cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

The Air Frying Thread

It's been super slow on the Community tonight, so I thought that since people have been going out to eat a lot less during recent months but eating and cooking at home more instead, I'd start a thread on my most recent obssession: air frying. 


I'll admit that food such as fries a battered chicken are still going to come out better in a deep fryer, but I'd rather not have my food soaked in extra fat.  So, if in air fryer is able to do half as good of a job "frying" (actually baking) fried foods, I'm okay with that.

 

My advice would be that if you have the counter space, pay the extra bit of money for the larger sized air fryer.   You'll thank yourself for that later because unless you live by yourself, you might otherwise find that you need to cook in batches and that either one person has to wait to start eating, or you have to wait for second round to get the rest of your meal.

 

I've never been big on proper cooking and I've probably always relied far too much on processed foods. An air fryer is convenient because it allows you to easily cook your meal and when the timer runs out, it automatically shuts off. That ends up being great in the sense that you can go do something else while your meal is cooking. One of my favourites is air fried chicken legs. I'll usually just put some ketchup or bbq sauce on it and in about 30 minutes, it's ready.   

 

One pet peeve is about how poorly some of these devices are contructed. I've heard of some models leaking hot steam from the front of the unit causing a burn hazard. The basket release saftety lock is also often a cheap piece of plastic, and I wouldn't expect the non-stick coating on most of these to last more than a few months.  There has to be some good models out there though.

 

I really have no idea why I posted this message, other than that I was bored. I would imagine that some members have some good air frying recipes.

 

 

80 REPLIES 80

yanzhiqiang
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Good deal! Thanks for the info.


@will13am wrote:

The insignia air fryer sale is on sale for $69.99 this week until November 12.  The price is pretty compelling.  

 

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/insignia-digital-air-fryer-5l-5-3qt-black-only-at-best-buy/1378...


That is a very good price, but I don't expect the quality to be any different than any of the other generic units out there. With inexpensive air fryers, I would expect the non-stick coating to quickly peel off. You can still use the air fryer after that happens, but food will stick more often to the cooking surface.

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

The insignia air fryer sale is on sale for $69.99 this week until November 12.  The price is pretty compelling.  

 

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/insignia-digital-air-fryer-5l-5-3qt-black-only-at-best-buy/1378...

TessieBoo
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I have made beans in the slow cooker, and in the oven, and really do prefer them done in the Instant Pot.  I don’t know what the reason is behind soaking the beans over night - I thought it was so that they would cook better, but what you are saying does make sense.  Whenever I would do them in the oven or slow cooker, the beans would never get soft enough.  They turn out perfect in the Instant Pot.  My significant other thinks that the Instant Pot beans are better than any of the others that I’ve made.

TessieBoo
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I think the Chefman would be great.  The basket is larger than most air fryers.  Although I do like the 2 I have - Black and Decker and Kalorik, I at times do wish that they were bigger.   As someone else here mentioned, I also love french fries.  When first using an air fryer, I wasn’t too pleased with the results of my air fryer fries.  But, I guess I’ve learned how to do them so that they taste almost as good as deep fried.  I use a large plastic bag, add about a tablespoon of oil to the bag, and I put the raw fries in and shake the fries around so that a little oil gets onto each fry, and I kind of massage the oil and fries.  It takes about 25 minutes to fry them, and I take the basket out and shake them often.  Anyway,, it works for me.


@ecowen wrote:

Or this one,    https://www.kitchenstuffplus.com/chefman-digital-low-fat-air-fryer-black-stainless-steel?eid=f9f1164...


8L is quite large for an air fryer. Do you have enough counter space? 

 

Amazon has this one for $115.  5.8 quarts is still enough to cook a whole chicken in (maybe even a small turkey).  The reviews are pretty good too. I know that there are fake reviews for some products, but those that make fake reviews can't take away bad 1 star reviews.  It's sold by a third party seller but is shipped by Amazon. That means that you would be covered by Amazon's return policies.   https://www.amazon.ca/Innsky-Electric-Stainless-Touchscreen-Nonstick/dp/B07MR3KWSL/ref=sr_1_31_sspa?...


@ecowen wrote:

I'm thinking of the Chiefman Turbo Fry.  Sold at Best Buy. 


I searched the Best Buy Canada website and Best Buy doesn't sell any Chefman products. The product that you're looking at is sold by a third party (which could be anyone). Either way, $99.97 for a 3.5L air fryer with a manual knob isn't a good price.

 

 

ecowen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I'm thinking of the Chiefman Turbo Fry.  Sold at Best Buy. 


@ecowen wrote:

What's a good brand of Air Fryer to buy?  Is the Ninja any good?  I think it' about $100 at Costco.

 


Ninja is a one model. It's a brand name and has an entire line of products. Some will have advantages and disadvantages over other models. Which are you thinking of purcahsing?  I'm not so sure about the Ninja Foodi units.  All-on-one units are great for saving space and psosibly some money over buying multipel appliances, but they tend not to be the best for doing any one thing. I see the pictures of the Foodi models and to me, needing to use oven mits to remove your fries from the unit seems to be a bit of hassle. You also have to spend a minute converting the unit into the different modes and store the extra parts.


@ecowen wrote:

What's a good brand of Air Fryer to buy?  Is the Ninja any good?  I think it' about $100 at Costco.

 


I would recommend this unit.  The reason is that it is biggest square basket unit that I have been able to find.  The volume number is very deceptive.  The more thinly spread out the food, the more crispy the texture.  If the stack is too thick, it will end up being mushy.  If the unit is small, you will end up cooking individual portions at a time.  So, go big or go home.  

 

As far as the buttons go, don't be fooled by more is better.  At the end of the day, this thing works pretty much like an oven.  Time and temperature are the only parameters that matter.  Presets are meaningless because portion size determines cooking time.  

 

https://www.kitchenstuffplus.com/chefman-digital-low-fat-air-fryer-black-stainless-steel

 


@TessieBoo wrote:

I love my air fryers!  Yes I have 2 - 1 at my trailer, and 1 at home.  I air fry 3-4 times a week.  Also, I quite often do baked potatoes in mine, and they turn out great.  I love to cook, so I have a lot of kitchen gadgets - convection toaster oven; Instant Pot; a round tabletop convection cooker, slow cookers, and an electric stock pot.   The “home” air fryer is fairly new - It has a rotisserie, which I haven’t used yet, and there is a basket that can be used on the rotisserie set-up which I use to do onion rings, fries, and egg rolls.  This actually does a better job than the air fryer that I have at my trailer.  Anyway, I guess I’m just a “kitchen Gadget Geek”!  I also have an instant pot at my trailer as well as at home - you can cook a mean pot of baked beans in about 90 minutes, and the beans don’t have to be soaked overnight.


I am no chef, but from my understanding beans are soaked to remove indigestible sugars that cause flatulence.  Is this fake information?  I have never home cooked raw beans before, so I really don't know.  

ecowen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

What's a good brand of Air Fryer to buy?  Is the Ninja any good?  I think it' about $100 at Costco.

 

TessieBoo
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I love my air fryers!  Yes I have 2 - 1 at my trailer, and 1 at home.  I air fry 3-4 times a week.  Also, I quite often do baked potatoes in mine, and they turn out great.  I love to cook, so I have a lot of kitchen gadgets - convection toaster oven; Instant Pot; a round tabletop convection cooker, slow cookers, and an electric stock pot.   The “home” air fryer is fairly new - It has a rotisserie, which I haven’t used yet, and there is a basket that can be used on the rotisserie set-up which I use to do onion rings, fries, and egg rolls.  This actually does a better job than the air fryer that I have at my trailer.  Anyway, I guess I’m just a “kitchen Gadget Geek”!  I also have an instant pot at my trailer as well as at home - you can cook a mean pot of baked beans in about 90 minutes, and the beans don’t have to be soaked overnight.


@yanzhiqiang wrote:

If you have a toster ovan,why spend another $100 to $300 for air fryer?there are No different to me. Sorry about my ignorance.


The air fryer fan allows more even and faster cooking than even a convection toaster oven.

yanzhiqiang
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

If you have a toster ovan,why spend another $100 to $300 for air fryer?there are No different to me. Sorry about my ignorance.


@dabr wrote: 

Hmm...Colonel Sander's?  😊


That's not air fried.


@computergeek541 wrote:

Very top secret recipe

 

IMG_20201001_193426.jpg


Hmm...Colonel Sander's?  😊

Very top secret recipe

 

IMG_20201001_193426.jpg


@will13am wrote:


That is a really nice looking meal.  Send me a portion via private message please.  


Wouldn't you rather have 3kg striploin roasts for $17? I should have ordered more that time.  Air frying a steak works ok if it's a tender cut and if you get the timing right.


@JoyLuck wrote:

Here are fish and chips made in the Granpappy.

 

B8C1F07B-E203-4C24-92EC-3FA506FBE59D.jpeg


That is a really nice looking meal.  Send me a portion via private message please.  


@computergeek541 wrote:

@JoyLuck wrote:

It certainly looks good, but deep frying is cheating. As I use my air fryer as a convenience tool, it gets used often. I enjoy deep fried foods just as much as most people do, but eating that every day would not be good. Air frying can cut most of the fat out and taste almost as good. That's a compromise that I'm willing to make. 

Agree. I can only eat this about once a month.


@JoyLuck wrote:

Here are fish and chips made in the Granpappy.

 

B8C1F07B-E203-4C24-92EC-3FA506FBE59D.jpeg


It certainly looks good, but deep frying is cheating. As I use my air fryer as a convenience tool, it gets used often. I enjoy deep fried foods just as much as most people do, but eating that every day would not be good. Air frying can cut most of the fat out and taste almost as good. That's a compromise that I'm willing to make. 

Here are fish and chips made in the Granpappy.

 

B8C1F07B-E203-4C24-92EC-3FA506FBE59D.jpeg


@computergeek541 wrote:

@will13am wrote:


If you are a fan of food with a crispy texture but not the oil, you will be pleasantly surprised by the performance of the new generation of air fryers.  You can control the amount of crisp by the amount of oil spray used on the food.  Amazon prime days is coming and so there should be some good pricing for air fryers.  I think $100 or less is a pretty good deal.   


If you use enough oil, you might not even be able to tell the difference between deep fried or air fried, but if you use too much, that defeats the purpose of air frying. 

 

@will13am What's going to be your next air fried dish?


Totally agree.  On the T-Fal EZ clean unit, I can gauge the amount of oil absorbed into the food I fry.  It can get pretty scary.  A typical deep fry session will involve cooking about 10 lbs of wings, 2 lbs of shrimp, 2 lbs fries and 2 lbs onion rings.  If I compare the before and after oil volume, I am looking at losing about 1-1.5 cups due to absorption.  I can't imagine spraying that much oil onto the food. 

 

BTW, every bit of oil sprayed onto food will likely end up being absorbed due to the fact that the food is at room temperature during the spraying process.  In deep frying, the amount of oil absorption is inversely proportional to the oil temperature.  Deep fry in small batches to keep oil temperature high is the key to cutting down on the greasiness.  

 

On what to cook next, I am going to try a blooming onion again.  This time, it will be dry batter, likely fine bread crumb.  The semi-wet batter was a catastrophe.  


@will13am wrote:


If you are a fan of food with a crispy texture but not the oil, you will be pleasantly surprised by the performance of the new generation of air fryers.  You can control the amount of crisp by the amount of oil spray used on the food.  Amazon prime days is coming and so there should be some good pricing for air fryers.  I think $100 or less is a pretty good deal.   


If you use enough oil, you might not even be able to tell the difference between deep fried or air fried, but if you use too much, that defeats the purpose of air frying. 

 

@will13am What's going to be your next air fried dish?


@dabr wrote:

@will13am   Thanks for the info.  You're right about the design of the original actifry with the heating elements creating a limited cooking area and yes the paddle stick, while necessary to try to evenly cook the food, just created an unappetizing mess instead.  Also useful to know the newer models of air fryers have improved the cooking process because I hadn't given too much thought to it being the placement of the heating elements as a design flaw.


If you are a fan of food with a crispy texture but not the oil, you will be pleasantly surprised by the performance of the new generation of air fryers.  You can control the amount of crisp by the amount of oil spray used on the food.  Amazon prime days is coming and so there should be some good pricing for air fryers.  I think $100 or less is a pretty good deal.   

@will13am   Thanks for the info.  You're right about the design of the original actifry with the heating elements creating a limited cooking area and yes the paddle stick, while necessary to try to evenly cook the food, just created an unappetizing mess instead.  Also useful to know the newer models of air fryers have improved the cooking process because I hadn't given too much thought to it being the placement of the heating elements as a design flaw.


@computergeek541 wrote:

@will13am wrote:

Recently, I succumbed to peer pressure and bought an air fryer.  I do not deep fry indoors and so this purchase was intended to satisfy the fried food itch over the winter.  After using it for a bit, I have found it to be a credible alternative to the deep fryer.  My favorite fried food which is french fries comes out "good enough".  I have tried cooking fish with a dry bread crumb batter and outcome was good beyond expectation.  I have tried a semi-wet batter and it was total disaster.  The batter does not crust fast enough and consequently the airflow in the unit blows all the batter off the food into the outer basket.  I am not throwing out my deep fryer anytime soon, but there is a new appliance situated next to it in the cupboard.  

 

BTW, when shopping for an air fryer, go for one with the square shaped basket and 5.8 litre format.  Forget the smaller ones, there is not enough room for more than a tiny single serving of food.  The volume number is very deceptive.  In order to achieve good results, food cannot be stacked.  Much of the basket is empty space.  A 5.8 litre unit can do about one pound of fries at a time.  It is large enough to cook a whole chicken.  


Are you implying that I made you spend money?  I should have spent the extra $30 or so and go a bigger one. While a bigger unit might take a little bit longer to cook and could use more electricity, you limit your options when you realize that you can't fit a whole bird in the chamber without cutting it up.


There seems to be a lot of copycat going on in the design or perhaps only a big factory pumping these out under many different brand labels.  I see pretty much two sizes, 3.7 litre and 5.8 litre and two shapes, round and square food basket.  I would highly recommend 5.8 litre square food basket.  As already mentioned, food cannot be stacked and so it is the food basket area that is important.  A 4-5 lb chicken will fit perfectly.  No more overcooked store bought chickens.  


@dabr wrote:

@will13amwrote:

If your latest T-Fal air fryer the actifry model with the stir stick?  That one is a really bad design.  Fries come out like mashed potato.

 

@will13am   Yes it is the actifry model and you're right the fries are more mushy than actual fries. I'm going to try using it one last time by removing the paddle which (in my opinion) is partly responsible for making foods mushy, but I don't think that's the only problem with it.

 

So just re-read your post but didn't notice what make of air fryer you purchased as it sounds like some air fryers may actually do a decent job for foods that need to be crisp?

 

While, for our purposes, I'll still be eventually replacing the Actifry with a proper electric fryer, it would be nice to know what other brands of air fryers do a better job than the Tfal actifry.


The Actifry was the first mass market air fryer which had in my opinion a major design flaw.  The hot air flows out of two small ports which meant only the food over top of the ports were being cooked.  Thus the need for the stir stick.  Unfortunately the constant stirring caused mechanical damage to the food.  Thus stuff like fries come out more like mash. 

 

The latest air fryer design has the heating element directly over top of the food basket.  A big fan is placed over top of the heating element to force the air over top of the food.  To further promote even heating all around, the food basket incorporates holes on the side and bottom. This design eliminates the need for constant stirring.  Generally, the food items require a single stir/flip about 2/3 of the way into the cooking process.  The food comes out relatively crispy, particularly if sprayed with an oil mist.  

 

The air fryer I have was purchased from Kitchen Stuff Plus.  I had purchased a pricier model from Amazon that was returned because of steam leaks (safety hazard).  What I would look for in an air fryer is square food basket, 5.8 litre size, good fitting basket to air fryer unit with no major gaps that allow steam leakage.  I would generally avoid the bells and whistles such as lots of presets.  Over time you will find that depending on the amount of food, the cooking time has to be adjusted slightly making presets pretty much useless.

Need Help? Let's chat.