Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven Air Fryer
Cuisinart was one of the first brands to introduce a toaster oven air fryer that allows you to toast, bake, convection bake, and air fry. We tested the pictured digital version, which not only made the most evenly-colored toast, but also the crispiest air fried food in the shortest amount of time. The rectangular 15.5 by 16-inch air fry rack offers a large cooking surface and sits atop a drip/crumb tray for easy cleanup. Since introducing the toaster oven air fryers, Cuisinart also introduced a smaller version with the same features and quality performance.
Best Air Fryer Oven
Power XL Air Fryer Pro
- Produced the most evenly golden chicken wings from rack to rack in our tests
- Offers many functions, including rotisserie and dehydrate
- Food doesn’t come out as crispy as you would expect in included rotating basket use racks instead
Best-Selling Air Fryer on Amazon
Philips Essential Air Fryer
Best air fryer for small kitchens
Size: 47.6 x 32.8 x 26.3cmCapacity: 4.1 litresPrograms:Frozen, fish, meat, vegetables, chicken drumsticks, cake, reheatReasons to buy:
Its perfect for smaller homes and kitchens Easy to clean
Reasons to avoid:
Its more expensive than some other small options
If you want the best air fryer for a small kitchen or two-person household, the Philips Essential Air Fryer is the one for you. In terms of the cooking quality, it was pretty much on par with some of the larger and more premium brands in this guide. Theres plenty of cooking modes, including fish, meat, frozen food and reheat, and you can choose your temperature manually too.
The basket and drawer can both be washed in the dishwasher, which makes cleaning that much easier. We found the controls a little confusing at first but theyre fine once youre used to which button indicates which cooking mode.
One complaint we had was the price, which was pretty high when compared to other small air fryers. It is clearly designed for smaller kitchens and homes though, with grooves that make it easy to carry and store, and a lightweight design.
Ideal Homes rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Breville Halo Rotisserie Air Fryer
Best rotisserie air fryer
Size:44.2 x 41.6 x 39.4 cmCapacity: 10 litresPrograms: Air fry, bake, dehydrate, rotisserie, chips, chicken, veggies, steakReasons to buy:
All the functions of a mini oven Incredible rotisserieReasons to avoid:
Its a little fiddly
The Breville Halo Rotisserie Air Fryer offers an alternative take on air frying, with a rotisserie attachment that allows you to cook a whole chicken with crispy delicious skin and juicy meat, in just one hour. It also comes with a rotisserie mesh basket, which is what we used to cook our chips. It keeps them spinning as it cooks, meaning that every single crisp was evenly cooked.
Because its more of a mini convection oven thanks to the removable mesh wire trays, the Breville Halo Rotisserie Air Fryer doesnt quite speed up your cooking time as much as a drawer air fryer with single-function design. However, it can be used to bake, rotisserie, air fry, and even dehydrate, and its also a well-sized machine to fit in as much capability as you like onto one kitchen counter.
We enjoyed the smart controls, which show the temperature as it preheats, and how easy it is to choose your mode and even illuminate the inside of the oven to watch your food as it cooks. Cleaning is easy too, but our main drawback is that its a bit tricky to take out the drawers because they get very hot. Oven gloves are a must!
Ideal Home rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Emeril Lagasse Air Fryer 6
With so many fantastic brands to select from, this Emeril Lagasse Air Fryer will be an excellent purchase for your family and will take care of all of your cooking needs! Allow an air fryer to be the lone cook when it comes to ensuring sure dinner is great for all ages. With its simple push-down mechanism, theres absolutely nothing not to like!
Emeril Lagasses personal touch on this product, tried and true by real people like you all around the world, is something you can taste in every mouthful because when air frying with a chef fit for a king comes famous reviews, its no wonder this machine is a keeper in kitchens everywhere!
With the touch of a button, the Emeri Air Fryer transforms fried food into something healthier and more delicious. It includes eight presets to assist you in quickly preparing tasty cuisine for your familys dinner while conserving oven or cooktop space! You can make a family-size meal for everyone in your family with the XL 6-quart capacity of this machine.
How Do You Clean An Air Fryer
Most removable parts on most air fryers are dishwasher safe. Check the owner’s manual of your air fryer for which parts, if any, are ok to run through the dishwasher.
These parts are also easily cleaned by hand with warm, soapy water and a non-abrasive sponge. If there’s any particularly difficult to remove grease or stuck-on food, let the parts soak in hot, soapy water first.
The interior and exterior of the air fryer can be wiped clean with a damp cloth, but should never be submerged in water since it contains electrical components.
If the heating element gets dirty, you can wipe it with a damp cloth when the unit is turned off, cooled, and unplugged.
Also Check: Instant Pot Air Fryer Dehydrator
What Else Should I Look For
The bigger the basket capacity, the more people youll be able to cook for. So if youve got a family, then a 5 litre machine is probably a must.
A loud beep to signal the end of cooking time is a good idea if youre using the time to wander off and do something else. Most air-fryers will only cook one food group at a time but some will cook a whole meal in one go if youre after a one-pot solution.
Is Air Fried Food Healthier Than Deep Fried
Typically, deep frying foods means submerging them in hot oil. Picture a basket of battered chicken fingers getting dipped into a bubbling vat at the county fair, or a hot funnel cake coming out and being dusted with powdered sugar.
You don’t need us to tell you that it’s difficult and messy to do this at home, even if you have a dedicated deep fryer, not to mention that you’ve got to be very careful when cooking with hot oil. Nor is deep frying the healthiest cooking method, since your food absorbs the oil as it cooks. That’s not great for anyone to eat regularly, and people who have high cholesterol, diabetes, or heart disease certainly need to steer clear.
To make deep frying healthier, your only option is to cook with a healthier oil. For instance, you can fry with peanut oil, which is high in cholesterol-reducing monounsaturated fats, instead of highly processed vegetable oil. But in the end, you’re still consuming the extra fats and calories from the oil in addition whatever’s in the food that’s under the batter.
By contrast, air fryers require little to no oil. They crisp up food by surrounding it with zero-calorie, fat-free hot air. That makes this cooking method a less messy, easier, safer, andyeshealthier way to cook, reducing calories by 70 to 80 percent according to the Cleveland Clinic.
We’re sorry to say that, even though it is healthier, you still shouldn’t eat air-fried food every day.
Read Also: Breville Smart Fryer Review
How We Chose The Best Air Fryer In Canada
The first requirement to earn a spot in the best air fryer in Canada list is that the air fryer needs to be available in Canada! AmazonBasics sells a very popular and highly rated machine, but it seems to be only available in the USA so we didnt include it in the list.
Some of the models, like the Philips Air Fryer, has been around for years with only slight tweaks the current version is listed and it has a slightly smaller footprint than the previous version without giving up cooking capacity.
We looked at customer reviews, and we looked at popular review sites like Consumer Reports and Wirecutter to get an idea of the models that showed up most often. We then filtered those to find ones that sold at a reasonable price in Canada .
What we were left with is these top options for an air fryer in Canada we hope this review saves you the time of doing all of that digging and comparing yourself!
What Should I Look For In An Air Fryer
Space
First, make sure you know how much bench space you have available. If you make chips regularly, you might want to leave it out permanently. The two basic shapes are tall and fat and short and slightly fatter . Be aware that top-opening models could be out of the running if you have restricted space above the bench, as the lid needs to be opened upwards. If you’re planning to pack your air fryer away after use, look for a compact size with a uniform shape to slot easily into a cupboard.
Claimed capacity or volume
Take the manufacturers claimed measurements with a grain of salt as the claimed capacity or volume can be misleading. Some manufacturers measure the whole space inside the air fryer and not the actual useable capacity. For example, a “10-litre” model may only be able to cook about 500g of chips and a “2500-gram” model won’t actually be able to accommodate that much weight of food.
Cleaning
Air fryer parts are reasonably easy to clean and fit into a domestic sink. Most parts are dishwasher-safe. but they’re also easily cleaned by hand if they have a non-stick coating.
Controls
Read Also: Instant Pot Air Fryer Dehydrator
How Do You Preheat An Air Fryer
Not all air fryers need to be preheated, while others automatically preheat before starting the cooking timer.
To preheat, select the preset preheat function if your air fryer has one or just set the cooking temperature and let the air fryer heat for 3 to 5 minutes before adding your food.
We’ve tested models that automatically preheat and ones that let you get cooking without any preheating. In our tests, we found foods cooked similarly whether we preheated or not. Some air frying guides recommend preheating for better results when air frying meat you want to get a nice sear on, like steak and chicken breasts.
Best Small: Philips Kitchen Appliances Avance Digital Turbostar Airfryer
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Digital screen is easy to use
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Substantial 2.75-quart basket
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You dont have to rotate your food while cooking
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Doesnt shut off when you open it
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Housing gets hot
For a reliable and attractive option, we recommend the Philips Air Fryer Viva TurboStar. Philips isn’t as well known as Cuisinart or Breville, but they were one of the first manufacturers to bring air fryers into home kitchens.
The TurboStar has four preset functions for cooking popular meals , dishwasher safe parts, and a keep-warm function that makes sure your food remains warm and ready to serve while you finish other aspects of the meal. The digital display makes it easy to see the settings that are all controlled with a simple knob.
The proprietary TurboStar technology is also designed to cook foods evenly so you wont have to stop cooking to shake the basket of fries for the perfect poutine. Our reviewer cooked french fries, chicken tenders, and apple chips and everything came out exactly as expected. To make cooking even easier, theres a downloadable app that has 200 recipes designed for the air fryer.
“The air fryers 1425 watts of power proved plenty strong enough and everything cooked evenly the fries were nice and crisp, the chicken still moist, and the apple chips were uniformly toasted.” Lindsay Boyers, Product Tester
The Spruce Eats / Lindsay Boyers
Also Check: Instant Pot Vortex Dehydrator Recipes
Chef Celestes Top Expert Tips And Tricks
Invest in a High-Heat Cooking Oil Spray
To optimize the performance of your air fryer, youre going to need to invest in a high smoke point, neutral-flavored vegetable oil spray. Chef Celestes favorite is either safflower or grapeseed oil, but canola will also do. Youll need to spray the basket to prevent sticking, and spray the surface of your food to ensure proper golden crisping.
Avoid Wet Batters
Things can go very wrong when it comes to battered food . Wet batters are off-limits because the food will stick to or even drip through the basket. Instead, Chef Celeste recommends sticking with a drier dredged coating .
Give Your Food Some Breathing Room
Youll need to give your food a bit of breathing room to properly air-fry it. If pieces are touching, youll get uneven browning and less crisping. This means you can only make small batches or sometimes, even just single servings.
Check out the video below for more of Chef Celeste’s expert air fryer tips and tricks!
The Actual Best Air Fryer With Caveats: Cuisinart Toa
It is not a truth universally acknowledged that one needs an air fryer at allin fact, the New York Times product reviewing site, Wirecutter, recommended skipping it altogether. If you fall in line with this thinking and don’t want another single-use appliance, a compromise is the Cuisinart, a convection toaster oven with an air fryer setting.
The lesser benefit is that, if youre familiar with how a toaster oven works, you dont have to learn anything newa tiresome activity I generally try to avoid. The greater benefit is that this thing is fantastic at air-frying, or, as old-timers might call it, convection cooking. In fact it calls the whole air fryer enterprise into question. If the purpose is to circulate air over the surface of the food, why jam the food in these small-ass baskets rather than spread it out on a sheet to maximize exposure? Thats what the Cuisinart does, and it performed terrifically with most everything I put in it: tater tots, sliced zucchini, and sweet potato fries. Everything came out crunchy and golden the food got a little darker around the edges than with some other air fryers, but this did not particularly trouble me. Id almost recommend it unreservedly. However…
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Best Indoor Grill Air Fryer: Ninja Foodi Xl Pro Grill And Griddle
Air frying might be a quick and easy way to make dinner, but many choose grilling as their preferred method because it’s so good at preserving natural umami flavors of ingredients while adding classic smoky elements from an open flame. With Ninja’s Foodi XL Pro Grill and Griddle, you can combine the best of both worlds. It comes with three baskets, one each for griddling, grilling, and frying, making it perfect for cooking burgers, making pancakes, grilling steaks and vegetables, and so much more. The tool heats up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and promises to balance edge-to-edge cooking so you won’t be left with charred bits on one side of your steak and raw meat on the other. Its large 12-inch cooking surface fits as much as six burger patties or pancakes, and cleaning up is easy since all its accessories are dishwasher-safe.
To buy: $300 bestbuy.com
Cosori Pro Le Air Fryer L501
Best air fryer overall
Size: 27.2 x 27.4 x 30.2 centimetresCapacity: 4.7 litresPrograms:Chicken, chips, frozen, steak, seafood, veggies, baconReasons to buy:
Shake reminders for even cooking Removable insert for easy cleaning Drawer is dishwasher-safeReasons to avoid:
The preset timings are a little off, but can be adjusted
Amazons best-selling air fryer held up well under our tests, too. The Cosori Pro LE Air Fryer L501 has a smart look and a range of custom presets that will come in handy for low-effort cooking. Its also adjustable, just press to increase or decrease the temperature or timer to achieve your perfect result.
We enjoyed the fries this air fryer produced on the chip setting. They were crisp and evenly cooked, and the cooking time was well below average which is a winner for hungry homes! That did mean we had to turn it down from 20 minutes to 30, but this was easy enough to do. Youll get a reminder to shake your food halfway through on some settings. If youre in the middle of a particularly riveting piece of telly then it may be a distraction, but you can simply press a button to switch off the reminder for no interruptions.
Ideal Home rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Recommended Reading: How To Turn Off Rotate Remind Breville
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.
