Bobby and I have been talking about getting an air fryer. We really do not do a lot of frying, but it seems like it would be a simple and healthy way to cook foods, so we are going to try a small one from Amazon and see if we like it or not. Since it is just the two of us, and we often eat different foods at different times, a little one would be just fine. Sam’s Club has a small (2-quart) Copper Chef air fryer on sale for $29, which fits our budget perfectly, so that is what we ordered. This is an old thread, so maybe someone else on the forum has an air fryer and can share their opinions about one ?
@Yvonne Smith -- I've had an air fryer for a couple of years. I'm thinking the 2 qt may be too small for you but maybe not. Mine is a 3.5 qt and it's perfect for making a meal for the 2 of us. I mostly use it for reheating leftovers and cooking potato wedges, fish fillets, chicken wings, etc.. You probably know that an air fryer is simply a small convection oven, so pretty much anything you cook in the oven can be cooked in an air fryer as long as it will fit inside. It's a nice novelty item but when mine dies I won't buy a replacement. I find that an oil "spritzer" like THIS is a must-have for use with the air fryer. When I make french fries, I spritz them with olive oil before cooking and again midway when I shake the basket. That helps give them a fried taste without adding a lot of oil. Without a bit of oil they tend to be dry and kind of sad.
In case you hadn't noticed, the sale of air fryers has skyrocketed... This from Consumer Reports: "That's the golden promise of air fryers, and it probably explains why, in the U.S., about 4 million were sold in just a year. That represents a tenfold increase in two years, according to the market research firm NPD Group." Since I hate to have the world leave me behind, I invested $59.95 in a one day delivery of a Walmrt Farberware Air Fryer. Since there are so many wonderful things written about air frying, even if it was just once in a while, the $60 would be worth it. Not a particularly avid fan of fried food. French fries are good, and I like fried chicken wings once in a while. Decided to try the chicken wings... The simple recipe.... in brief: (yeah sure).... Mix flour and salt and pepper in a bowl. Roll wings in the flour. Preheat fryer to 360 deg. Drop wings in basket, and set for 8 min. @ 38o deg. Open and shake basket, cook for 360 deg. for 5 min. Open shake, and brush on barbeque sauce and cook @ 360 deg. for 5 minutes. Open and spread on more sauce and cook @380 deg for 5 min. Let cool to serving temperature. ..................................................................................................... Sad ..... First of all... rolling the wings in flour, did nothing except leave a dusty look. Setting the timer DID work... The wings got hot, but nowhere did the "fryer" part show up. Just hot pasty white wings. A mess to clean up the bowl of flour. Cleaning the removeable basket was a pain... most of the BBQ sauce just dripped off the wings into the basket, and the pan beneath. Cleaning was a nuisance, but apparently not as bad as some of the other fryers that Consumer Reports reviewed. Nothing crunchy, nicely browned or even looking palatable. Am thinking that the "roll in flour"... should have been roll in flour and egg mixture, or flour and breadcrumbs... or like that. The recipe book that came with, showed a few dozen similar, 8 to 10 step preparation steps. I'll try once more, with spray butter that is suggsted on some recipe websites, but am thinking that when my kids (Kerry and Penney) come this weekend, they will be presented with a very lightly used air fryer. Take a peek at "Air Fryer Recipes" on the web... hundred and hundreds of UTube clips that show beautiful delicacies. Amazing!!! Back to the fry pan and oven... too old to join the new "easy" way to cook. .
You should've checked on here before buying. It's possible someone could have warned you in advance. In the future, @Beth Gallagher and @Yvonne Smith have experience and knowledge of many kitchen appliances. I'm sorry it didn't turn out for you. Is there any chance of returning it?
I've thought about buying one of those but I don't see how you can "Fry" anything without grease. Thank you for your review. Now I'll stick to my trusty ol' frying pan.
An air fryer is basically a small convection oven. It works fine for reheating stuff or frozen french fries (spritzed with oil).
Oven frying works fine for me. And less clean up mess too. If Walmarts product did not work as promised...you should have no problem returning it and getting a refund.
I have an air fryer and I love it. I've had it for about 5 years now. I don't use it daily but at least once a week. You must follow instructions when using .. it's not one of those thing where you can alter directions due to the basket configuration. However .. you can buy an accessory kit which will give you a rack for kabobs, a pan for cakes and such and a few other things. You can't put dry flour on your food and expect a good result .. not even in a regular oven. The dry product needs to adhere to your food and a spritz of cooking spray or even a light spray of olive oil will help in the browning effort. As for the sauce dripping off .. it will drip off in an oven too. The advantage to the air fryer is that your food is not sitting in grease so you won't be eating as much. It does crisp things nicely when done properly. I have baked in mine, reheated in mine, "cooked" frozen fries, onion rings etc, cooked fresh vegies as well as some meats. As with all gadgets and appliances there is a learning curve. And honestly .. we have been so programmed to depend on grease frying that anything that says fry without the grease seems to cause chaos and confusion. I love my air fryer and I always recommend that others get one and take the time to learn how to use it. They have them now that are combo air fryer and toaster oven etc. Perhaps that would be a better option particularly for those of you who enjoy a toaster oven.
I agree that an air fryer works fine for what it is, but you definitely can't "fry" stuff in it. I've had one for a couple of years and use it mainly for frozen fries or reheating stuff that needs a little crisping. It also does well for cooking a couple of hamburger patties or pork chops. That said, when it finally dies I won't buy another one; it takes up too much kitchen real estate for limited use IMO.
I had been thinking about getting one of those.....I thought it'd make cooking easier...oh...I'll just stick to the skillets.