Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When this is priced at $50, I would suggest it for single people living in apartments. When you only fry enough food for one person, it's sized appropriately and doesn't take up much space in a kitchen. But for a device that costs over $100, for any demographic, just use a pan. Or if you want to be healthy, bake your food in the oven. The main attraction the air fryer had in my household was that this could fry with very little oil, rendering the food healthier. While it's true this object can fry, a pan can do that just as well, the food tastes better, and it is easier to clean. Frying in a pan, and in some cases even baking in the oven, is also faster. In the air fryer, everything must be cooked in one layer in a basket. This basket is very small, so whatever is cooked has to done in small batches, which will need to be popped in an oven to keep warm while the rest of the meal is cooked. I don't understand why I wouldn't start in the oven, because this isn't going to save energy, and the oven is also a device that can cook healthy food. Ironically, the device's booklet suggests a lot of premade frozen items, which might be because frying homemade food in this thing can be difficult and extremely messy. I've tried frying from scratch in it, and regretted it almost immediately. Batter-dipped fish and onion rings, for example, will technically fry, but the batter will also cook into the basket and you'll be scraping the food out when it's done. And when you do the next batch, the cooked batter that is trapped in the basket will burn, because you have to let it cool completely before cleaning it. The booklet's suggestions tended to stay in the realm of unimaginative chicken, fish, and steak, items that are tastier broiled or even baked, and checking them for doneness can be difficult in that hot basket. The air fryer might be a novelty, it might be a little healthier (for the small range of food that can be cooked in it), but baking and broiling are easier and way, way cheaper. This is not worth the money it cost, and in my house it is now collecting dust on a shelf, because it's too much trouble. If I'm going to waste time scraping batter off a basket, I may as well fry it in vat of oil. It will taste better, it will be colossally cheaper, and it isn't worth the frustration of working the digital controls. Also if it's not cleaned completely of all the pieces of the last meal which felt through the basket, it will smoke, and it can set off the smoke alarm.