My sister-in-law is interested in purchasing an air fryer. It is a new concept to me so I decided to do some research on it for both she and I. The basic premise is you can fry foods in air rather than oil. I think we would all agree that if we could enjoy our favorite fried foods without all the extra fat calories from the oil we would be very interested in doing that!
Hot air frying machines work by circulating extremely hot air around food using a mechanical fan that cooks the food and produces a crispy layer on the outside while keeping the inside moist. This would be similar to the way convection cooking is done. The only oil needed is what is brushed on the food before air frying. They do caution to not overload the air fryer as the food wouldn’t cook properly and could even lead to unsafe foods by staying at bacteria-friendly temperatures for too long. So cooking in smaller batches would be a necessity.
If purchasing an air fryer you would want to consider several things like the amount of counter space the appliance will take up, the wattage required to run the appliance, the capacity and what settings are available. On the plus side, it seems an air fryer would be a lot safer as there would be no pots of boiling oil around. It would also be less work in the beginning, there would be no oil to dispose of, no lingering smell in the house, and you would not feel as heavy full after eating. On the minus side, you cannot replicate the texture or flavor of foods that were traditionally deep fat fried and the actual cooking time is significantly longer. Plus air fryers are a bit pricey.
The jury is still out for me to consider purchasing an air fryer but the concept is an interesting one!
Thank you for your comments. I have also been thinking about getting one.
I haven’t had mine very long , but, so far I have cooked French fries, cauliflower tots, broccoli and cheese tots, and even store bought garlic bread slices. I don’t even add any oil, just put in the food! Quick, easy clean up. But you have to have the storage space for it!
I personally use air fryers for frying frozen food that is because such foods mimic the taste of conventional frying.
We all love that melt in mouth taste of fried food, but if you fry fresh ones in air fryer, I often find the taste is different. However when it comes to frozen, the taste is almost 90% same. That is why I try to use air fryer for as much frozen food as possible and less fresh food.
Mark, this is an interesting observation. I must test this out! I have only used my air fryer for fresh foods–sometimes with success and other times, not.