The 4 Best Air Fryers for 2020 Reviewed

What You Need to Know

Air Fryer Basics - The original patent for this craze that seems to have taken the nation by storm is the Phillips Electronic Co. Their claim upon release of the first air fryer was simply that it could cook foods using minimal amounts of oil that mimicked the results of being deep fried. These are simple appliances that should be easy to use and clean up along with cooking superb crispy foods that are tasty and healthy.

How They Work - An air fryer works  like a convection oven on steroids in that hot air is rapidly circulated around the food being cooked. The big difference is that your foods are contained in a much smaller space and the air flow is much stronger. The way in which the hot air circulates around the food from all directions is what causes it to crisp up much like putting it in a deep fryer filled with oil. Because you are cooking in a compact space with hot air constantly blowing on the food, cooking times are significantly reduced.

How Is It Possible to Fry Without Oil? - In many instances, the food you plan to cook already has enough oil or fat in it for the air fryer to work. For example, chicken wings have more than enough fat to become nice and crispy in about 20 minutes in the air fryer, and any excess fat ends up in the bottom of the basket rather than on your plate creating a greasy puddle.

With some foods such as French fries, it is recommended that you coat them lightly with a tiny bit of oil to obtain the desired crispiness. All you need to do is toss them in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and your favorite seasoning before placing them in the basket. The oil helps make your fries nice and crispy and is MUCH healthier than completely submerging them in a hot oil as would be the case with a traditional deep fryer.

How Powerful Are Air Fryers - Power or wattage is one thing you should consider as you look at the various air fryers on the market. The average range seems to be between 1500 and 2000 watts. The Bagotte model has a 1500W heating element and a temperature range of 180° to 380°F which is more than enough to cook most foods. Because of its smaller capacity, the Phillips model only has a 1425W element, but the Advanced TurboStar Technology claims a more powerful heating element is not needed and it seems to work just fine based on this units rave reviews. The big thing to remember here is that a bigger heating element, while relevant to cook times and the quality of the final product, isn't the only determinate of how the device functions. The overall design of the air fryer plays a large role too.

Can You "Fry" Anything? - So, here's the deal, you can cook almost anything that you would normally put in a deep fryer, which means things like fries, wings, breaded chicken tenders, okra, tomatoes, and many other items. The thing to remember is that you can't cook anything that is liquid, which rules out freshly battered foods like fish unless you freeze it before you cook it. Air fryers do not work well when the batter is still trying to drip off the food, you just end up with a mess at the bottom of the basket. When you drop foods coated in a wet batter into a traditional deep fryer, the oil instantly seals the batter and then starts cooking. In an air fryer, everything cooks evenly so batters will run off the fish before it is cooked enough to stay in place.

Health and Safety

So, Is Cooking With An Air Fryer That Much Healthier? - One of the most popular reasons given for buying an air fryer is that the foods cooked this way are much healthier. In many ways, this is true because you use less oil to achieve the results you want.

Instead of submerging your fries in a vat of heated oil that soaks into them as they cook, you add a tablespoon of healthy olive oil to a bowl and lightly coat them. By using so little oil, you cut the fat content of your foods. Which as most of us know, the less fat in your diet the better. Excess intake of vegetable-based oils such as those used in deep fryers has been found to cause heart disease, inflammation, and weight gain.

One thing you should keep in mind is that just because air fried foods are considered healthier than those cooked in a deep fryer, this does not necessarily mean they are healthy foods in general. You need to look to the underlying nutritional content.

Lastly, AND OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE, make sure that you are not using your air fryer to simply re-heat previously deep fried foods, such as frozen french fries and chicken tenders from the grocery freezer section.  To cut down on the oils, you will need to make these items yourself.  For example, to make french fries you need to slice and season raw potatoes (Idaho or sweet), cover them lightly with oil and then cook in the air fryer.  This process is surprisingly simple but necessary to realize the health benefits of these great devices.

Air Fry Safety Tips - Lastly, some safety pointers. As with any kitchen appliance, there are several safety issues you should be aware of when you buy your air fryer.

• Air fryers get extremely hot and vent hot air to the outside world via one or more vents. Place yours where it has unrestricted airflow, or it could overheat or even burn items around it.
• Never put anything on top of your air fryer while it's in use. Doing so may block the air intake or exhaust causing the unit to overheat and malfunction.
• When removing the food basket, you will encounter super-heated steam the moment you pull the basket out, much like when you first open the oven door. Keep your face and hands out of the way until the steam has escaped or you may suffer severe burns.
• Keep your air fryer clean; this means the basket, the outer pan, any racks and the inside as well as the outside of the unit.
• Unplug your air fryer before cleaning it, remember electricity can severely injure or kill.

Seriously . . .

We started Four Best on the premise that a great deal of the information required to properly evaluate a given product is already right in front of your (and our) eyes. In fact there is too much information! A crucial skill necessary to picking the best products is instead the ability to cull through the available information, focusing on what should really drive a purchase decision.

To make those crucial determinations as to what matters and what doesn’t, we begin by thinking through what really matters to us when we use a particular product. We then use the that type of product to further refine the features we care about and that we think you will care about too. Next we search the web, looking to manufacturer’s websites, product specifications, consumer reports, expert blogs, research reports and the like to obtain crucial insights and the facts.

Finally, we distill the results of our research and combine it with our own experiences as consumers, professionals, techies, mothers, fathers, hobbyists, designers, software engineers, attorneys (sorry) and more. Ultimately, this process results in the reviews we present to you. We hope you enjoy!

Credits:

• Photo of french fries in air fryer from iStock.
• Photo of group jumping in office from iStock.

*Images have been cropped and/or resized.