Air Fryer Oven Vs Convection Oven

Air Fryer Vs Convection Oven Instant Pot And Deep Fryer: Know The Difference

As you can see, its not hard to spot the differences between an air fryer vs. convection oven and other cooking methods. But I totally understand that it gets confusing with all the kitchen appliances available today.

Hopefully, this article gives you a better idea of what you need for your kitchen needs.

What Is An Air Fryer:

Like convection ovens, air fryers use a fan to circulate hot air around food however, air fryers are typically smaller, and the fan distributes air faster. These little fryers heat up quickly and circulate the air to reduce frying time using a fryer basket or perforated tray. Check out how an air fryer is different than a convection oven.

• Air fryers may produce golden french fries, crunchy fried pickles, and even crispy kale chips with just a tablespoon or less oil. Air fryers exploded in popularity as soon as they were launched due to their ability to reduce calories by not frying dishes in oil. Still, their small size remains a hindrance for many expert cooks.
• Certain dishes, however, are better suited to air frying. Breaded meals, such as mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets, and jalapeno poppers, do better than baked chicken wings or burger patties.
• While both a full-size convection oven and an air fryer employ a fan to circulate hot air, the air fryer circulates the air more quickly inside a tiny chamber, allowing the cooking process to be completed faster.
• A basket is also used in air fryers to distribute hot air more evenly across the bottom of your food.
• Air fryers cook your food by swirling hot air around it. Traditional convection ovens employ a similar approach, but there are a few important changes.

Air Fryer Vs Convection Oven: A Detailed Comparison

February 22, 2021 by Jamie

Theres no denying that toaster ovens and air fryers are convenient appliances that perform closely similar functions. While they share similarities, they also differ in various aspects.

Therefore, its no surprise that theres some debate as to which of the two appliances produces better quality food, and in most instances, people support the one they own.

With that being said, if youre engulfed in a wave of confusion, wondering which appliance is most suitable for your home, youve come to the right place. In this guide, well delve into comparing an air fryer vs toaster oven to help you make up your mind. Read on!

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The Air Fryer Vs Convection Oven

What is Air Fryer vs Convection Oven ?

If you have a passing curiosity in kitchen equipment and kitchenware, youve likely read of air fryers theyre on Google, Instagram, Facebook, TV advertisements, and also in our households.

Air fryers have made great strides since their introduction into households as modern orb-like machines promising better cooking alternatives for our beloved cheat-day treats. As per Amazon statistics, the device was released in 2010, but still, it didnt become a widespread kitchen gadget until 2018, when it was dubbed the it present for Christmas.

When you go outside and buy an air fryer, learn about the device and how it varies from other household appliances.

Both air frying and convection cooking are standard methods for cooking uniformly prepared and flavorful foods. But how does a convection oven or an air fryer function properly? Whats the difference between an Air Fryer and a Convection Oven, exactly?

In our article, well compare the air fryer to the convection oven to discover whether theyre comparable and how much they can achieve. If you wish to buy either of these products, knowing these facts will assist you in making a more informed selection.

What Are Some Benefits Of Using An Air Fryer

An air fryer has many uses and provides plenty of benefits for those who choose to use it in their home or business. It can be used to:

• Deep-fry food without the added oil
• Prepare a full meal quickly while limiting clean up time compared to a traditional oven
• Prepare frozen favorites while reducing the amount of fat and calories they contain by avoiding frying with excess oil
• Speed up cooking times without requiring users to constantly monitor foods since it circulates heat more evenly around them
• Prepare crispy french fries, fried chicken, breaded fish fillets, crab cakes and more at high temperatures while using little to no oil
• Prepare foods with less fat, cholesterol and calories without sacrificing flavor or crispness

Read Also: Toaster Oven Air Fryer Combo Reviews

Convection Or Air Fry Oven Which Do You Choose

The future of cooking just keeps getting better and better. From convection cooking to air fry ovens there are so many options to heat up your food these days. So, how do they work and which way is the best? Lets take a look at both of these oven styles to find out which one will be the best for you and your cooking.

All about Convection Ovens

In order to understand a convection oven, its important to understand the way a standard oven works. When using a regular oven, the heat usually comes from the elements at the bottom which rises and warms up the air. A convection oven works similarly, but instead of just letting the heat rise and cook your food that way, a convection oven uses fans to move the air around and distribute the heat evenly. This means a couple of things: your food gets cooked faster, more evenly, and ultimately saves you energy.

All About Air Fryer Ovens

When you think about it, air fry and convection ovens seem to be almost twins, but there are important differences between the two. While an air fry oven works just like a convection oven with the use of fans distributing heat throughout the oven, one of the key differences is that the fan moves the air around much more rapidly in an air fryer. Also, certain foods just tend to come out better when air fried such as chicken wings, French fries, onion rings, and anything you would think to deep fry.

What Are The Main Differences Between Convection Ovens And Air Fryers

Also Check: Which Is Best Air Fryer To Buy

Air Fryer Chicken Breasts

The air fryer is an excellent way to make delicious, crispy chicken breasts. The chicken is coated with beaten eggs and seasoned flour, then “fried” to perfection using almost no oil.

The air fryer works by circulating very hot air around the food, so only a small amount of fat is needed, and the superheated air results in remarkably juicy chicken. Olive oil spray or the more neutral-flavored avocado oil spray are excellent choices. If you don’t have cooking oil spray, drizzle a small amount of oil evenly over the chicken pieces. The air fryer is perfect for making multiple chicken dishes.

Serve these chicken breasts with your favorite sides, slice it up and put it on a Caesar salad, or make a chicken sandwich. The options are endless.

• Olive oil, or avocado oil cooking oil spray

• 1 1/2poundsboneless, skinless chicken breasts

• Kosher salt, to taste

• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• 1 1/2cupsall-purpose flour, divided

• 2largeeggs, beaten

• Chopped fresh parsley, optional garnish

Advantages Of An Air Fryer

• Even Cooking Since an air fryer is relatively compact, thats why the fan rapidly circulates the air to ensure fast and consistent cooking.
• Compact Doesnt occupy much of your counter space. Not only that, but an air fryer is lighter than a convection oven.
• Cooks Frozen Food You can cook your favorite frozen food in an air fryer, courtesy of its fan to remove the moisture from the food.

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What You Need To Air Fry Food

• Air Fryer Machine: In Sip Bite Go recipe tutorials, youll see the higher end model, the Philips Airfryer XXL Digital. Other popular air fryers include the Ninja Foodi, NuWave, and Black & Decker.
• Air Fryer Accessories: Save time with reusable air fryer basket liners and this bundle of air fryer accessories.

Air Fryer Vs Convection Toaster Oven

The only variation between a regular toaster oven and the convection counterpart is that the latter is supercharged by fans. While air fryers also use convection for cooking food, they are more powerful, which implies that they circulate heat faster than convection toaster ovens.

Furthermore, air fryers come with baskets in which you place small portions of food. Its a no-brainer that smaller spaces translate to more confinement. Therefore, the fan of this appliance solely focuses on its heating in a small space.

Recommended Reading: Ninja Foodi And Air Fryer

What An Air Fryer Is

An air fryer is basically a more compact version of a convection oven that provides more portability . Like convection ovens, they feature high-powered fans that circulate hot air, allowing food to be prepared hastily and uniformly while needing minimal oil.

Air fryers usually have larger fans than befits their size. For this reason, they can preheat and cook your food at a faster pace. An air fryer also has its fan and heating element placed on its top instead of on its back. This positioning enables the rapid cooking of food. However, the design may result in uneven cooking, and therefore, you need to shake your basket from time to time to maintain even cooking.

Pros of an Air Fryer

• Food cooks more rapidly- Air fryers allow for quicker hot air movement than convection ovens, given their smaller size. Being able to get your food ready within a shorter period saves you time.
• Space-saving design: Air fryers feature a tinier and more portable size than convection ovens. They occupy less space on your counter and allow you to store them in pantries and cabinets easily.
• Allow cooking of frozen foods effortlessly: Given their powerful fans, they cook frozen meals swiftly and with ease. The continuous stream of hot air quickly drives away moisture to ensure the food doesn’t become mushy while cooking.

Cons of an Air Fryer

Flaws But Not Dealbreakers

Due to the Cuisinarts large interior, it took this model about five minutes longer to cook frozen french fries than it took some of the smaller air fryers we tested. That said, its slightly slower cooking time often produced more evenly cooked food that was better tasting. We think thats a trade-off well worth the few extra minutes of your time. And the Cuisinart is still small enough that it can preheat and cook faster than a conventional oven.

Since the Cuisinart isnt marketed as an air fryer, it doesnt come with a cooking chart for commonly air-fried foods. However, we found that in most cases, the same temperatures youd use to cook in a conventional oven can also be used in the Cuisinart, whereas smaller, pod-shaped air fryers require you to cook at lower temperatures. We did find that when youre air frying vegetables with lots of moisture, like eggplant and zucchini, its best to chop them into 1-inch or smaller pieces, to prevent them from getting mushy. We have more tips for cooking air-fryer recipes in the Cuisinart below.

The Cuisinarts baking pan may warp slightly when its roasting at high temperatures, but this in no way affects its cooking performance. The pan will return to its normal shape when it cools. If you want a better pan, we recommend that you get a Nordic Ware quarter-sheet pan, a smaller version of our favorite baking sheet, which fits perfectly inside the Cuisinart oven.

Read Also: Kitchenaid Digital Countertop Oven With Air Fryer

Benefits Of Owning An Air Fryer

First, we will start giving you the scenarios in which the Air fryer has the upper hand compared with Convection Oven

Compact Design: The size of the air fryer matters as you will have to adapt it to your kitchen space. Air Fryers was developed recently, and the technologies embedded into it are future proof. Almost every Air Fryer is attractive in its design, has a small display which lets you control its temperature and time in which the food has to be cooked. Unlike Convection ovens which are much more prominent with a rectangular shape, air fryers are not only stylish in design, but they are also compact and rounded. This design allows them not to occupy much of the space in your kitchen.

Technologically Advanced: The Air Fryer is in a manner that the superheated air generated inside the heating chamber is circulated equally across the food kept inside. This design not only cooks the food evenly however also sets the impact of having original food with similar crispier flavor.

Oil-less Cooking: The lesser the oil intake you have in your food, the healthier you will be. Most of the air fryers require no addition of oil at all. The prefix oil-less air fryers is significant with air fryers having built-in Rapid Air Technology while a few others just need a little oil. This technology allows your food to be more content-full rather than being just high in fats and increase cholesterol levels which arent good for health.

Exploring Air Fry Features In Ranges

You can certainly cook up bountiful gourmet feasts on a sleek built-in or slide-in range, but what if youre looking for something more? Kitchen ranges come in a wide selection of brands, styles, configurations, and fuel types, but since you asked, ranges can do a lot more than bake a casserole or the occasional tray of cookies. Our selection of ranges from Frigidaire and LG offer new cooking features such as Air Fry to provide healthy, fried cuisine from your home.

To put it simply, Air Fry can now be part of your range. No different than you would change your ovens settings from traditional baking to convection baking, you can switch the setting over to Air Fry, which is specifically made for frying up all of your favorite foods in far less time than a traditional deep fryer. Forget dealing with messy hot oil, pools of grease, or splash burnsan Air Fry oven range is an easier and healthier alternative to discover delectable fried recipes.

Also Check: Air Fryer Lid For Instant Pot 6 Qt

What To Look Forward To

Some readers have asked why we havent tested a new round of air fryers for this guide since our 2020 update. So far, we havent seen convection technology advance in any significant way. Nearly all air fryersparticularly the pod-shaped modelsare carbon copies of one another . How do we know this if we havent physically tested any new models? We attend the Inspired Home Show each year , where we get to see new or soon-to-be-released models, and so far we havent seen any major advancements. That said, we hope to test newer models once our test kitchen is fully operational again later this year.

Still Undecided Here Are Some Additional Pros And Cons:

• Convection ovens usually let you watch the food as it cooks. You cant see inside an air fryer without opening it up.
• Air fryers, due to their smaller size, are easy to store in a cabinet when youre not using them. Youll need a larger, more permanent spot for a convection oven.
• Convection ovens are a breeze to clean. All you need to do is wash the pan. Air fryers have messier cleanup. Foods like chicken wings or hot dogs will drip through the basket into the bucket beneath it while they cook, so youll need to remove and clean both separately.
• Air fryers preheat essentially right away, while convection ovens take a bit more time to start working their magic. Air fryer fans are usually both bigger and faster.
• Convection ovens can replace your toaster and sometimes double as air fryers .
• Air fryers are typically noisier than convection ovens .
• If appliances are all about the accessories for you, look no further than the air fryer. They often come with extras like racks, skewers and rotisserie spits.
• Convection ovens tend to be more expensivetheyre bulkier and more multipurpose. But TBH, theyre not too much pricier than air fryers overall.
• Its really easy to convert the cooking temperature of your favorite recipes for both convection ovens and air fryers. No matter what youre making, just reduce the temperature by 25°F and keep the cooking time the same.

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