Better efficiency but more importantly it heats almost instantly. Thing is like magic. No preheating for 5+ mins.
Plus having a second oven is fucking awesome. I’m out there on thanksgiving with an oven full of turkey, baking dinner rolls on the side like an absolute gangster.
The oven that comes with your stove is huge and it takes forever to preheat. I remember mine used to take like 20 minutes to preheat. For a lot of things that doubles the cooking time.
A toaster oven has way less space to heat, together with the fast convection makes it heat up almost instantly and also evenly. It’s just such a huge quality of life improvement.
I wish we had space for either one. Assuming an air fryer can grill cheese as well as a toaster oven, I’d be fine with just the latter though. I miss my toaster oven.
If you have the money, I’d definitely recommend a toaster oven with “air fryer” capabilities (air fryers are just convection ovens… with more convection). However they are more expensive than just an air fryer. Air fryers are also smaller so that can be a big pro if you are limited on space.
Grill cheese in an oven? Gotta use a stovetop for that.
Or a grill. Ya know, 'cause it’s grilled cheese.
Technically, it’s a Welsh Rarebit, but most people in the U.S. don’t know what that is, so I call it grilled cheese.
I’d heard of “Welsh Rarebit”, but I thought it was the name of a cryptid.
A delicious, cheesy cryptid.
Our oven literally broke (screw you fridgidaire btw) and we made thanksgiving dinner in the air fryer/ toaster oven. Even the turkey! Came out great!
Our current house came with Frigidaire appliances, never again.
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I don’t know how to tell you this, but…
Thanksgiving was last week.
It sucks how immediately after Thanksgiving it’s illegal to cook turkey or bake dinner rolls. It’s particularly annoying that it’s like, a global rule even though Thanksgiving is a US thing.
I… what? They literally said they’re out here “on Thanksgiving”.
If you’re going to be pedantic, the full quote is “out there on thanksgving”, not “out here on thanksgiving”. The “there” makes it implied past tense. But I’m sure it’s more important to nitpick trivial parts of someones comment on the internet.
They edited it after my post, homie.
Hey would you look at that, you’re right. Totally missed that part, must have been too excited about the dinner rolls. Sentiment still stands though.
You mean two months ago, right?
October 1st/2nd?
Oct 9th this year, 14th next year
Ah, gotcha. Fair shakes.
Oh shit. Probably too late to thaw the turkey, huh?
You can make that meal anytime you want!
I’ve never said otherwise, my guy.
I’m not your guy dude.
Where did the recent air fryer trend come from anyway?
Clearly you don’t own an air fryer
Ok, sooo it’s not like a deep fryer and I feel like I can’t be the only one to learn that lesson. I battered up some cod, set it for 15 minutes, and ended up with flat fish pancakes. It’s really a mini convection oven.
No but if you’d used breadcrumbs they come out great. It’s not a fryer, but it will elevate any oven-style “fried” food, like oven fried chicken, oven fries, etc. nothing wet, it will just blow it off.
Yeah it just turns out that convection ovens make great bagged frozen fries.
I wish my normal oven was a convection oven so I didn’t need an air fryer.I have a fancy oven with convection but it takes a while to heat up and often I just want a couple servings of fries.
People are just not getting it. No lengthy preheat times and you can stick a handful of fries in it to go with your sandwich and it will be done in under 10 minutes. Not inefficient if it can run for less than half the time of a big oven
Not just the fries, it’s great for toasting the sandwich too 😋
The negative I always hear is people think you can only cook processed food like fries and chicken fingers. But it also works well with less processed food like chicken
Mine has a rotisserie function and I’ve made some great roasts in there
It also has a popcorn basket and imo the popcorn turns out better than stovetop
It’s really a mini convection oven.
Yes but more so. I don’t think there’s any objective criteria but where a convection oven blows hot air over food to brown it all around, sn air fryer blows more to crisp the food
And for me the convenience is key. Like a microwave, just click a few buttons and wait for it to beep
My only problem is the lack of recipes. A few processed snack foods have directions, but I’m still figuring out how to vobvert instructions for real food. “subtract 20° and 20% of the time” is inconsistent
It’s nice that some freezer food is coming with air frier instructions. Lots of trial and error before that.
Usually I just go with whatever the instructions are for toaster ovens if they don’t have air fryer specific, I don’t think I’ve ever really had any issues doing it. If there are only conventional I go with that temp but check it early and add time if needed.
No but I have a nice conversation toaster oven.
What do you guys talk about?
*is it this model?
Or maybe one of these?
Yeah that’s what I said before I got one too.
Air fryers are the shit.
Agreed, it’s the best thing I ever bought.
We have a Ninja hybrid type. That thing is AMAZING almost equal to the value of a microwave
Also got a Ninja one, but we got the thing with dual baskets so you can optionally cook two foods at different temps. Really makes getting those tendies and fries much easier.
Same. Picked it up on Black Friday.
The fries are so much better than from the oven, and nuggets came out super crispy on the outside.Looking forward to testing more stuff.
I got some $15 one from bestbuy 8 months back I think and it gets used almost every day. I haven’t turned on the oven in so long I wonder if it even works…
Biggest disadvantage is that you have another bulky piece of equipment taking up counter space. Best option is to get a convection oven with an air fryer setting. It’s even more convenient because it doesn’t take up additional space and you don’t have to move it in/out of storage. It’s always there ready for immediate use.
Why is this even a meme? Omg why do can openers exist? 9 inch angle grinders already exist. We had a kids toy lolol
Yeah why does anything exist, we already have rocks and fire
My theory - they got popular in the US because everyone was still microwaving stuff like it was 1980 because their electricity is girly 110v so they can’t have good ovens. The air fryer is an improvement on both those things
In modern countries with 240v, everyone bought an air fryer cos the yanks said they were amazing, and now they’re scared to admit they fell for marketing hype and it’s just the same as their fan oven that they’ve had for 20 years except it heats a bit faster and they can’t fit stuff in it
From what I’ve seen in the comments it’s “Americans discovered an alternative to a microwave”.
It’s more like our corporate overlords weren’t making enough on microwaves alone and decided to push air fryers.
Ovens are so funny it’s just a fire in tinfoil
When did everyone get too good for sticks and rocks?
I’ve been throwing food into hot coals. It gives it a crunch.
When their huts burned down from leaving the cookies in too long
Cooked food is so funny. It’s just raw food but hot.
Not everyone has a convection oven. They are portable convection ovens, not portable ovens.
I have a toaster oven because I don’t need to heat my entire oven and use much more energy and time to heat the entire thing to reheat a slice of pizza.
I use the convection function when I’m working with large amounts but for 1-2 people, the air fryer is much faster.
In my experience they work better than convection ovens. Air fryers can move much more air over the food.
Air fryers are convection ovens.
Fundamentally, yes.
Practically, things labeled “air fryer” make different tradeoffs than things labeled “convection ovens”.
In particular, air fryers have comparatively big fans, and vent way, way more air out the back to keep humidity down, so they make food much crispier than a convection oven does.
Yeah, I keep trying to use my convection toaster oven as an air fryer and it doesn’t work out and then I’m like “SEE?! AIR FRYERS ARE STUPID.” But really I’ve never tried one.
Small, very concentrated convection ovens. I have both a medium sized convection oven and an air fryer. They do different things well.
I can bake stuff in my convection oven but would never try to get a crisp fried chicken from it.
I should try this. We recently moved, and now have a gas stove, the over heats up INSANELY fast and I swear food cooks faster in it even with the fan off (Is there some humidity factor?).
This was so uncanny I did some direct comparisons with the oven in our old house (Went back to clean it up for a weekend). And it actually cooks things faster, after preheat. Literally no idea why.
It’s probably just a higher end appliance. After growing up with my family only ever getting used ovens and replacing with more used ovens when they broke, I finally tried a more expensive new unit and it was an induction stovetop with convection oven and it’s unreal how different it is. I still use the air fryer pot lid for various things though.
Gas (UK) delivers heat much faster than electric does. This is part of our problem in changing over from “conventional” fuels to electric, and the reason why I remember my mother’s gas eye level grill so fondly. Cheese on toast under a gas grill was so much better than you can ever do under an electric one. Recent fan ovens help, but you’re still limited to the amount of KW compared with the insane calorific value of fossil fuels per unit of volume.
Air fryers are convection ovens that circulate air much faster, resulting in a larger transfer of heat.
My convection oven actually has an air fryer setting and it basically turns up the fan to 11.
But convection ovens aren’t necessarily air fryers. To be fair though some air fryers I wouldn’t even consider air fryers. If they can’t turn something that already has a decent oil content to at least 60% of their deep fried version then it’s just a piece of junk.
But windy, not breezy.
Have you tried reheating pizza in a pan with a lid on the stove top?
It’s kinda amazing.
Does everyone else start it in the pan with cheese side down?
Cheese down for like one minute or less, then flip.
I use the convection function when I’m working with large amounts but for 1-2 people, the air fryer is much faster.
In how much of a hurry are you if you can’t wait 4 minutes for the oven to warm up?
What kind of oven do you have that warms up in 4 minutes?
A Bosch series 8, specifically model no. HBG976MB1
Air fryers dont heat the entire house 5 degrees. Also they are like 15x faster to make food for 1.
That just sounds like a shitty oven tbh. Modern electric ovens also have strong fans and can potentially draw much more current from a high-voltage outlet.
That’s not great when you’re paying for the power
Air fryers are excellent at cooking up enough food just for 1 or 2 people, ovens are excellent at cooking up a family roast
There’s a good reason they are popular lol, I can have a side of chips ready in 15 minutes flat versus waiting for the oven to heat up then waiting another 15 minutes for my chips to be ready. Plus heating up an entire oven just for 1 serve of chips is just inefficient
There is a good reason why they’re popular, but it’s mostly due to the foodie trend. You can cook one meal for one in an air fryer, or like two dozen meals for one in an oven (meal prep, divide, freeze).
It’s mostly a microwave for crispy foods. I do more re-heating than anything else.
air fryers are machines for heating up frozen french fries, and as an added bonus they can do other things too!
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Even with an expensive convection oven I can’t get things to come out as good as they do with an air fryer. The small area through which the warm air circulates is probably the reason. The fan in my air fryer is the same size as the fan in a household oven with convection options, but a much smaller volume of air.
Most people don’t actually have convection ovens. Whoever wrote that post probably doesn’t even understand that there’s a difference between a convection oven and a traditional oven in the first place.
The things that consistently come out better for me in my air fryer (with less cook time) over the traditional oven are:
Home fries Bacon Salmon Chicken thighs Any vegetable Leftover steak Leftover pizza
There are actually very few things I care to use my traditional oven for, it’s all just quicker and comes out better in the air fryer. Pretty much anything where you want it to be browned/crispy without overcooking the inside or using a ton of butter will be better in the air fryer.
Because it’s not just a convection oven that’s needed, it’s also venting the moisture that comes off the product being cooked. It also needs to be powerful enough to keep the temperature up while that moist air gets exchanged. That’s a lot easier with a small cavity like an air-fryer than a regular sized oven. Commercial combi-ovens can do the same thing, and maybe there’s some high end consumer models available, but it’s a lot easier on the pocketbook to get an air fryer than a full size oven. I’m not totally sure, but they might also use impingement(concentrated streams of hot air, as opposed to just regular convection), which is another thing that’s available commercially, usually in pizza ovens or things like the merry-chef/turbo-chef(Subway’s sandwich toasters) but not common in consumer equipment.
You lost me at “without using a ton of butter”.
Haha yeah it’s tasty and effective for sure. I just find it a little too filling when I’m trying to bulk up and eat more protein so I use a Misto sprayer with either olive oil or canola oil. I’ve had the air fryer set off the smoke alarm a few times when I used butter so I prefer the oils with a higher smoke point.
In the vast majority of convection ovens the heating element is on the bottom. In airfryers the heating element is on top and it circulates the air a lot faster.
They are actually making convection ovens with an airfryer mode now, where it uses a heating element on top and has a more high powered fan.
The household ovens with convection settings that I’ve seen had the fan at the back, in addition to the radiant heating element at the bottom, but I definitely found the air fryer to be better.
Tilapia is also great.
I have seriously thought about buying a second air fryer because there are quite a few things that it’s completely better for, the problem I run into is trying to do larger meals (5+ people.) You either have to do batches which means more time actually engaged in cooking, or you have to break some things into the oven, and some into the air fryer.
I don’t know where you live and which ovens are common in your country, but convection ovens are the cheapest and most common thing in Europe. “Regular” oven mode is usually an extra feature for extra money. This is because convection is more energy efficient and the EU has strict efficiency rules.
Ah, yer in the US it’s the opposite, i recently bought a new oven with an induction cook top, spent $1k and even that one wasn’t convection.
I cook chicken and steak in ours and it comes out way better than any other method I know and it’s easier than any other method I know
Maybe it’s the wrong name but the device is amazing, it’s my favorite kitchen appliance by far
It’s a mini convection oven. Many modern convection ovens come with an air fry mode.
Toaster ovens are a popular thing, why is this one frowned upon?
Or just an enclosed heat gun. The basket kind is where it’s at.
And it actually fries food, because it’s cooking your food with oil (generally), but much less than an actual fry attempt.
Edit: uh, downvoting folks, you do realize that when you cook something in fat, you’re frying it, right? When you make browned butter, for instance, after the water is cooked off, the milk solids are being fried in the remaining butter fat.
Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat.
Frying techniques vary in the amount of fat required, the cooking time, the type of cooking vessel required, and the manipulation of the food. Sautéing, stir-frying, pan frying, shallow frying, deep frying, and air frying are all standard frying techniques.
No, it’s not an oven. It’s a convection oven, which has existed for decades but never caught on until they were rebranded as air fryers.
It’s not just a convection oven, it’s a particularly small convection oven. Due to the size, the air blows faster and the heat requires less energy. It’s absolutely brilliant for certain applications and it should be recognized as such.
I will never reheat fries in anything else.
Air fryer hotdogs are incredible.
Those too, I threw some precooked brats in the other day for lunch… Better lunch than I deserved in ten minutes.
I reheat everything in it. Fried rice, tacos, burgers, pizza… All shit the microwave would turn into soggy much comes out of the air fryer like it was fresh made or sometimes better.
Yes! People have little patience to know the difference and the effects when they already know it’s just an oven.
What? All ovens I’ve used in my life have been convection ovens.
And I’ve never used a convection oven. What a world.
Fascinating. What country? The only non-convection oven I’ve ever seen in Germany was the fire fueled oven my grandma had, and I’m pretty sure that thing was pre-war.
Canada. It’s a standard gas oven with a broiler inside. They’re for sale, but I’ve always lived in old houses.
I see. Gas ovens are quite rare here, overwhelming majority is electric.
I looked it up: In 2014 7% of households in Germany used gas stoves, and 4% used gas ovens. So probably even less today.
Same here, in the US. Natural gas dominates where I live, and I’ve only seen it for electric ovens.
It’s also still a “new” feature, in the context of major appliances lasting decades. My new oven is convection but I don’t remember it being a reasonable choice 18 years ago when I last did, it maybe that’s just natural gas
And even today, this was a “premium” feature. Most low to midrange appliances do not seem to have it
Right, 20 years ago I bought a gas oven. They were the “new big thing” the. But I’m not really a “new big thing” kinda guy.
Generally (in the US) the term convection oven is used to refer to an oven that forces hot air around with a fan, instead of an oven with the radiant heating elements.
Someone else commented that all ovens are convection and the correct term is “fan forced”… which might be technically correct, but that’s just not how the terminology is commonly used at least in the US. Some newer ovens have options clearly labeled “convection” that turn on a fan, sometimes in addition to the radiant heating elements.
The main reason I think people like convection ovens or air fryers is because the air circulation crisps the outside without overcooking the inside and without all the fatty oils required in a traditional deep fryer.
Wait, basically every kitchen I’ve been in after 1990 had a convection oven. That’s one of those ovens with a fan in the rear, right?
Not having a convection fan is pretty much a US-only thing.
Most ovens in the past 15 years have convection. People didn’t notice the button on the oven until air friers became a big thing.
Thanks for the context! I only know that if you are following a recipe from the US, you have to be careful because it will assume no convection (unless it explicitly tells you) while if you follow a recipe from somewhere else, it’s the other way around.
I’d argue it’s better than a convection oven. I think it’s the placement of the fan and the higher air flow rate that differentiates the two.
My parents and SO’s parents have name-brand convection ovens but they’re no where as good as a dedicated air fryer. We’ve tried the same recipe (potato roasties) across them all and they achieve vastly different results.
This. It’s something to do with the fan placement or just the smaller volume of air in the air fryer. I’ve tried to use a convection oven and it both took way longer and the results were nowhere near as good.
Absolutely. I just bought a new range that does convection oven, and it’s not as good as a countertop air fryer.
What’s really strange to me is that every oven and every toaster oven I’ve ever owned has a connection setting. So people are buying these huge space-consuming appliances to do something that they can already do with what they have in their house.
The convection is much stronger than on a regular oven, as someone who has a full sized convection oven, toaster oven with convection, and air fryer.
Also you would have to use a mesh or rack with a cookie sheet on a lower shelf to expose the bottom of the food to the moving air in your oven without drips sticking.
If you’ve tried both, you would see what I mean.
Can confirm. Had an oven that could ‘do’ convection. Didn’t seem to make a difference.
Then I got an actual air fryer. Made a massive difference.
Not every oven has a convection setting. I’d go so far as to say most rentals don’t. Every (electric) oven does have a broil setting. But for some reason you seem to think buying a toaster oven (a small broiler) is fine but an air fryer (a small convection oven) is strange? And an air fryer is “huge”? Are you confused about what an air fryer is? It’s like once square foot of countertop space at most.
Believe me, I thought the exact same thing until we were gifted one, so i get the skepticism! The convection bake setting on my oven is just not even comparable to a $75 air fryer.
As another commenter posted, air fryers use a much more intense airflow. It’s nuts just how much faster and crisper things like chicken thighs and frozen snacks come out compared to the oven.
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the education.
Wait. People don’t have convection ovens in the US? I think every home over here has been equipped with one since the 1990s or something.
Yeah they’re not very common in the US unless the kitchen was renovated for a “home chef” type. The average oven you go and just “pick off the shelf” in the US doesn’t have convection. I don’t know anyone with a convection oven, I’ve only seen home cooks/chefs on YouTube with them.
Convection has been standard for ovens for over 10 years. My 13 year old KitchAid oven from a big box store has convection. It wasn’t even promoted until air friers became popular.
Also all microwaves with bake feature are convection ovens. Again it was normal, but now they put big “like air frier” stickers on them to let people know.
I’ll take your word for that, I don’t know anyone who has bought an oven in the last decade. 😅 Every home/apartment I’ve lived in has had basic appliances and every home I’ve visited even with older mid-range hasn’t. I’ve also never seen a microwave with “bake” function in person. But I might live in a different circle than you as well.
I bought my oven 20 years ago. Convection ovens were for sale but at a premium and I thought it was a gimmick and didn’t want to buy in. I’ve never used one either and I may have the same experience as you, old houses and poor friends? Lol.
I also haven’t seen many of those combo ovens, most people just use commodity microwaves
That’s pretty weird, wonder why that is. I bet it’s the opposite in Europe.
No wonder Air Fryers were lauded as magical then
Actually closer to a sub category called impingement ovens.
Wikipedia:
Another form of a convection oven is called an impingement oven. This type of oven is often used to cook pizzas and lightly toast bread in restaurants, but it can also be used for other foods. Impingement ovens have a high flow rate of hot air from both above and below the food. The air flow is directed onto food that usually passes through the oven on a conveyor belt.
I did not know about them. Thanks for the new information.
A convection oven is a normal oven. “Convection” means it radiates heat and it flows through the oven by convection currents - hot air rises and cold air falls. As opposed to a microwave oven. You probably mean a fan-forced oven - they have been standard in the US since the early 1970s.
In spite of what the words “convection” and “oven” mean on their own, a “convection oven” refers to an oven with a fan to circulate the air. An air fryer is a small convection oven.
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-a-convection-oven/
I live alone. I can fit the same amount of stuff I would cook in my oven into my air fryer and cook it better with less electricity and less clean up.
Do you clean your entire oven every time you use it
No. But when I do it takes forever. Cleaning my air fryer takes a couple of minutes once a week.
Do you clean your air fryer every time?
Yes, every single time.
That is probably less work since you are only wiping a little mess each time. I would be spending an hour to scrub mine because I have never cleaned it down to the bare metal since I bought it. I just toss the trays and fat catcher tray in the dishwashers.
I seasoned my fry basket the same way that one would do a cast iron skillet. It did require a small amount of disassembly, and reassembly, but after doing the seasoning process (baking it in the oven @ 275° F caked in oil-soaked salt for 30-45 minutes, repeat as needed), I can just wipe mine out with a paper towel. The grease tray I wash each time, but that’s just cause I don’t want my fries to taste of fish.
I don’t have one.
It’s just like cleaning a pan., very quick and easy.
For me, the win is the programmability. I think of it more like a microwave, where you just click a few buttons and wait for the beep
They’re a trend because they’re really good
yeah they’re just small convection ovens. Great for heating bread rolls, we use ours more as a toaster than for “frying” (they don’t fry)
Yep. Giant superpowered toaster. Useful for … anything that could do. Which is actually quite a bit.
Best way to reheat pizza for instance. It’s nice that they’re a little more energy efficient than doing it in the oven, and don’t leave it soggy like the microwave.
Not better than stovetop, which is actually best imo, but that takes actual effort.
I think the pretty good results for not very much effort is why I use mine as much as I do
I reheat pizza in my air fryer in a moderately involved way (but still low effort). Mine’s got a reheat setting, which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout. Then I hit air broil for maybe 1.5 minutes. It bubbles up the cheese and the oil in the crust without causing anything to char. Tastes pretty great, you just have to be willing to wait 25 minutes.
“which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout.”
I read that like 4 times wondering how fucking hot your room is.
I keep it around 190 most days.
Shit just leave it on the counter, it’ll cook right there
We make (air) fried chicken with ours, as well as onion rings. It’s super effective.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are perfection with an air fryer.
How do you weigh down the bread so it’s not caught in the heat tornado?
Butter up the bread slices both sides and slap as much cheese as you want inbetween and put the whole thing in there. Flip it at 5-10 mins depending on your temp and device and let it go another minute or two. It takes a few tries to get all the timings perfect and you might even want to do the two bread slices open face with cheese and then slap them together halfway and finish.
What? I had no idea… I think this may be what will send me over the edge.
surely they are frozen or pre-fried though, right?
No, from scratch. We lightly spritz the breading with oil. It fries without a fryer. Super delicious.
They’re a bit more than that.
They’re convection ovens where the fan sounds like they’re trying to take off and they vent a ton of hot moist air out the back.
If you put broccoli tossed in a bit of oil in an air fryer and a convection oven, it’ll come out way crisper in the air fryer.
Air fryers have fans to keep the air circulating. That makes the food cook very differently than a traditional oven. It’s more like a convection oven, but with even more airflow.
Also the food is off the floor on a rack or grate while being easy to clean.
Is your oven from the 70s? Even our old oven from the 80s has convection.
Not sure how that’s even relevant. I didn’t say anything that even mentioned what kind of oven I have. I was just comparing traditional ovens vs convection ovens vs air frying.
It mostly is though? It’s definitely not a fryer. But I agree it still has it’s place even next to a convection oven, if not for anything else, then at least for heating the leftovers.
I guess it’s like a phone vs a tablet. They have a lot of similarities and a lot of functionality overlap and you could get by using one in place of the other but their use cases are different. Some people may only have one or the other, others may have both and use each at different times for different things. You wouldn’t say someone with a tablet has been fooled into buying a rebranded phone.
There’s literally no difference between a conventional oven with a fan forced function and an air frier.
Get yourself a mesh tray for your oven, preheat and you’ve just saved $100+ as well as kitchen storage for yet another gadget.
There’s literally no difference between a conventional oven with a fan forced function and an air frier.
My regular, full-sized convection oven has an air fryer mode. The main difference with the normal convection mode is that the fan runs much, much faster in air fryer mode. Because hot air circulates faster over the food, heat is transferred at a greater rate.
I do not understand why you are being downvoted. I guess there is a lot of air-fryer salespeople online… 😂
