case, but it's made better by the air fryer needing less time to reach temperature and cook whatever it is I'm making.
R/theydidthemath but for Lemmy....
I can monitor my power usage via my solar panels and powerwall. The app lets you see how much you're using at any given time, so I just turned on one appliance at a time to test their power consumption.
Smart meters have been a thing for over a decade now
This is how I know: https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/products/gen-2-emporia-vue-with-16-sensors-bundle
My air fryer only draws enough power to spin the fan, all the heat comes from natural gas.
You have one that goes on the stove?
Nah, inside. My oven is gas, so the air fryer in it isn't powered by electricity. I was being a smartass.
yeah they're just small convection ovens. Great for heating bread rolls, we use ours more as a toaster than for "frying" (they don't fry)
Yep. Giant superpowered toaster. Useful for ... anything that could do. Which is actually quite a bit.
Best way to reheat pizza for instance. It's nice that they're a little more energy efficient than doing it in the oven, and don't leave it soggy like the microwave.
Not better than stovetop, which is actually best imo, but that takes actual effort.
I reheat pizza in my air fryer in a moderately involved way (but still low effort). Mine's got a reheat setting, which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout. Then I hit air broil for maybe 1.5 minutes. It bubbles up the cheese and the oil in the crust without causing anything to char. Tastes pretty great, you just have to be willing to wait 25 minutes.
"which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout."
I read that like 4 times wondering how fucking hot your room is.
I keep it around 190 most days.
Shit just leave it on the counter, it'll cook right there
I think the pretty good results for not very much effort is why I use mine as much as I do
We make (air) fried chicken with ours, as well as onion rings. It’s super effective.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are perfection with an air fryer.
How do you weigh down the bread so it's not caught in the heat tornado?
Butter up the bread slices both sides and slap as much cheese as you want inbetween and put the whole thing in there. Flip it at 5-10 mins depending on your temp and device and let it go another minute or two. It takes a few tries to get all the timings perfect and you might even want to do the two bread slices open face with cheese and then slap them together halfway and finish.
What? I had no idea... I think this may be what will send me over the edge.
surely they are frozen or pre-fried though, right?
No, from scratch. We lightly spritz the breading with oil. It fries without a fryer. Super delicious.
They're a bit more than that.
They're convection ovens where the fan sounds like they're trying to take off and they vent a ton of hot moist air out the back.
If you put broccoli tossed in a bit of oil in an air fryer and a convection oven, it'll come out way crisper in the air fryer.
Air fryers have fans to keep the air circulating. That makes the food cook very differently than a traditional oven. It's more like a convection oven, but with even more airflow.
Also the food is off the floor on a rack or grate while being easy to clean.
Is your oven from the 70s? Even our old oven from the 80s has convection.
Not sure how that's even relevant. I didn't say anything that even mentioned what kind of oven I have. I was just comparing traditional ovens vs convection ovens vs air frying.
It mostly is though? It's definitely not a fryer. But I agree it still has it's place even next to a convection oven, if not for anything else, then at least for heating the leftovers.
I guess it's like a phone vs a tablet. They have a lot of similarities and a lot of functionality overlap and you could get by using one in place of the other but their use cases are different. Some people may only have one or the other, others may have both and use each at different times for different things. You wouldn't say someone with a tablet has been fooled into buying a rebranded phone.
There’s literally no difference between a conventional oven with a fan forced function and an air frier.
Get yourself a mesh tray for your oven, preheat and you’ve just saved $100+ as well as kitchen storage for yet another gadget.
My regular, full-sized convection oven has an air fryer mode. The main difference with the normal convection mode is that the fan runs much, much faster in air fryer mode. Because hot air circulates faster over the food, heat is transferred at a greater rate.
Decent air fryer : $300
Air frying capable oven (lower range) : $600
Good air frying capable oven : $1500+
Pristine, uncluttered countertops: priceless
I got a toaster oven with a convection oven/air fry option that also folds up so that it takes up less space. The only down side is that you have to be vigilant about cleaning up crumbs, but I like having a motivator. Second favorite appliance, after the dishwasher.
Our ninja ir fryer wasnt that much at all and it does things our convection oven or any other appliance can do.
My entire fan oven/hob/grill combo was €150
Don't tell me y'all get shafted for kitchen appliances too?!?
I think what's more convenient about an air fryer is that it is smaller than a convection oven. It's the next generation of toaster oven.
There is a difference between an air fryer and a convection oven. An air fryer has its heating element in the top with the fan so it is actively blowing hot air down on the food. It's basically a convection broiler.
This right here. A lot of people saying ugh it’s just a convection oven, but they have a weak fan blowing from the back of the oven while the heat source is at the top and bottom, 8-10 inches away from the food. In an air fryer the heat source is only a few inches from the food, and the much more powerful fan is right behind it, blasting the hot air down and through the food. And the small size means no warm up time necessary so it’s far cheaper to run.
My oven doesn't even run the top element in convection mode.
An air fryer is a small convection oven, but convection ovens aren't particularly common in my experience. It's definitely different than a traditional oven.
Is this an American thing? Because I've never known any house to to not have a convection oven.
Very American thing. I’ve never seen a convention oven in person.
Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's worse https://youtu.be/AASP4P5vRAA?si=aXMjrYK_aRIKX3YR
Thanks a lot, now I'm shopping for impingement ovens.
I tried, only renting looks barely affordable
There's some decent looking units for like 5k.
I have an oven in my apartment, I use the stove top but I have honestly never once used the oven part. I cook for one so I just simply never make meals large enough to need it, I just make anything that needs ovening in the air fryer. Also don't own a toaster, same deal pop it in the air fryer. It and and instapot are some actual goat level kitchen appliances.
I've been considering to buy one for some time and recently found a model capable of "air frying", de-hydrate food and a third function I can't remember right now.
For a relatively small footprint, having three machines in one sounds nice.
Dehydrating food is really slow in my experience, but the outcome is definitely worth it.
I have a dedicated dehydrator with slide in racks. It's faster, uses less energy, and does a better job than the other options.
Downside is it's another appliance to store and the upfront cost. It does make sense if you do a lot of dehydrating.
It is and it is.
I already have one but the machine loses a good deal of heat and the circular trays it uses are horribly expensive, hence my consideration for buying an "air fryer", that is enclosed.
Have you ever tried dehydrating mushrooms? The flavour kick it gives when adding to soups, stocks or meats... The fruits and vegetables. The flavour gets so concentrated and sharp.
I need to get my dehydrator working again. Fast.
Not a big mushroom fan, but I do like dehydrated fruit and jerky. I've never tried dehydrating things to add to soup, though. I'll have to try that if I ever have space for a dehydrator. Thanks.
Never tried it but I known someone that prepares ready to make soup packets, with all the basic ingredients dehydrated.
Just needs to be thrown into boiling water and add seasonings.
True, I've done that myself. I just never thought of doing it with my own vegetables.
Never late to try.
Not too late, but I don't have one or the room for one in the house I live in now. We have a small kitchen, unfortunately. Maybe one day.
That's the mutate function. Nice if you like your chicken to have gills or your beef jerky to grow feathers.
Have an upvote for the laugh.
I've got a Ninja one that does this and other than it being difficult to clean it's amazing.
Can you provide a link?
[This one ](http://www.Ninja.com/ Foodi 8-in-1 Digital Air Fry Oven, Large Toaster Oven, Flip-Away For Storage, Dehydrate, Keep Warm, 1800 Watts, Stainless (SP101C) – Canadian Version https://a.co/d/5secbNO)
I have an air fryer but I use its grill more than anything.
Actually got one 2-3 weeks ago and damn, these things are freaking awesome! It doesn't really fry like a deep fryer would but I haven't touched the deep fryer since and I used that thing more than I care to admit.
I totally would have bought into the air frier ecosystem earlier if I'd have known I'd be calling it my wife's easy bake oven.
Recent? Air fryers have been a thing off and on since the late ‘70s when they used to sell those funny shaped stovetop versions. So that’s 40+ years of air fryer trends.
We got one a few years ago and, while I was highly skeptical about their usefulness, found that it does a fast job of cooking things evenly. I can toss a pork loin in it and it’ll be done in 10 minutes while I’m maybe cutting up some veg for steaming.
are you or aren't you?
This doesn't make any sense.
I have a toaster oven I use for small portions and my oven has an air fryer option.
That's why there are microwaves with a convection oven function.
The problem is it's damn near impossible to actually find a good one that isn't meant for a commercial kitchen.
I've found the fastest way to heat up any food that's supposed to stay crispy on the outside is the microwave it and then bake it. If I could do this at the same time in the same machine that would be awesome.
I love my Sharp microwave/convection combo! Perfect for frozen pie and leftover pizza. 15+ years old now, not sure whether they still make 'em like that any more.
I have one of these, claims to be a combination Microwave/air fryer/convection oven. I was given a broken air fryer once, and when I took it apart to make it work again, I decided that an air fryer IS a convection oven.
Yeah, and? I'll take any oven I can get! I've got a toaster oven too! I've seen people with two ovens stacked on top of each other like a washer/dryer combo! Now that's living the dream
I have the stacked ovens! When we moved in, I thought we'd never have a use for it, but it's surprising how often it comes in handy. It's especially helpful around the holidays when there are lots of people prepping stuff in the kitchen at once.
Then why does it taste better? If I bake chicken tenders in an oven, it tastes, well, baked, but if it's cooked in an airfryer, it tastes so much better.
Convection, but like much more than a regular convection oven. If a regular convection oven is a tortoise, the air fryer is a car. It has a much larger fan to push the hot air around the food.
As to why it tastes better, that's because of the maillard reaction. Basically crispy brown bits good and air fryer makes lots of crispy brown bits.
Me like cripy
Air flow and preheating mostly. Air fryers generally use higher temperatures as well. The big thing is moving Air helps transfer heat more effectively. If you don't preheat an oven you get soggy stuff because it's not hot enough to get the maillard reaction, before the surface gets waterlogged. An air fryer can preheat In a couple minutes, so there's less time to get soggy, and the fab helps a bit too with evaporation.
Ovens have the problem that volume is directly related to the time and energy it takes to bring the temperature up. The oven size isnt designed well for cooking for small number of people, or for snacks.
I dont know why but moving the air around just isnt a standard thing in conventional ovens. It greatly speeds up the heat transfer so things cook faster, and crispier.
And the smaller sizes are nice, I dont typically need 2'x2' cooking space, it ends up being a waste of time and energy preheating these big things.
The lack of good insulation means you end up using similar amounts of energy last I checked.
I have a nice convection toaster oven, which I think is a bit more versatile for the counter space it takes than an air fryer. On convection mode it does a good job moving the air around and I can cook stuff following the air fryer directions, and I don't have to heat up a giant metal box with three racks.
My parents have had an air-frying capable oven of decades. They also paid a lot, lot more than what the typical air-fryer costs for it.
Cheap convection ovens do a poor job at moving the heat around, the "pulsated" heat function is mostly a marketing gimmick. Great convection ovens are doing a much better job but they are also five times the price.
They've also become popular in the UK recently due to the cost of living crisis there.
I'm guessing it came from a college student who wanted to stop using a hotplate for everything.
Damn, y'all must have a lot of spare counter space.
Ours weighs less than a normal stand mixer, takes up about the same footprint and gets used 10x more often. If we didn't use it all the damn time it would 30 seconds to unplug and put away. Not that big of a deal tbh
Takes up less counter space than a decent microwave and does 3x the work.
Microwave goes in a cabinet or mounts underneath it. Yes I am an extremist, but I have never seen a counter with an air fryer on it which wasn't a cluttered, anxiety inducing mess.
Microwaves don't mount in a rental and not once have I ever seen a cabinet both with an outlet and large enough to hold a microwave that wasn't divided in the middle for two cabinet doors. I'm also pretty sure you're not supposed to run a microwave in an enclosed space and im not just gonna leave the cabinet door open to hit my head on while its running.
Plus I need my cabinet space. And the stovetop/air fryer combo is objectively better at heating or crisping food evenly.
Skill issue?
Image Transcription: Twitter Post and Replies
alicia, @nerdjpg
Air fryers are so funny cause it's like. That's an oven
I have a convection toaster oven that I have had for years. It is incredibly useful and has enough room to rotisserie a chicken in it, which is much more capacity than any air fryer I have personally come across while not taking up much more room. I highly recommend getting a convection capable toaster oven over anything branded as an air fryer.
Low fat is for better health. It’s not exactly a bad trend and you seemed genuinely confused.
Low fat is NOT better for health. That's a myth that the sugar industry has been peddling for almost a century now.
Lel
Yeah I really don't get the point my yousemate has one and he insists it cooks certain things better than an oven, but its really just the same and it just seems like a mindless fad people are following that's being pushed to sell useless tat.
Its basically a convection oven with higher air speed. The faster you get heat onto the surface of food the crispier it gets.
frier > industrial convection oven > air frier > convection oven > oven
Also because it's so tiny you don't have to wait 30 minute for it to hear up
My oven takes like 3 minutes to heat up
It's a highly efficient small oven.
It's way less volume so it's easier to be consistent I think
My aunt who has been interested in cooking for decades swears they are great. I have yet to do research but I think there's more to it than "smol oven".
We have a small oven, we bought an air-fryer as an additional oven. Kids love how chips (fries) are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside with it. I definitely notice a difference compared to my gas oven. Things cook quicker
I'm guessing it's mostly driven by people renting tiny bedsits where the only cooking facilities they'd normally have room for are a microwave and a kettle. The fad seemed to blow up during the pandemic when everyone's nearby restaurants were shut, so they'd have to live on instant meals and pot noodles. Be a game changer for those folks.
It's probably cheaper to run than a regular fan oven because it's heating less space. Otherwise yeah, it's just a small oven.
I thought they were for techbros so they could cook their tendies without getting out of their gaming chair.
I think it just depends on what you make. I have one and I find anything that's breaded or fried warms up in that so much better and crispier then the normal oven. Also it usually warms up faster by about half the time sometimes.
They also suggest you use oil when trying to fry things. You just use a lot less oil when you do.
But if you try frying, like, french fries in an air fryer, even with some spray on oil, it doesn't come out the same. It comes out like they were baked. If I wanted them baked, I wouldn't have used a frier.
Yours probably just isn't great. Some you need to let preheat, some just aren't very good. I've always really felt like food comes out of air friers nicely fried, with no oil.
I have a Ninja. It's not great for frying because they don't actually fry anything. They're convection ovens. It's better for the pressure cooking features than the so-called frying.
Yes, they accurately do not fry things, that would be magic. They do make them crispy though. Most Americans don't have convection ovens, so air fryers are as close as wet can get, and they usually do work well. Sorry yours isn't working well for you, apparently.
I can make them crispy the exact same way by baking them in my normal oven. There is still a textural and flavor difference between that and deep frying. It's not that my device does not work well. You may like it; I fucking don't and looking at the comments, many others also don't like the difference.
air fryers suck because they make your apartment or house smell like the dogshit you eat
You eat dog shit?