Are hot crunchy fries one of your weaknesses? Do you make your way to the local fast food joint for your daily fries intake?
Well, in that case you should buy the modern oil-free hot air fryer and cook oil-free healthy fries at home; fast, convenient and healthy.
Of course, the hot air multi cooker has more to offer than just fat free calories-reduced fries.
With its grill, bake, and roast functions, you can cook your favorite recipes in this oil free or less oil kitchen appliance that has won rave reviews world wide.
80% less fat fries – I would certainly choose these over the fat laden ones.
If I can do these in the convenience of my home kitchen with minimum preparation and cleaning up, now that’s certainly appealing.
What Is A Low Fat Air Fryer?
Imagine a deep fat fryer with its bubbling hot oil. Now imagine the hot oil replaced by hot air.
Frying in hot air is certainly less fattening, less messy clean up and less risks involved too.
The heating element of the air fryer can be a grill or the halogen bulb. The hot air is pushed around the cooking chamber with the help of a spinning fan located next to the heating element.
The air fryer comes with a lid.
Cooking is fast and free from splattering oil vapor all over your kitchen countertop.
Clean up involves just a quick wipe. All removable parts go into the dishwasher.
Judging from satisfied customers reviews world wide, the fries are crunchy and fluffy – just like those deep fried the traditional way.
Air fried chicken is another specialty of the air fryer.
No matter how novice you are, you can’t really go wrong with the air fryer and your chicken wings.
Season your wings, put them into your air fryer. Most take just about 10 – 15 minutes and your finger licking good fried chicken wings are ready; a delicious masterpiece each and every time.
Remember, all the hard work is done by the machine.
You don’t even have to stand in front of it. Just wait for the ready beep signal; no sweat, no tears literally!
The home hot air frying machine is one appliance that gives good results with minimum of fuss and hassle and is a great time saver.
Which Is The Best Hot Air Fryer To Buy
The best air fryer to buy will depend on your needs and budget.
You would need to consider features like capacity, ease of use with digital controls or analog controls. Preprogrammed settings would make it easier as timing and temperature are all preset.
If accessories are included, then you have more cooking options.
For example, the included rotisserie fork would make it possible to roast a whole chicken, skewers allow you to do kebabs, you can cook curries in the baking dish besides baking your muffins, bread or small cake.
A double layer rack allows for 2 layers of cooking space – you cook more at the same time.
The important features of the best air fryer for home use can be categorized into 4 main parts : capacity, air fryer accessories included, ease of use and ease of clean up, price.
Capacity
T-fal FZ7002 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker
2.2 pounds capacity
You can choose between a small capacity or large capacity air fryer depending on your family size and your needs.
The Philips airfryers range from 1.8 pounds – 3 pounds (XXL) cooking capacities.
You can get the Tefal Actifry at 2.2 pounds capacity.
The Rosewill brand comes in at 2.5 quarts – 3.3 quarts.
Another popular brand, the Avalon Bay air fryer has a capacity of 3.2 pounds.
The latest air fryer ovens come with a capacity that is more than 10 qts.
Another large capacity oil-less air fryer machine is the Gourmia 10.5 quarts air fryer.
Ease Of Use/Clean Up
GoWISE USA 8-in-1 Electric Air Fryer with Digital Programmable Cooking Settings
The air fryer comes with analog buttons, digital with easy touch screen icons and some models come with preset programs.
If you have difficulty turning the analog dials, then you may prefer the digital model with the intelligent LED control panel.
Preset programs come with preset time and cooking temperature.
For example, the 3.7 quarts GoWise air fryer with digital programmable cooking settings comes with 8 cooking presets.
These are Warm-Up, Chips, Chicken, Steak, Meat, Cake, & Fish. For grilling steak, just press the steak icon and wait for the ready beep sound.
There are only 2 buttons to press besides the on/off switch, namely the timer and temperature buttons.
For the T fal Actifry, the temperature is fixed at 338 degrees Fahrenheit and comes with a 99 minutes digital LED timer. There’s only the timer to press. The Actifry comes with a stirring paddle that stirs your food as it cooks.
Most of the brands do not come with recipe books but do have manuals included that come with suggestions for time and temperature for some common food items.
Tefal Actifry and Philips airfryer do have the recipe booklet included.
As for cleaning up, I would recommend cleaning after each use.
You can use the dishwasher. Washing by hand is real easy too – soak and wash with warm soapy water.
Air Fryer Accessories
Gourmia GTA1500 air fryer and included accessories
These extra air fryer accessories besides the main cooking basket help in expanding your cooking options and that means you’re able to cook more types of your favorite recipes using different cooking modes.
Besides frying your fries, you can also roast chicken wings, grill pork chops, grill a piece of juicy steak or bake pizza and muffins.
Some of the air fryer accessories include double layer rack, grill pan, skewers, cake pan, rotisserie fork, fry cage, steak cage etc.
The Gourmia GTA1500 comes with 4 included accessories – rotisserie basket or food roller, auto rotating classic rotisserie fork, high and low broil and steamer rack and tongs.
The Philips airfryer brand has their own range of accessories for all their models but these have to be bought separately. You have a choice of double layer rack, variety basket, grill pan, baking dish.
Avalon Bay and GoWise air fryers have their own baking dish for recipes with sauces or liquids or baked food items.
However, some brands do not come with their own accessories. You can still use those from other brands as long as they fit into the frying basket.
Or you can use any accessories that are meant for the oven such as Pyrex dish or baking tray. Just make sure they fit into the frying basket. Putting these into the basket and not on top of the drip pan ensures that hot air is circulated evenly even from the bottom.
Price
If you have a budget price to stick to, then perhaps you can compare the air fryers based on the price range.
Do take note that more accessories means more cooking options, higher wattage means a faster cooking time. The Philips Avance with the larger capacity of 2.6 pounds and 1800 Watt cooks 30% faster compared to the smaller Philips model with 1.8 pounds capacity and 1425 Watt.
Pros and Cons
All air fryers have somewhat similar pros and cons. After all, all air fryers use the same rapidly moving hot air technology theory to cook food fast, resulting in crispy outside and moist inside texture.
Pros
- No oil/less oil used
- Easy to use
- Fast cooking
- Convenient
- Easy to clean
- Healthy low fat meals
- Multiple cooking modes
- Portable
Cons
- Not so great for big families – need to cook in batches
- Not that compact in size
Low fat or oil-free cooking is the way to go for less fat and less calories meals. The home hot air fryer is one such cooking appliance that makes this possible in a convenient and hassle-free way.