Best Air Fryers Of 2021 According To Testing
These top-notch air fryers make crispy fries and wings with little oil.
We updated this story in November 2021 to include more information on air fryers and what to look for when buying. We also added more detail about how we test air fryers in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliance Lab and made sure that all of our picks were in stock.
Air fryers can be compared to small ovens that crisp up wings, fries, veggies and air-fried recipes with little oil. They come in several different styles, including basket-style, which is great for large batches of foods like fries and vegetables that benefit from shaking oven-style, which is ideal for cooking food on numerous shelves and often feature rotisserie accessories and toaster oven styles, which can toast, bake, broil and more in addition to air fry.
Air fryers create a nice “fried” finish that your oven range can’t compete with, and they also reheat food with results that blow away the average microwave. Plus, air fryers require only a small amount of oil to make foods crispy, which means a fraction of the calories and fat of traditional cooking methods, like deep frying.
How do air fryers work?
Are air fryers “healthy?”
How we test air fryers
- Performed the best in our lab tests â it made food the crispiest in the shortest amount of time
- Easy to use
- Some may think basket diameter is small
Best Value Air Fryer
- Cooks evenly for crispy results
- Affordable
Ninja Dz201 Foodi 8 Quart 6
- 2 INDEPENDENT BASKETS: The original Air Fryer with 2 independent baskets, the XL air fryer lets you cook 2 foods, 2 ways, at the same time, eliminating back-to-back cooking like a traditional single-basket air fryer.
- SMART FINISH & MATCH COOK: DualZone Technology allows you to choose between the Smart Finish feature, which unlocks cooking 2 foods 2 ways that finish at the same time, and the and a Match Cook button to easily copy settings across zones for full 8-qt capacity.
- 6-IN-1 FUNCTIONALITY: Includes 6 versatile cooking programs: Air Fry, Air Broil, Roast, Bake, Reheat, and Dehydrate.
- XL CAPACITY: The 8-quart air fryer capacity lets you fit mains and sides at the same time for making quick family meals, or up to 4 lbs. of French fries or chicken wings.
- EASY CLEANING: Easy-to-clean baskets and dishwasher-safe crisper plates.
- LESS FAT: Up to 75% less fat than traditional air frying methods*. *Tested against hand-cut, deep-fried French fries.
- WIDE TEMPERATURE RANGE: 105°F to 450°F allows you to gently remove moisture from foods or quickly cook and crisp foods with convection heat.
- WHATS INCLUDED: DualZone Air Fryer, 4 Quart Baskets, Nonstick Crisper Plates, 15 Recipes, Additional Meal Options & Cooking Charts.
Tips & Tricks For Choosing The Ninja Air Fryer
Every day, people are trying to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.
Whether they’re looking for new shoes or a new car, it can be hard to know the ninja air fryer. Luckily, this blog post provides some great tips & tricks on choosing the ninja air fryer in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, so you don’t have to worry about making a wrong decision!
What’s your budget? Do you want eco-friendly materials? How much time do you have? These are just three of many questions that will help narrow down your search when choosing the perfect ninja air fryer!
1. Have your target audiences best interest
There are many great ninja air fryer out there for you to choose from. It can be not easy to find the ninja air fryer with the most benefits that work well with your needs.
It is hard to know what’s right for you and your lifestyle with all of these choices. What do you need? What kind of things appeal to you?
Are there any special considerations or concerns that might not be obvious at first glance? These are just some questions I have when trying to select new ninja air fryer.
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Get creative and show what sets you apart from other gyms that dont cater to their targeted demographics take time to recognize that there is bound to be someone who wants what you have!
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Create Delicious Meals With Less Oil
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The Spruce / Chloe Jeong
Air fryers have gained popularity for producing crispy, evenly browned “fried” foods without the use of an actual deep fryer. They work by circulating hot air around food, similarly to a convection oven, and eliminate the need for much, if any, cooking oil, resulting in grocery savings and less cleanup.
Many consumers are convinced air fryers produce a superior fried finish on French fries, tater tots, and chicken wings, compared to a standard oven. They can even be used to make homemade chicken tenders and potato chips, making them worth the investment for fried snack food lovers.
Many air fryers are programmed with multiple cooking functions and can double as a toaster oven, convection oven, warmer, rotisserie, indoor grill, and more. With so many options on the market, it can be tough to choose the one that’s right for you, so we sent the top-rated air fryers to our experienced product testers to review. They cooked French fries, wings, and more, and tested out each appliance’s special features and additional functions beyond air frying. They specifically rated each air fryer on its design, heating capacity, performance, versatility, and overall value.
Here, the best air fryers, based on our extensive testing insights.
Which Air Fryer Is Right For You
There is something supremely satisfying about eating crispy foods. Unfortunately, unless youre eating carrots or other fresh vegetables, that crunch probably means youre indulging in greasy comfort foods rather than making a healthy choice.
However, there is a way you can take a step in the right direction. If you purchase an air fryer, you can still enjoy that satisfying crunch while eating foods that arent actually fried which means theyre a little better for you.
With so many options available, its hard to know which air fryer is the best. To help you find the one thats right for your needs, we tested four popular models: the Cosori air fryer, the Ninja Foodi air fryer, the Dash air fryer and the DeLonghi Livenza air fryer.
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Noise And Smoke Levels
The air fryer does make noise due to the fan’s movement during cooking. However, the level of this noise varies from model to model. Some are almost silent while others are more loudly, but your air fryer should not be noisier than an air conditioner.
They also release smoke since you are frying, after all! Also, fattier foods will produce more smoke. Check your kitchen’s ventilation system and place the air fryer where you can minimize smoke.
Read more:
Cosori Air Fryer Review
The Cosori air fryer has a 5.8-quart capacity, large enough to fit a 5-pound chicken or to cook enough food for three to five people. It offers 11 preset cooking functions along settings for preheating and warming, and it comes with a 100-recipe cookbook. The model has a shake reminder and an automatic shut-off. It also features a temperature range of 170 degrees to 400 degrees.
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The Cyclonic Grilling Technology
The Ninja Foodi sure boasts some incredible sizzling capabilities, enabling it to emulate the outcomes youd usually get from traditional grills. Its top-down heat producer can exert a maximum of 500°F. And the companys very own Cyclonic Grilling Technology circulates the generated heat through a forceful fan to swiftly and evenly cook your food, giving you grill-like results every time.
This technology also includes a smoke regulation system that allows you high-temperature cooking without awkwardly smoking up your kitchen. It has a metal mesh screen that snaps onto the heating material to contain all the greasy splatters and mitigate smoke.
Its intuitive control panel is worth some praise as well. An array of one-touch buttons lets you switch the cooker on and off, choose your cooking program, and set the time and temperature between 105- and 500-degrees Fahrenheit. It also allows you to pick preset temperatures that read low, mid, high, and max. Besides, youll find a cooking guide that helps select the right settings required for whatever youre up to grilling.
Buying Guide Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fryer Oven
Remember the following when selecting the right air fryer oven for your needs:
Capacity
Air fryer ovens have larger capacities than regular basket-type air fryers and thus if you want to cook more food then an oven should be a good choice. And to cook more food, select an air fryer oven with two levels like the Ninja DT251 Foodi 10-in1 Smart Air Fry Convection Toaster Oven. Capacity is often stated by saying how much food an oven or air fryer can take like a 13-inch pizza or 6 large cuts of steak.
Temperature Control
Almost all air fryer ovens have digital temperature controls with a wide temperature range. The controls must be easy to read, easy to access plus a digital display would be a good feature too.
Functionality
Ninja Foodi air fryer ovens are classified according to the number of functions such as a 6-in-1 or a 10-in-1 device. All air fryers can air fry, air broil, and roast while some have additional features like whole roast and pizza are found in larger ovens.
Ease of Use / Ease Of Cleaning
You must clean your air fryer oven at least after every use so youre ready to cook next time. Choose a device that has easy to remove and clean components and easy to maintain the outer cover.
Look for Ninja Foodi air fryer ovens with updated features like True Surround Convection, Foodi thermometer, Cyclonic Grilling Technology, Smart Cook System, Smoke Control System DualZone Technology, Smart Finish, and more.
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You’ll Want To Keep The Space In Mind
The only downside is that this 8-quart Ninja Foodi air fryer takes up more space than other options, but it’s still compact for its quart size. It’s about 13 inches wide. We also considered the 4-quart Ninja Air Fryer, which has the same settings but only has one basket. For us, the two-basket option won out — and I’m glad it did.
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Pros Of The Foodi Ninja Grill
This Air fryer is made from stainless steel. Stainless steel is known to hold heat exceptionally without causing burns to your hands. Also, they are very durable materials that can stand the test of time.
It is an 8-in-1 function Air fryer. This Air fryer can perform as many as eight tasks. From roasting to frying to dehydrating, it effectively performs all tasks giving you a great end result.
READ ALSO: 30 Kitchen Small Appliances in 2021 Top Picks
The foodi ninja grill is programmable. Being a digital fryer, you can set it to suit the purpose at hand. Any function you need it to perform, just set it accordingly and it would deliver effectively.
It has a great crisp end result. Especially for fries, this Air fryer dehydrates all the moisture out of it giving your fries a crispy texture.
Foodi ninja grill bakes faster than the average oven. This fryer can bake food 40% faster than the traditional oven. Coupled with its great flavor, it does an awesome baking job.
It also cooks 60% faster than the average oven.
Foodi ninja grill has enough capacity to contain a lot of food and the food or fries is visible through its transparent door.
Since it uses Air fry method, hot air is used to make all the meals. This avails you the opportunity to use little or no oil as against using plenty oil if you are frying with the traditional fryer.
The Air frying method also allows full circulation of air into the food to enable it cook well.
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Ninja Foodi Salmon Recipe Tips
- The fish filets shown here are larger ones, but you can cook smaller filets using the same process. Check them at the 8 minute mark so that they dont overcook.
- With large pieces of salmon, I only cook one at a time. Avoid crowding the air fryer basket so that the salmon will cook evenly.
- Preheating is important in this recipe. You want the air fryer to be nice and hot when you add the salmon.
- Leave the skin on the salmon. It protects the delicate fish from sticking or overcooking on the bottom of the Ninja Foodi basket.
- You dont need to flip the fish over when cooking it in the Ninja Foodi air fryer.
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Ninja Foodi Digital Oven Not Just An Air Fryer
With their promising ability to crisp up fried foods with a minimum of fat and a minimum fuss. But like many toaster ovens, theyre small. Their baskets are deep and narrow, making it difficult to cook food evenly and almost impossible to cook family-size dinners.
Combination air-fryer/countertop ovens solve those issues, but instead of being small, most are big and bulky, which presents another set of problems. Theyre difficult to move and hard to store when not in use. And many kitchens do not have the space to make them permanent countertop fixtures.
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The Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven gives you the best of both worlds it provides lots of space to cook for your family, and It has a removable crumb tray and an accessible back panel for easy, thorough cleaning. With a range of cooking functions and temperatures, it can handle everything from breakfast bagels to french fries, to a family-size sheet pan meal, to a delicate dessert.
We Made Chicken wings with the air fry basket and trypan the wings came out crispy and flavorful. The trypan on the bottom of the oven is where the drips of fat collect as it cooking along with any crumbs that fall off the food. The trypan is very easy to remove and to keep clean.
Also Check: How Long To Cook Barber Chicken Cordon Bleu In Air Fryer
Ninja Air Fryer Review
The Ninja Air Fryer is a multi-function air fryer that has a range of exciting and useful features. It is a four quarts unit that has enough cooking space to cook a meal for the whole family. The air fryer operates on 1500 watts of power to cook the food quickly, whether chicken, fish, steak, vegetables, or french fries. The air fryer is also easy to use as the touch panel controls are simple, one-touch buttons with the operation of the button mentioned on them.
You can also roast, dehydrate, and reheat food in this air fryer along with air frying. The wide temperature range of this air fryer is ideal for cooking different kinds of food. You can find recipes that are created for air fryers and cook a variety of exciting dishes in this air fryer.
The Ninja air fryer is also useful for creating dehydrated fruits, vegetables, or meat products, depending on your need. The powerful fan of this air fryer, when combined with the heating element, dries the moisture from the food to give you delicious dehydrated food that you can store and eat later.
In this article, we are going to take an in-depth look at the Ninja Air Fryer. We will also take a look at the features, specifications, and frequently asked questions.
Examine The Cleanliness Of The Ninja Foodi Air Fryer:
The next step is to inspect your air fryer for cleanliness after determining whether or not the manufacturer has provided precise preheating instructions. Before using the basket, it should be thoroughly cleaned and dried. Finally, check all of your cooking baskets nooks and crannies down to make sure nothing is stuck within!
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Ninja Foodi Deluxe Review
Currently, the Ninja Foodi deluxe is only available in an 8-quart size. Like the original, the Foodi Deluxe is easy to operate. The pressure cooking function is similar to the Instant Pot and other electric pressure cookers.
If youre looking for Ninja Foodi Recipes, all of the pressure cooking recipes in mycookbook and on my site work in the Foodi.
Specs: 1760 watts, 16.1 inches L x 14.6 inches W x 14.3 inches H, 26 pounds
Where Ninja Foodi Wins: Meats
Ninja has been perfecting its TenderCrisp technology for longer than Instant Brands, and anyone picky about balanced browning may feel better with that experience.
But one Foodi model works particularly well for people who do a lot of roasting. The $349.99 Foodi Smart XL comes with a built-in thermometer that operates with the Smart Cook system, which uses four smart proteins settings and nine doneness levels.
The Foodi expertly browns by providing the space food needs to receive consistent hot air.
We’ll also give props to whoever came up with the Foodi’s design overhaul. While the original models were bulky, resembled Pokémon, and took up more counter space than necessary, the later ones are cylindrical like the Instant Pot and look nice.
The new lid is still attached via hinges and can get in the way if you have low-hanging cabinets above your countertop. The regular Instant Pot lid and the air frying lid are completely removable.
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