Are Air Fryers worth it?

Air Fryers are all the hype now a days, everyone is talking about them from your friends, family, neighbors and even influencers on social media. What is the hype all about? Do air fryers really fry food without oil or is it just a gimmick? Well here at Uber Appliance we are here to answer some of your questions. Today we take advice from our engineers, manufacturing team and customers on the Pros and Cons of using an air fryer. We are going to take a look at the types of foods you can cook in it, why it is better than a traditional deep fryer or regular convection oven. We deep dive into the advantages and draw backs of air fryers, We also include some really helpful tips and tricks from our customer feedback that will make your experience with an air fryer that much better. Get a cup of your favorite beverage, this is about to be fun! 

 

1 - What is an air fryer?

An air fryer is basically a combination between a traditional oven and a deep fryer, it takes the best of both worlds and combines it in a compact and highly effective package. A deep fryer utilizes an oil bath at a high temperature to fully coat the food and quickly cook it to perfect crispiness. The drawback of deep fryers are that they use fatty oils that transfer into the food adding un-necessary calories, the hot oil is a safety hazard for small children as they can easily burn themselves on it, the frying process is messy and produces an unfavorable smell in your house. The oven is slightly better but given the large size of an oven, you end up utilizing quite a bit of electricity to cook a meal compared to a fryer, the way ovens are designed causes the food to cook un-evenly and the end result is usually not as crispy as a deep fryer.

Air fryer’s use convection like an oven and air circulation like a deep fryer circulates oil to fully cover the food with circulating hot air mimicking the oil frying process. The end result is very crispy delicious food without using oil.  The advantage is less calories, no foul frying smell in the house and it is much safer, no oil splatter or possibility of burning yourself with hot oil. For a deeper dive into how an air fryer works check out our article.

 

2 - What can I cook in an air fryer?

Air fryers are very versatile cooking appliances, there is so much you can do with an air fryer the limit is your imagination. Air fryers are capable of air fryer, baking, broiling, roasting, dehydrating and reheating many foods.

What can I Air Fry with an Air Fryer?

- French fries, curly fries, waffle fries, steak fries any shape of potatoes you like

- Onion Rings

- Chicken wings

- Chicken breasts, chicken thighs, chicken drum sticks

- frozen churros

- tater tots

- Mozerella sticks

- Falafel

- Egg Rolls and Spring Rolls

- Shrimp, fish

- Corn dogs

 and many more than we can think of right now

What can I Bake in my Air Fryer?

- Cookies - chocolate chip, oatmeal, sugar, raisin and more

- Cakes of all types in a small corning ware dish

- Brownies

- Muffins

- Cup Cakes

- Pastries such as danish, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, crescent rolls and scones

- Doughnuts

- Macarons

- Personal Pizza's 

- and Even Bread

What can I Broil in my Air Fryer?

- Chicken

- Fish

- Beef, steaks, burger patties and meat loaf

- Hot dogs

- Bacon

- Pork steaks and Pork Chops

- Vegetables

- Scalloped potatoes and other casserole side dishes

- Pasta and lasagna

What can I Roast in my Air Fryer?

- Beef Pot roast

- Lamb Chops

- Kebab skewers

- Chicken

What can I Dehydrate in my Air Fryer?

- Jerky - beef and vension alike

- Home made trail mix

- fruits like banana chips, apple chips, apricots, oranges, peaches and more

- vegetables like sweet potato chips, carrot chips and more

- various nuts and seeds like peanuts, pistachios, pecans, sun flower seeds and others

- sun dried tomatoes

- mushrooms

What can I Reheat in my Air Fryer?

- Left over pizza

- Hot pockets and Pizza rolls

- toaster strudels

- a variety of frozen foods

- potato wedges and potato skins

 

3- Benefits of an Air Fryer:

• Less calories - Fry with no oil
• No foul frying smell
• Safer - no hot oil to burn yourself on
• Less messy - no oil splatter in the kitchen
• Uses less electricity compared to a traditional oven
• Can cook most meals in an air fryer
• Crispy foods
• Easy to clean non-stick coated basket
• Better than a microwave, no microwave radiation

There are so many benefits to air frying, such as the ones listed above. Since air fryers do not use oil there is no excess grease in the food, no hot oil to worry about, no oil splatter all over the kitchen. Given an air fryer is pretty compact it still fits your food but uses way less electricity compared to a traditional oven. The biggest advantage is the fact that you can cook most meals in an air fryer. We have successfully cooked rib-eye steaks, fries, chicken wings, mozerella sticks, potato skins, as well as deserts such as donuts, cinnamon rolls and even cakes and soufflé’s. The air fryer is so versatile, especially with the multitude of accessories on the market, you can make personal pizza’s, Kebab’s or even a rotisserie chicken in an air fryer.

The cleaning process is pretty straight forward, most of the excess oil and grease falls in the pan below the grease separator or the air fryer basket, remove your delicious air fried foods from the basket, drain the air fryer pan of any excess grease then wipe down with a damp soapy microfiber towel, rinse and dry. Or you can drain the grease and chuck it in the dishwasher.

Last but not least almost all microwaveable dishes (except for liquids, like soup or chili) can be cooked in an air fryer, using an air fryer is healthier than the microwave as air fryers use convection heating not radiation heating to warm up foods. Radiation heating has a very well documented history of inducing harm to humans with excessive use over a life time. The less microwaved food you eat the better, air fry it instead.

 

4- Disadvantages of an Air Fryer

• Can be small and not fit all your food depending on the size
• Takes up kitchen counter space
• Can have a plastic smell/taste during first couple of uses
• Scratching and flaking of non-stick coating

Honestly we had to think hard about the disadvantages, there really aren’t that many and the few disadvantages can be easily remedied or avoided with some research. The first and major one is the size of your air fryer. Air Fryers come in many different sizes from as small as 1.5 Quart up to 10 Quart and everything in between. Depending on what you plan to use your air fryer for if you pick the wrong size you will have issues cooking the foods you like. Some people like an air fryer that they can cook up to a whole turkey in, if they buy a 1.5 Quart sized air fryer they will not be able to cook a turkey in it so size definitely matters. We recommend at a minimum a 3 quart, ideally a 5 quart size air fryer to be able to cook most foods. At a 5 Quart size you can cook up to a whole chicken in it. Now with larger size air fryers, they will take up more valuable counter space so choose wisely.

One of the biggest complaints of buying an air fryer is the plastic smell or taste that users experience during their first couple of uses. The lower quality air fryers have a plastic smell and taste during the first couple of uses due to the factories not properly venting the new plastic’s inside the air fryer. We put together a guide to help remedy this issue, a savvy shopper will find a plastic smell free air fryer like the Uber Air Fryer XL which is pre-vented from the factory, yep that’s right no plastic smell at all, just delicious air fried foods!

Last but not least many users experience scratching and flaking of the non-stick coating either due to a low quality coating or improper use and improper washing procedures. Non stick coating is generally pretty fragile and sensitive all it takes is a fork or knife in the air fryer basket and the coating can flake pretty easy. Washing the air fryer basket and agitating the stuck on grease (if not washed soon after use while the grease is still liquid) with a brillo pad will scratch and wear down the non-stick coating. We put together a helpful guide on the best air fryer basket cleaning process to avoid scratching the non-stick coating. We recommend lining your air fryer pan with foil or parchment paper to soak up excess grease and making the cleaning process a whole lot easier, it also preserves the non-stick coating for years to come.

 

Overall thoughts

Air fryers are pretty awesome and are backed with some crazy cool science, really its an engineering marvel in the kitchen. There are so many advantages and so few drawback’s that it is a no brainer. Most air fryers cost between $75 - $150 so it is a small investment for a huge return in delicious home cooked meals and lower electric bills compared to using a full size oven. We highly recommend trying out an air fryer for yourself and get ready to be hooked on all the awesome recipes you can try out and enjoy with your friends and family.

 

Where can I find the best air fryer?

 

 

Uber Appliance offers one of the best air fryers on the market today, our Uber Air Fryer XL is perfect for any family with its roomy 5 quart basket you can air fry a whole chicken. The dishwasher safe basket and grease separator with non stick coating make cleaning a breeze just wipe it down with a damp soapy microfiber towel and toss it in the dish washer.

The Uber Air Fryer XL features an easy to use touch display for temperature and time setting with temperatures ranging from 150F to 400F, the digital display also has several pre-set cooking temperature and time to perfectly cook chicken, steak, fries, wings and so much more with a single press of a button. Every Uber Air Fryer XL Comes with a free recipe book so that you can explore tasty meals as soon as you get it with plenty more recipe’s on our site.

The Uber Air Fryer XL’s plastic is pre-vented from the factory which eliminates any plastic smell or taste in your foods from the first use. This is one of the biggest complaint from air fryer users and at Uber Appliance we listen to our customer’s feedback and strive to provide the best experience from the first use!

Last but not least buy from Uber Appliance with confidence, we guarantee the quality of our air fryers with our “love it or leave it” 30 day free returns and free exchanges warranty. Our Uber Air Fryer comes standard with a 1 year warranty against any manufacturers defects and we offer extended warranties for up to 2 years. We have been in business for the last 5 years and we have a reputation to protect which is why we place our customers first, our friendly Customer Service Rep Jennifer is available via email 24/7 to answer any questions you might have!