All about air Fryers

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We just had BLTs for lunch again.

Frying all that bacon...messy.
Heated up kitchen.
Splatters all over stove.

Would the air fryer do good on making oil free crispy bacon?

Jim
We still cook our bacon on the stove. I think it would make a nightmare of a mess in the air fryer, so I've never tried that.

When we were eating bread, we'd get garlic texas toast and put those in the air fryer to crisp them up. It only take a few minutes and you can hear the pitch change in the fryer telling you to flip them over. Those were so good. I miss them:(

I agree that fries, breaded onion rings, tots, etc. are so much better and faster in the air fryer than using the stove. I never really did use a regular oil fryer.
 
Now the wife is having doubts, after reading y'all post.

why

Time..
She thought it would be faster.
She thinks 20 minute for a burger,
30 minutes for chicken pieces is not fast.
She said she can fix an entire meal , beans, taters , chicken, veggies in less than 30 minutes.

But it would be cleaner , healthier, less heat.
:dunno:

Jim
 
If you cook burgers for 20 minutes they will be dry and hard.
We cooked the chicken wings for about 15 minutes.
After we finish cooking we put the basket in the sink with soapy water and let it soak for a while then wash it. Cleans up easy.
wings.jpg
 
Only going by what Sparky said...

For hamburgers, we buy the 1/4# pre-made Angus patties.
Put in the air fryer basket and set the temp at 350° for 10 minutes, flip and cook another 10 minutes then check with a meat thermometer for preferred doneness
.

I have no idea.

Are those wings breaded or coated.

Jim
 
My burger cooking is usually done on a propane grill (I'll fire up the pellet grill for steak and such, but not burgers unless I'm cooking for company). Preheat time: about 8 minutes. Then 5 minutes on side #1 followed by 4 minutes on side #2. So about 17 minutes total, including grill preheating. And I can easily see them to tell when they are done (or course, I supposed you could pull the basket out of an air fryer too, when you wanted to check. If you want faster burgers, buy one of those George Foreman grills that cooks both sides at once. They actually don't come out too bad out of the Foreman - I do prefer flame grilled, but Foreman is a reasonable substitute when it's snowing outside.

As far as healthy, what comes out is only going to be as healthy as what goes in. If you're going to cook frozen chicken nuggets, an air fryer is not going to turn those things into something healthy. Compared to deep frying them, sure, they will be "more healthy than deep fried". Duh. But they won't be any more healthy out of an air fryer than they would be out of an oven. I think when they are advertising "healthier foods", they are only comparing it to the deep fried equivalents. As one who never deep fries, an air fryer would be no more healthy for me than my normal cooking methods. I would have to buy one for some other reason than health. The foods you see mentioned for air fryers are a lot of times: french fries and chicken wings. And a lot of snack foods (fried cheese sticks, etc.) I'm sure air fryers will cook a whole lot more. But I'll bet a lot of people don't advance much past wings, fries and snacks. Since I eat these seldom, an air fryer might entice me to eat them more frequently. (Clarification: I do eat a lot of snacks, just not cooked snacks). Additional eating of non-healthy stuff just to make use of a new kitchen toy is not healthier. It is just the opposite.

Health is not a reason to buy an air fryer. Unless you normally deep fry everything, and would stop doing that if you had an air fryer.

Since you all have intrigued me about these air fryers, I've been looking myself. What I've come up with so far is a positive and a couple of negatives. The positive: The crunchier foods that come out of them sounds mighty appealing! The negatives: You can only make small batches of food in them, even the larger ones. Cleanup will be a pain compared to what I'm used to, possibly a major pain. Counter space used, you need a lot of it otherwise you'll have to store the thing in a cabinet and probably forget about it. Noise, from what I've read some of them are really bad. Most seem to be "about like a vacuum cleaner" per reviews. I don't know about y'all, but we turn off our vacuum cleaner if we want to have a conversation. They're not deafening like some chainsaws, but they're not comfortable conversation partners either. Air fryers cook you food faster than a regular oven. That is a positive. And the flip side of that is that I'd need to re-learn how long to cook my foods for, which has been somewhat ingrained in my brain for decades. That's a negative. Cost is not a positive or a negative. If you don't have disposable income, you shouldn't be considering buying a kitchen toy like this in the first place. Nobody needs an air fryer. They just want one.

All the negative sounding comments above aside, I am still actively looking at buying an air fryer. Because "The crunchier foods that come out of them sounds mighty appealing!"
 
Ours isn't loud it's just a small fan running. Cleanup is pretty easy too. Mostly we wipe out the basket and wash the part the food actually sits on. I bought an accessory kit that has racks and pans. Crispy food is why I bought it. Reheating pizza was a surprise. It tasted like it just came from the pizza place. Baked potatoes are another thing we like to cook in it. With a rack you can cook 2 layers of food at one time.
I gave my propane grill away when I got my pellet grill. Mine is the Pit Boss Austin XL. It has a plate that covers the flame box and you just slide it out of the way to get direct flame searing. Great burgers and steaks.
With our temperatures in the upper 90s and going to be 100, we do not want to use the stove and definitely not the oven so the air fryer is getting more use.
I cook burgers and steaks on the air fryer when the weather is not good for using my grill outside.
 
Only going by what Sparky said...

For hamburgers, we buy the 1/4# pre-made Angus patties.
Put in the air fryer basket and set the temp at 350° for 10 minutes, flip and cook another 10 minutes then check with a meat thermometer for preferred doneness
.

I have no idea.

Are those wings breaded or coated.

Jim


For clarification, those times are for frozen patties (should have been clearer in my post. I'll go edit it...)

Thawed would be closer to 6 minutes per side.
 
For clarification, those times are for frozen patties (should have been clearer in my post. I'll go edit it...)

Thawed would be closer to 6 minutes per side.

Thanks, that sounds like what it takes on the grill.
We never have bought ready made patties.
Never have used once frozen ground beef to make patties, wife says it falls apart. Fresh stays together.

Now she says aha.
:)
So back to the search.
I'm looking,
Someone said get the bigger capacity.

Jim
 
If you cook burgers for 20 minutes they will be dry and hard.
We cooked the chicken wings for about 15 minutes.
After we finish cooking we put the basket in the sink with soapy water and let it soak for a while then wash it. Cleans up easy.
View attachment 46868

Backlash, are those naked wings that you put a coating on? They look delish!!
Dang, I might have to buy me some dings the next time I go shopping.
 
My burger cooking is usually done on a propane grill (I'll fire up the pellet grill for steak and such, but not burgers unless I'm cooking for company). Preheat time: about 8 minutes. Then 5 minutes on side #1 followed by 4 minutes on side #2. So about 17 minutes total, including grill preheating. And I can easily see them to tell when they are done (or course, I supposed you could pull the basket out of an air fryer too, when you wanted to check. If you want faster burgers, buy one of those George Foreman grills that cooks both sides at once. They actually don't come out too bad out of the Foreman - I do prefer flame grilled, but Foreman is a reasonable substitute when it's snowing outside.

As far as healthy, what comes out is only going to be as healthy as what goes in. If you're going to cook frozen chicken nuggets, an air fryer is not going to turn those things into something healthy. Compared to deep frying them, sure, they will be "more healthy than deep fried". Duh. But they won't be any more healthy out of an air fryer than they would be out of an oven. I think when they are advertising "healthier foods", they are only comparing it to the deep fried equivalents. As one who never deep fries, an air fryer would be no more healthy for me than my normal cooking methods. I would have to buy one for some other reason than health. The foods you see mentioned for air fryers are a lot of times: french fries and chicken wings. And a lot of snack foods (fried cheese sticks, etc.) I'm sure air fryers will cook a whole lot more. But I'll bet a lot of people don't advance much past wings, fries and snacks. Since I eat these seldom, an air fryer might entice me to eat them more frequently. (Clarification: I do eat a lot of snacks, just not cooked snacks). Additional eating of non-healthy stuff just to make use of a new kitchen toy is not healthier. It is just the opposite.

Health is not a reason to buy an air fryer. Unless you normally deep fry everything, and would stop doing that if you had an air fryer.

Since you all have intrigued me about these air fryers, I've been looking myself. What I've come up with so far is a positive and a couple of negatives. The positive: The crunchier foods that come out of them sounds mighty appealing! The negatives: You can only make small batches of food in them, even the larger ones. Cleanup will be a pain compared to what I'm used to, possibly a major pain. Counter space used, you need a lot of it otherwise you'll have to store the thing in a cabinet and probably forget about it. Noise, from what I've read some of them are really bad. Most seem to be "about like a vacuum cleaner" per reviews. I don't know about y'all, but we turn off our vacuum cleaner if we want to have a conversation. They're not deafening like some chainsaws, but they're not comfortable conversation partners either. Air fryers cook you food faster than a regular oven. That is a positive. And the flip side of that is that I'd need to re-learn how long to cook my foods for, which has been somewhat ingrained in my brain for decades. That's a negative. Cost is not a positive or a negative. If you don't have disposable income, you shouldn't be considering buying a kitchen toy like this in the first place. Nobody needs an air fryer. They just want one.

All the negative sounding comments above aside, I am still actively looking at buying an air fryer. Because "The crunchier foods that come out of them sounds mighty appealing!"

LOL, thats what I said too Haetig.
 
We cook bacon in the microwave in something that looks like this (ours is 20 years old):

Screenshot at 2020-07-21 19-56-03.png


You have to cover the bacon with a paper towel. The bacon cooks well and it doesn't splatter. However, the paper towel that prevents splatter gets quite greasy. And the tray reservoir fills with grease. But that's how it's supposed to work. You just need an empty can or something to pour the grease into afterwards.
 
Costco frozen wings. Thawed them enough for me to separate them then put them in a baggie with flour, salt, and pepper, sprayed them lightly with oil on both sides, and cook for around 15 to 20 minutes until they were browned and crispy. The ones we didn't eat went into the refer and I'll pop them in the air fryer tomorrow or the next day to reheat.
 
We grill on the back deck using gas grill year round , we haven't had snow in 2 years .
I just ordered a Weber Smokey Joe charcoal grill, made for 2 people, because she's tired of the bottom deflector plates burning up in the gas grills.
We don't grill much in summer.Too hot.

So we are looking for an alternative to use inside during the heat of summer.

The air fryer seems like it would fit the bill. Crispy , cooler, I think easy clean up.

Like Haertig, pros and cons, but I think the pros outweigh the cons.

I'll be ordering one shortly.

Jim
 
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My family members have the smaller one and regret it. Every one of them wish they had gotten a bigger one.
The bigger one (we have the bigger one) has been worth it. Lots of space which means we can cook more at one time if we want, bigger things, and things cook faster because of the extra space for regular size meals for 2.
they definitely do cook things faster in my opinion. We even cook two things at once regularly. Like chicken strips and fries at one time. Works well for us having the bigger one.
 
Is there a drip pan included with that one you bough Jim? I really like the look of it in the picture on the Kohl's website. Looks roomy. Small size is one thing I was concerned about. Our current toaster over has a pull out drip pan that is BELOW the heating elements. So everything has to drip onto the elements first, before hitting the pan. It doesn't seem to have hurt the elements any - they're still working fine after many many years. But occasionally we get some smoke if something greasy hits the elements. If the air fryer doesn't come with a drip pan, I might try creating one out of those foil things you can buy at the store.
 
If you buy one be sure to give us a full report. I have thought about getting one like this so we can cook more food at one time. I'll be interested in hearing your opinion.

Whatever I buy I'll give a range report.

Is there a drip pan included with that one you bough Jim? I really like the look of it in the picture on the Kohl's website. Looks roomy. Small size is one thing I was concerned about. Our current toaster over has a pull out drip pan that is BELOW the heating elements. So everything has to drip onto the elements first, before hitting the pan. It doesn't seem to have hurt the elements any - they're still working fine after many many years. But occasionally we get some smoke if something greasy hits the elements. If the air fryer doesn't come with a drip pan, I might try creating one out of those foil things you can buy at the store.

Dave the air fryer I'm serious about is on Amazon , for $10 more , go look at it , you get $ 50 worth of extras for $10.
Air fryers have the elements in the top above the food with a blower moving superheated air down to cook the food.
But there is a removeable drip tray on the very bottom to catch the drippings.
Go look at the $159 one at Amazon.

Think I'm gonna go ahead and order it
Won best fryer 3 years running.

Jim
 
Nothing at Kohls costs the listed price. They always run coupon codes and Kohls cash promotions. Definitely search online for a 20-30% coupon code and free shipping as well. The Kohls cash is just a bonus.
Kohl's don't list the one with all the extra trays , baskets rotisserie .
Only the stripped down model.

Jim
 

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