I have interest in buying an air fryer. Being a popular small appliance, I have read how great they are for cooking. But are they for cooking or reheating? Can they replace a toaster oven? How easy is to clean an air fryer? Does it require cleaning after each use? I rarely read anything about how easy or difficult is to clean certain small appliances or gadgets. For me, that is important.
I generally cook our meals for my husband and I, and we don't eat precooked frozen food very often. We don't mind eating leftovers so we do use either our microwave or toaster oven for reheating. Thank you for any help and information.
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I enjoy mine but it is not an essential part of my kitchen. I probably use it for reheating more than cooking, similar to my microwave. An air fryer is a small convection oven. If you look inside mine, it has an element in the top, like a traditional electric stove. The powerful fan pushes the air around while it cooks, allowing people to use less oil for all sorts of items. Some microwaves have a convection feature that I believe uses a similar process.
It is wonderful for browning or reheating foods, especially take out food like pizza or French fries. I also have used it to cook chicken breasts, Brussels sprouts and bacon wrapped asparagus. Toast would be possible but I have a regular toaster that I still use.
My basket is deep so it can be tricky to remove items that are in another dish or anything that can't be just dumped out of the basket or removed with tongs. You also need to remove the entire drawer to remove the basket, requiring more room on your counter.
As for cleaning, there is no way to fully clean the element and the top inside of the fryer. I suppose you could use an oven cleaner but I don't know how the plastic parts would survive. The crumbs fall to the bottom, like a toaster oven and the hot element would kill off any germs. You can remove the basket and the drawer and those need to be cleaned out pretty much every time you use it. I put the basket in the dishwasher often but the drawer is made of plastic so I generally hand wash it so it will last longer. Some of the higher end air fryers are more contained and might be easier to keep clean.
I'm interested in getting a combination air fryer/pressure cooker when it comes time to replace this one. Both Instant Pot and Ninja Foodi have their own versions and it would be nice to have one less appliance on my shelves or countertop. Or I will get one that is shaped more like a toaster oven.
I would look for a bargain at a thrift store or garage sale, or see if a friend could loan you one to try out before shopping for a new one. They were very popular for Christmas a couple of years ago so there might be a glut of nearly new ones that haven't been used very much. Plus, then you will know what features you like and which ones are not important.
Size and cleaning an air fryer.
If you have a convection toaster oven or regular oven, you do not need an air fryer. Some of them are easier than others to clean. You have to read the reviews
there are more then one kind of air fryers, there are the ones that look like a toaster oven, they do more then air fry, the one that i have toasts, airfrys, bakes, broils, and more, if you are looking for brand name suggestions, i can help, yes you should clean it after each use, i have one, and i also have one of the individual ones, you can air fry chicken tenders, fries, etc., in the smaller ones, they are only made for a small amount of food.
We love our air fryer. I find it is easy to use and to clean. My older kids also enjoy the ease of preparing their own foods in it.
This is just my opinion....but air fryers seem to be one of those 'fad' appliances. They are too small to do very much, and just something to take up more counter space. Personally I love my over sized convection/toaster oven and use it several times a week.
I enjoy my air fryer but definitely not something I use as often. It is easy to use and clean. I use my NuWave Convection Oven (more) or an Instant pot!!
I thoroughly enjoy our air fryer although I dont use it every day. There are just two of us so like you the smaller ones are perfect. I love making everything from French fries or sweet potato fries from scratch with very little oil or roasted vegetables. It also cooks up chicken breasts very nicely. My 93 mother wanted one for she and my dad and they use theirs much more than their toaster oven now.
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