Air Fryers

[EBSXR6]

I live alone and was thinking of getting an Air Fryer.
I buy National Pies from the Supermarket which are in the Refrigerated Section and they have instructions for heating in an Air Fryer or Conventional Oven.
What else do you cook or reheat in your Air Fryer?

[Captain Stubing]

Anything from chips to roast pork with crackling. They can be very versatile.

[Travesty]

Move to the Bar (thread, not your living arrangements haha)

[.:4:.]

Honestly, just look on YouTube. There is a lot of videos on air fryers doing all sorts of things much fancier then meat pies and sausage rolls.

[Citroënbender]

A George Formby type griller is pretty versatile, too. Bachelor kitchens should have both.

Neither is ideal when making salads, save for grilling the haloumi.

Are you ambitious to spread your wings in terms of recipes?

[EBSXR6]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

A George Formby type griller is pretty versatile, too. Bachelor kitchens should have both.

Neither is ideal when making salads, save for grilling the haloumi.

Are you ambitious to spread your wings in terms of recipes?

Already have the George Foreman, fantastic appliance. Makes great toasties among other things.

[T3rminator]

Air Fryers are more like mini ovens. They don't "fry".

I have one, and use it for smaller snacks.

I cannot recommend the "Woolworths Oven Roasted Southern Style Wing Nibbles" enough for the air fryer. Set to 170, 30 mins, perfecto! I can fit 6 to 7 of them in my Philips air fryer.

Other things I use it for are my own prepped winglets, pies (can possibly fit 2 of the nationals), fries and dimmies

I want to get a bigger one so I can do lasagne and cottage pies without having to use my big oven!

[HIPO]

Have a Ninja atm, its a larger-wider type. Works far better than the smaller types.

Great for home made pies & pasties as well.

Home made garlic chips too.

Better than a microwave & quicker than an oven. Easy to clean.

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

A George Formby type griller is pretty versatile, too. Bachelor kitchens should have both.

Neither is ideal when making salads, save for grilling the haloumi.

Are you ambitious to spread your wings in terms of recipes?

I've had a lot of success with a Breville 4 slice sandwich toaster/press when cooking crumbed steaks!

[russellw]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Neither is ideal when making salads, save for grilling the haloumi.

What's salad even doing in a bachelor kitchen?

There are two rules with air fryers. The bigger the better and the dual drawer units are better than the single draw. After two different Phillips ones we now have a dual drawer or Megazone Ninja AF500 and it's near perfect.

Tip for frozen pies to save time. 90-120 seconds in the microwave and then 12 minutes in the air fryer for a quick, and great result (saves about 10 minutes).

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by russellw

What's salad even doing in a bachelor kitchen?

Whats a salad?

[csi20]

I bought the Aldi $49.95 air fryer. To see what all the fuss with air fryers is about. I cook frozen fish pieces, potato gems , chicken tenders. Early days ! still experimenting !!! Happy with it.

[xisled]

I like using the air fryer, it has replaced most things that are cooked in the oven.

I have a 900mm oven, so really only big things that wont fit in the air fryer go into the oven which isn't much these days.

Makes cleaning so easy, mine I pull the massive cooking tray and wire tray and wash in the dishwasher, saves me gassing myself out with oven cleaner.

Cooking quality, no difference.

[ford71V8]

We were recently given an airfryer.
I didnt see the point initially.
So it does well with the Chiko roll but a 2kg chicken fit in there and came out 45mins later looking very yummy with a nice crispy skin. Yeah, she gave it a rub down with some spices but I was impressed (and then full)

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

We were recently given an airfryer.
I didnt see the point initially.
So it does well with the Chiko roll but a 2kg chicken fit in there and came out 45mins later looking very yummy with a nice crispy skin. Yeah, she gave it a rub down with some spices but I was impressed (and then full)

Which air fryer fits a 2kg chicken?!?!?!??!?!? Whole or cut up?

[russellw]

The Ninja AF500 will actually fit 2 Whole chickens (1.8-2.3kg each) when used in Megazone format (both drawers combined into one zone). We've managed a single 2.5 kg one with the trimmings around it.

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Which air fryer fits a 2kg chicken?!?!?!??!?!? Whole or cut up?

I can get you the model / brand when Im home.
But it's a 1500W 3.2Kg capacity from memory... looks like a giant egg.
Chicken went in whole.

[ford71V8]

So I guess the egg came before the chicken based on the above

[Crazy Dazz]

Saw this thread in the Pub,
and thought somebody had coined a new name for BYDs.

End of the day, they're not fryers. They are very small, convenient, fan-forced electric ovens.

So anything you could cook in an oven, you can cook in an air "fryer."

Think about it this way, using an oven to cook a tray of say nuggets and chips, was actually a very inefficient use of space and energy. Air "Fryers" use a LOT of electricity, but they concentrate the heat in a very small space, so overall are more effective.

[russellw]

Like most things, you get what you pay for largely.

While most manufacturers have chosen 'litres' as the measure of capacity, a more useful measure for foods is obviously grams of weight however both can be misleading.

Our previous Smith & Nobel was a 10L capacity in a single basket with a top mounted heating and fan element. It had a rotisserie basket for chips but that severely restricted the capacity of them it could hold but the single main basket could take a decent size whole chook. The Ninja AF500 has two 5.2L drawers that can be turned into what they call a Megazone and that will take a pair of ~2 kg whole chickens (they claim a pair of 2.3 kg).

I find the capacity of 'chips' to be a good indicator as they decent air flow around them to cook properly. The S&N could only manage 300g in the rotisserie basket while the AF500 takes 1 kg in a single basket and 1.8 kg in the Megazone.

The other key factors are temperature and wattage given they will influence how fast it will cook any given thing. For example, the S&N was only 1300W but it did support a max temp of 230^oC but even with that, the cook time for that 300g basket of chips was 25-30 minutes. When we got the AF500, which is 2470W but only 205^oC max temp, I just used the same time being a man and not reading the manual, so got a burnt offering. It only needs (for the same 300g) 15 minutes at the max temp and 25-30 minutes would be long enough to cook a 1 kg according to the recipe book.

There are units for under $100 that range from a claimed 3.5-10 litres and 1100-1700W but I'd suggest you download the recipe book or user manual for whatever you are considering to check what those food capacities and cook times look like.

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Which air fryer fits a 2kg chicken?!?!?!??!?!? Whole or cut up?

So just to confirm we have a Caddy FRYAIR.
3.2L / 1500W

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by EBSXR6

I live alone and was thinking of getting an Air Fryer.
I buy National Pies from the Supermarket which are in the Refrigerated Section and they have instructions for heating in an Air Fryer or Conventional Oven.
What else do you cook or reheat in your Air Fryer?

An air fryer will do the same type of cooking as oven, just quicker, which is great for single people who come home and want to cook a meal in a short time.

Cheers.

[russellw]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

So just to confirm we have a Caddy FRYAIR. 3.2L / 1500W

I'm sorry but you might get a 2lb whole chicken in a 3.2L air fryer but a 2 kg one isn't going in whole.

[Travesty]

Originally Posted by russellw

Like most things, you get what you pay for largely.While most manufacturers have chosen 'litres' as the measure of capacity, a more useful measure for foods is obviously grams of weight however both can be misleading.Our previous Smith & Nobel was a 10L capacity in a single basket with a top mounted heating and fan element. It had a rotisserie basket for chips but that severely restricted the capacity of them it could hold but the single main basket could take a decent size whole chook. The Ninja AF500 has two 5.2L drawers that can be turned into what they call a Megazone and that will take a pair of ~2 kg whole chickens (they claim a pair of 2.3 kg). I find the capacity of 'chips' to be a good indicator as they decent air flow around them to cook properly. The S&N could only manage 300g in the rotisserie basket while the AF500 takes 1 kg in a single basket and 1.8 kg in the Megazone.The other key factors are temperature and wattage given they will influence how fast it will cook any given thing. For example, the S&N was only 1300W but it did support a max temp of 230^oC but even with that, the cook time for that 300g basket of chips was 25-30 minutes. When we got the AF500, which is 2470W but only 205^oC max temp, I just used the same time being a man and not reading the manual, so got a burnt offering. It only needs (for the same 300g) 15 minutes at the max temp and 25-30 minutes would be long enough to cook a 1 kg according to the recipe book.There are units for under $100 that range from a claimed 3.5-10 litres and 1100-1700W but I'd suggest you download the recipe book or user manual for whatever you are considering to check what those food capacities and cook times look like.

At 2470W, does the Ninja trip breakers?

[roKWiz]

Used the ones with the built in rotisserie at various house sits and consider them very useful, this is coming from someone who was used to cooking on a gimball metho stove using a pressure cooker.

Gas or electric, pressure cooking is on another level, equally as fast but can cook a huge roast in around the same time.

[AMB]

Originally Posted by Travesty

At 2470W, does the Ninja trip breakers?

2400W is about 10 amps. Electric kettles are often about the same. Toasters and microwaves also close to that. They wont trip the main breaker on their own, but when you want a cup of tea and some toast, its right on the edge, and one more appliance will often trip the breaker. If you have a power board for multiple appliances, then the overload switch on the powerboard will often trip (powerboards are rated to 10 amps).

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by russellw

I'm sorry but you might get a 2lb whole chicken in a 3.2L air fryer but a 2 kg one isn't going in whole.

Thanks Russell.... I asked the cook and she corrected me.
It was a 1.2kg chicken.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Travesty

At 2470W, does the Ninja trip breakers?

Why would it? it might shorten the life of the gpo in the long run.

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Itsme

Why would it? it might shorten the life of the gpo in the long run.

Because its on the fine edge of the circuits capacity if theres anything else running on that circuit at the same time?

[russellw]

Looking back through the published specs it's actually not 2470W in the Australian version but instead 1670W. The 2470W specification is for the UK market where the household GPOs are 13A under BS 1363 - a fact I didn't know.