Air fryer to replace oven

SimpleDimple

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760553#Comment_121760553

I might be wrong but they are a replacement to an oven, not a deep fat fryer. They benefit over an oven because the smaller volume is quicker and cheaper to heat, and so it’s a more efficient use of space.

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760775#Comment_121760775

"Healthier"

Chips, sausage etc. all cooked without oil.

There was a program on UK TV over Christmas.

Covered all this stuff like calories, flavour and electricity consumption.

Air Fryer won hands down.

Except for microwaves. They are cheaper to cook in.

Redlim

These dual versions can be used for roasts as they're essentially one large basket with a removable divider. If using the divider you can cook with one side only, or cook using both sides at different temperatures and different times. They have sync finish also so both sides can finish at the same time even if the cooking times are different.

Instant VersaZone Dual Air Fryer comes with XXL Single and Double Air Frying Drawers complete with 8 Smart Programmes - Air Fry, Bake, Roast, Grill, Dehydrate, Reheat - Black, 8.5L https://amzn.eu/d/fFcdWcZ

Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer Air Fryer, Dual Zone with Removable Divider, Large 10.4L Drawer, 7-in-1, Air-Fryer Uses No Oil, Air Fry, Roast, Bake, Max Crisp, Non-Stick Dishwasher Safe Parts, Black AF500UK https://amzn.eu/d/dEg3j2M

esker72

The air fryer is grand but I wouldn't be without the main oven. All cooking times and temps on foods are based on conventional ovens and the air fryer while it's great that it does things quicker, needs a lot more watching and guess work. Great for oven chips and things you do a lot and know the times for but the trial and error element of it is a nuisance. I'd put a ham in the oven, go off and do something for an hour and a half and come back to uncover for the last half hour and it's perfectly done. I don't think I'd trust the air fryer with something like that without constantly checking it. At some stage food producers might include cooking times for air fryers on food packaging which would help.

irelandrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760822#Comment_121760822

But surely that is just you know your oven. If you used the air fryer then you would learn the time.

I find the air fryer great for most things but not all. I find roast chicken better from the air fryer than the oven but roast beef is better from the oven for instance.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760819#Comment_121760819

The food being cooked in air fryers is still garbage. It doesn't matter if there's fewer calories from less oil, sausage and goujons diet is still highly processed unhealthy food.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760850#Comment_121760850

You think the people cooking those foods in an air fryer didn’t have the same diet before?

Air fryers ( or any cooking appliances) don’t contribute to obesity. People do.

If they want to eat crap, they’ll eat crap, regardless of how it’s cooked.

Better to eat crap cooked in an air fryer rather than on a frying pan, or a deep fat fryer.

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760376#Comment_121760376

Roll on air fryer shaped frozen pizzas I say!

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760875#Comment_121760875

Making your own pizzas is fun especially with kids. Aldi has nice jars of pasatta. The dough is flour, oil + water. Sprinkle some flour in the air fryer and the base doesn't stick. Very easy and tastier than frozen imo.

mykrodot

As @Ezeoul said above, Airfryers are good for things like chips, sausages, gougons............things I rarely eat! However I cube up potatoes and they cook quickly and very well in it along with root vegetables.

I would never get rid of my oven , in fact I'm buying a new one this week, single Neff oven. You can't beat traditional ovens for baking especially and large tray bakes, large roasted veg dishes, cottage pie, fish pie............proper good nutritional traditional food.

Thirdly I can't stand the space the Airfryer takes up on my worktop!!! My kitchen isn't big.

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760850#Comment_121760850

I'm not sure what your point is.

It's "healthier" than a deep fat fryer.

Nobody is saying it turns processed food into something it's not.

I cook mushrooms in an air fryer. We used fry them on the pan.

phormium

It's very dependent on the food you cook, I don't have an air fryer but have a halogen oven, haven't been without one for over 20 yrs I'd say, bought one of the originals when they came out, been replaced several times obviously but find it great.

That said I still use my oven, baking would be one of the main things I use it for, yes you can bake a few things in halogen oven/air fryer but a bit limited if you are a big baker. Oven is used obviously when family visiting when you need a bigger amount of food but day to day I use my halogen oven an awful lot, I never had a deep fat fryer but I use it for wedges/chips when I do want some, it will roast a chicken very nicely and even a second small turkey at Christmas when needed. Great for fish/chicken fillets/sausages and I actually use it for the roast potatoes when doing them instead of oven, think it makes a better job of them, now you do have to move stuff a bit as no shaking option. Bakes good scones and a few cookies from freezer if you need a sugar fix but wouldn't bake a good cake for example.

So while I think some sort of quick alternative cooker is very handy for some things an oven to me would be essential as well. There is the counter space issue as well, my halogen oven luckily has space to live in utility room.

squonk

I have an air fryer. It’s great for convenience for cooking quick bits and I have done chickens in mine which cage out lovely BUT 95% of the responses here assume the OP is only ever going to cook dinners for two. Maybe that’s what is going to happen but you are automatically limiting yourself. I don’t care what people say, for any decent baking an oven is an essential item. You won’t cut a decent sized cake in an airfyer and I’d be worried about the limited space for rising breads etc.

A good oven can be expensive so if cost is an issue and you might fare better with getting an air fryer for now but, really, they’re not all that and while I do think they’re one of the better gadgets to arrive in the last 20 years, you just have more versatility with an oven so I wouldn’t be without one.

akelly02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760809#Comment_121760809

i do chicken breast fillets, beef, plenty of healthy things. not just chips and goujons.

silly comment.

munchkin_utd

have to agree with above, when youve an air "fryer" you only use the normal oven for pizza or cake/ bread baking so its very plausable that many would be able to get by with only the air "fryer" if they havent a conventional oven.

I was sceptical of the yokes initially, another fuppin kitchen gadget to store, but we do use it a few times a week and our normal oven barely gets turned on. Aside from energy saving and whatnot, its just convienent that it works on a timer so if working from home and you get a call and you are distracted, or a child floods the bathroom or random cr@p, it turns off rather than cremating whatever you were cooking !

(and yea, timers do exist but you would need to be within earshot and leave a call and go turn off the normal oven etc )

jj880

Did tandoori cubed chicken fillets in ours last night. Turned out lovely. We dont have it on our main kitchen counter as that would be annoying. Our air fryer is at the back door on a draining board beside the deep fat frier. Its a small room with an extractor fan so works well for us. Or can just open the back door slightly let any steam / hot air escape.

5uspect

We have a Ninja Foodie which is also a pressure cooker and a slow cooker. It's been amazing for a lot of things.

https://ninjakitchen.co.uk/product/ninja-foodi-11-in-1-smartlid-multi-cooker-6l-ol550uk-zidOL550UK

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761030#Comment_121761030

Exactly, there's a certain amount of snobbery in that other poster's thoughts, to be honest. Since Christmas I've done chicken breasts, homemade kievs, chicken parmesan, baked fish fillets, meatballs, crispy chilli beef, roast cauliflower, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed peppers, padron peppers, halloumi, arrancini, wings, nachos, roast potatoes, baked salmon.......and that's before we get to homemade goujons / fish fingers / wedges / chips etc. Doesn't all have to be processed.

The ninja dual drawer one even fits a whole chicken on one side and your choice of spuds in the other.

akelly02

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761578#Comment_121761578

good post.

long story short it will cook what you want it to cook.

Healthy or not healthy , thats your choice.

Banzai600

we have a double oven set up, one large main and one smaller oven above that doubles as microwave. Have them yrs, and they have been fantastic. The main oven is great for cooking different dishes at once, the way it cycles the air etc or full chicken and the likes....and we would cook a lot to give you a picture.

we bought a Nlnja 5.2 ltr air fryer a few months ago, have not looked back. just two of us in the house. it cooks quicker than the oven, more efficient for chicken , sausages etc. even cooks the likes of homemade sausage rolls to perfection. As well as baking frozen shop bought pastries -that we dont eat too often anyway. Also reheating is good.

We eat well in general and not much processed food, so the likes of the butcher chicken stuff etc would go in the nlnja and sausages at the weekend. The 5.2 ltr is a bit small if cooking multiple sutff, like say sweet potato fries with fish and other stuff, so maybe go the the dual drawer. we wouldnt be without it now. and its used for smaller meats / fish more than the oven now. They are worth the purchase imo.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121759975#Comment_121759975

any reasons for this? Its just an oven, the main benefit is it gets up to temp faster so you save time, it also has more air flow so this helps crisp up food

its not a BBQ, why compare it to one

Hooked

Traded up to the Dual Ninja at Xmas. Picked this one up for 200 notes...

https://www.soundstore.ie/ninja-dual-zone-air-fryer-af400uk.html

2 person household. Oven is an ornament since we moved in 2 years ago.

faceman

I haven't used my oven in a year and a half. I have the Ninja air fryer that has the removable divider so the cooking space is quite large.

I roast, bake and cook everything and anything in it. It's an oven at the end of the day. People who just use it for chips and processed food are missing out.

As for microwaves. People use them wrong. Any microwave worth its salt should offer condenser sensor cooking. If your microwave works purely based on the timer then it's just not worth it.

esker72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760849#Comment_121760849

I haven't learned cooking times for various foods as the majority give the temp and cooking time on the packaging for conventional ovens. The air fryer times are different and usually not provided introducing a level of supervison or guesswork which is a disadvantage for me.

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761751#Comment_121761751

Exactly this.

It's really a small oven that heats up quicker and cooks faster.

Saves time and money.

phormium

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761779#Comment_121761779

Your microwave comment made me laugh, I actually bought a very very fancy microwave I'd say nearly 40 years ago because it had the ability to 'sense' when the food was ready, it was an excellent feature based on a partner who couldn't cook/heat anything! The microwave is still going strong but I haven't used that feature in years as I got rid of the partner but not the microwave 🤣

I think it cost me 525 pounds at the time and is a Panasonic.

keno-daytrader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760809#Comment_121760809

Its what you put in your mouth that determines calorie intake, not the machine that cooks it for you.

People put sausage chips and goujons in the oven and deep fat fryer long before air fryers came along.

People need to educate themselves and their kids on nutrition and stop blaming everything but their own behavior.

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761783#Comment_121761783

It's not exactly rocket science though, making it a pretty poor excuse to discount them entirely. I've a lawnmower with adjustable blade height. First time I used it, it was too low and I scalped the back garden. It would be a pretty stupid position to say "well these things are crap, no idea why people use them" instead of recognising the user error and adjusting accordingly.

With even basic trial and error you can get your timings down, just do things in 3 to 5 minute increments if you're not sure. I've found my one needs 10 degrees lower and about 10-20% less cooking time than the conventional oven. I found that out about 25 minutes after I bought it. They're also great for timing things to finish at the same time, you can leave it running in the background, it switches off automatically after a set time etc. Timing things is an advantage of using an air-fryer, not a disadvantage. I mean, if you're blindly following instructions on the packet then yeah, maybe........but sure the oven timings aren't accurate half the time. Do you blame your oven if you undercook/overcook anything else even though you followed the guidelines?

mikewest

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335932/air-fryer-to-replace-oven

Is it just the element that has blown in the oven? €20 to €40 euro part and usually very simple to replace. (Cheaper than an oven or decent air fryer)

SVI40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761751#Comment_121761751

It get up to temp reasonably quickly, but I've not found anything cooked in it crispier than from the oven.

As to your second question, because real men BBQ, with charcoal 😁