Air Fryer

[realzed]

My son got a small air fryer and loves it - but it is quite small and really only usable for a small meal for one or two at best.
Is there an accepted best make and model of fryer that will allow bigger portions or meals large enough for a few people, and is generally accepted as 'the make and model' to have - and that comes with a basket and other gadgets that pretty much covers cooking up a wide range of types of meals or different types of meats?
Thanks - Randy..

[Jeff]

Pampered chef is what we use. It was pricey but I use it every single day.

[Magicman]

The units with a basket are cumbersome.  Get a door.

[realzed]

I looked a bit around on-line - one Pampered Chef unit as an example, appears to be 11-12 qt. size - is that a decent size?
There are some other brands I noted - many of which are in the 6-8 qt. size, but others go up into the 20+ qt. size that look like small microwave ovens!
I would assume the ability to cook a small chicken whole or similar sized unit would be optimal (not too clunky for a kitchen - yet capacity-wise logical). 
I'm not up on any of these obviously and don't really know what I should be looking for or striving to get temperature, performance, and feature-wise..
Looking for any and all tips as to what make some better than others and why..
Consumers guides always seem (at least to me) to recommend off-brand models that I would tend to be wary of - but again I'm not savy as to what brands are good choices and what features would make a unit stand out as a good or better choice over maybe other similar ones!
Doors verses Drawers I can understand - some advertise all of the parts or bins to be dishwasher cleanable - which again seems logical..
Any other tips - some units have a lot of buttons verses dials and digital readouts - which I assume makes settings easier and more variable to adjust parameters.. (my older son is visually impaired) and bright digital displays, dishwasher cleanable, and easy to clean and adapt to various types of foods and meals, would go a long way toward helping him become much more self sufficient in making his own meals - something we are mainly hopeful of achieving with one of these units!
Thx - Randy    

[Jeff]

Dont get anything with non stick coatings. Get stainless.  I can cook for 4 in our pampered chef. They only have one model. It has a rotisserie basket, skewers and racks. You can airfry bake and dehydrate. It makes greaT jerky. Check out my youtube airfryer play list to see just some of what I do in ours.
Air Fryer Cooking Videos - YouTube

[SwampDonkey]

You can get Pampered Chef off their Canadian site, or look at it to.

https://www.pamperedchef.ca/shop/Small+Appliances/Air+Fryer/Deluxe+Air+Fryer/100194

[realzed]

Wow - they are very proud of them aren't they??
$350 - with free delivery... I would hope so!!

[Jeff]

Ours was $299. It is used more than the oven or the stove, and everyday for over 2 years now.

[Ianab]

We have one of the smaller basic (~$100) units. It's not up to cooking a chicken or a meal for 4. But it gets regular use heating snack meals for lunch, or a basket of fries to go with whatever else I'm cooking. Mum has one of those larger units, more like a counter-top fan oven, and it works good for what she needs. 

I guess it depends what you actually need? If I'm cooking chicken for 4, then it's worth using the regular oven, or slow cooker if I'm planning ahead. If the kids want some nuggets for lunch, then 10mins in the air fryer has them sorted before the regular stove even gets up to temp. 

The ~$300 for a Good (and useful) appliance isn't silly.  Spread the cost over the years it's going to last, and it's reasonable. 

Ditto on the advice to go with Stainless over "non stick". We were given an electric non-stick electric frypan a few years back as a gift. I'd always been suspect of them as the teflon always wears out, so always cooked in my old (cheap) cast iron frypans. Anyway the gift electric pan worked fine, and got used, but as expected the teflon broke down after a few years. Not complaining as it cooked a lot of bacon in that time, but my cheap 30 year old iron pans have only got better with age. 

But the electric pan was so handy I replaced it with a more expensive stainless one. Not sure what they have done to the stainless, but it's less sticky than the old teflon pan   It's also much heavier (steel vs aluminium), which seems to keep the heat more even. Should also last years longer.  

[SwampDonkey]

I cook on cast iron, pancake griddle or fry pan. You get a good surface on there, and as long as you cook with some oil or grease, she won't stick. I cook a lot of pancakes and sausage during the work days.

[SwampDonkey]

If you pay less than $300 before tax, I wouldn't expect many functions or much of a lifespan. Of course unused much, it'll last a long time. These are not toaster ovens. Those things should be condemned. I know of 2 that burnt up.

[21incher]

We now use the Sur La Table one that Costco sells for $99 on sale every couple weeks. We love it. Tried several of the pull out basket types and they were not big enough for 2.

[Texas Ranger]

We now use the Sur La Table one that Costco sells for $99 on sale every couple weeks. We love it. Tried several of the pull out basket types and they were not big enough for 2.

We bought another model on sale at Cosco, love it  Not the biggest, but good for two of us,  I was reluctant to get one but my daughter and I conspired and got one for my roommate for mothers day   She has yet to use it but I use it a lot

[Magicman]

We have been using a Farberware basket style that was given to us.  To me the design was cumbersome.


 
So today the UPS guy delivered a new Emeril Lagasse 360 front loader with basket and rotisserie & with a dehydrator mode.  Because of the available counter space we got the smaller model.

[Jeff]

If I have to replace ours, im trying the 360 simply because of cost.

Last nights air fryer hopped up pizza. Start with frozen cheese pizza.


 

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like CDN$200 off their CDN site for the Emeril Lagasse 360. $249 locally at Canadian Tire. The chef it is named after has a Youtube ad. He has a larger French door version to.

[Magicman]

Mine was listed on Amazon @ $169.05.  My Capital One card asked if I wanted to search for a better deal, and of course I said yes.  This one still came from Amazon @ $129.47 including tax and shipping.

[SwampDonkey]

We have to watch Amazon closer up here because often times other sources are cheaper. The Amazon offers here are CDN$335 - $508 for Emeril Lagasse 360. A lot cheaper direct or Canadian Tire.

[realzed]

My Pampered Chef saga:
Ordered one @$315 CDN and rec'd it July 15th..
Got an e-mail telling me Aug 01 they put them on sale for $215 CDN.
I called first week in Aug and said "can you give me something as a rebate considering I just got one 14 days prior to the sale going on?"
(I could handle a $10 or even $20 sale price difference and written it off to poor timing - but 33% off - no way!)  
Answer - "NOPE.. we don't do that"..
I said "for all of the trouble and expense you are forcing me to return a very workable unit and it will cost you shipping both ways and I will just reorder another at the sale price then."
Response was: "that's the only way it will happen" - SO I packed it up and fired it back all within the 30 day free return period.
Liked the original unit and it was very usable, quiet, efficient, and surprised us just how well it did work..
Fast forward to today - new one showed up on the doorstep at 9 AM.. we test-fired it up for some wings this afternoon to celebrate and it sounds not unlike a small helicopter about to take off and orbit our kitchen here!
As luck would have it, the first expensive version was perfect - just far too costly considering the sale pricing.. and this new one obviously has a defective fan or something loose internally!
I'll try tomorrow to call to see if they will just exchange it - but if it gets more complicated than that, this may end my Air Fryer experiment - at least with Pampered Chef Canada..
My Cardio team says I need to reduce my stress level and eat healthier fat free foods- why does everything in life have to be so *DanG complicated?
I think I'll just fire up the BBQ and cook up a big 'ol juicy steak and have a beer or 4..  

[kantuckid]

We had a range & fridge bought in 1996 and they worked Ok but last spring wife ordered a new set. Took months in our new wait forever appliance era. The new range has an air fryer feature which amounts to a small fan that circulates hot air. Nothing more than a convection oven with a fan really. She bought a basket with ~ 1/4" wire grid and uses it with a matching pan underneath. Makes VG potato wedges, okra cut lengthwise w/S&P and paprika is good too. 
Certain things it does well, others not so much. The air fryers are common with new ranges. She wanted another GE Profile range but that required the WIFI aspect which was a turn off for us. We are computer savy but who wants a range thats dead in the water when the web is out. Reviews also say that visitors like our kids would need the wifi code to cook a meal if we were gone, etc.. Too much tech so we avoided them.