Best Air Fryers

Enjoying your favorite fried foods doesn't have to bring a load of calories and fat with it. New products on the market allow you to “fry” potatoes, chicken wings, and any other foods you can imagine using just a little bit of oil and hot air. Air fryers have received rave reviews for maintaining the delicious fried taste of your favorite foods, without all the added bad-for-you qualities. Air fryers also allow you to bake, grill, and roast almost anything.

Instead of deep frying in oils, air fryers work by circulating high-heat air, with no or minimal oil, around foods. This gives foods the crispy finish that makes fried food so mouthwatering, with as much as 80 percent less fat than traditional methods. Air fryers come with a basket for frying, just like a standard deep fryer; but many also come with a grill pan or layer and a baking pan for other methods of cooking. Some also include a separator that will allow you to cook multiple ingredients for at the same time.

Your air fryer will work best if you keep a few tips in mind when using it. First of all, stick to smaller batches of food so that your air fryer doesn't get overcrowded. Leaving some extra room also makes it easier to open the air fryer occasionally and shake the foods around so they do not compress too much. Even if you choose not to use oil, a quick shot of cooking spray will keep the foods you're frying from sticking to the basket. And to keep the air fryer from splattering, or smoking, it's recommended that you pat chicken wings or other marinated items dry before frying, and be sure to drain the fat that drips into the bottom of the fryer from time to time.

Philips is the best-known name in the air fryer business. Its HD9220/26 model can hold up to 1.8 pounds of food at a time. With a wattage of 1425, the machine gets hot enough to cook your food quickly – as much as 390 degrees. Another popular brand on the market is GoWISE USA, whose 8-in-1 Air Fryer can cook as much as 2.5 quarts at once, with 1500 watts of power. This model gives you plenty of temperature control, from 176 to 392 degrees. T-fal's FZ700251 ActiFry model has a similar capacity at 2.2 pounds and 1450 watts of power.