Anyone have an Air Fryer?

MoochNNoodles

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A friend of mine recently mentioned she bought herself an air fryer and raved about the way it made chicken wings crispy without oil.

I was seriously craving home made fried chicken tenders the other night so it got me thinking about them.  I do not like cooking in oil and I never deep fry. Even with a splatter screen I just don't like the popping oil and cleaning it off the surrounding area.  And then there is the lingering oil smell around the house for the next day or so. 


I remember when I was a kid my Grandfather did a lot of fishing and would freeze portions.  Whenever they cooked fish or anything fried; my Grandparents did that in the basement.  My Mom made Honey Balls in the garage one Christmas instead of heating oil in the kitchen.  That helps with the smell; but not actually the handling of the oil. 

So now I'm wondering if an Air Fryer is something we could get a lot of use out of.  I read some reviews but I haven't looked at any in person.  I'm curious how much I can cook at once.  Like how many servings for french fries or pieces of chicken.  I need to be able to prepare enough of something for 4 people.  One of my favorite treats is pizza and wings.
  It would be really amazing to make my own crispy chicken wings and skip the oil!  If they aren't crispy; it's not going to hit the spot.  Rubbery chicken skin is gross!!  But man oh man some good hot wings would be nice!  And then we could all personalize our heat-level. 
 

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You know, I've been trying to figure this out now for months! From what I've been reading, they're not as easy to use as what the vendors make them out to be. Rubbery shrimp, partially done fries, hard chicken tenders. And yeah, the smaller ones would not work for a family of four.....I don't even think a small one would work for Rick and me when it comes to foods like fried chicken and French fries. A lot of people who have them say their biggest con is that they didn't get one that was large enough, even for two people.

I really think I'd love to try one out for a while, just to see if I'd enjoy using it. 

If you get one, please, please give it a good work out and do a thorough review....I'm really curious about them. Which one are you looking at??
 
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MoochNNoodles

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I wish I could borrow one!  My friend who has one lives on the other side of the country.  And it's just her and her teenage son.  (Hmm...he might be about at that feeding one is like feeding 4 stage. 
)  

I haven't decided on one yet.  I was hoping to get some other peoples honest opinions first!  They aren't the most expensive kitchen gadget; but not the cheapest either.  It does look like I would need a large size one.
 

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I wish there was a Rent-A-Small-Appliance store! You go in, choose what you want to try out and bring it home for a month or so. 
 
 

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wow I had no idea there were consumer products for these. When I was in FL, we went to evos & they use a drier to create crispy chicken, it's good too! I would love to have one since I don't fry anything but miss fried chicken :(
 

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I ordered one tonight. Went down to Bed Bath and Beyond.They didn't have the Phillips in stock, so I ordered it and had it delivered to work. 3-5 business days, so I should have it next week. I had a 20% coupon, so I was able to save $50. I probably could have gotten it cheaper from Amazon, but in this case, I want to be able to return it with no hassle, if I choose to do so.

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/st...ryer-trade/3268884?Keyword=phillips+air+fryer Got it in black.

I did talk to the clerk about it; she said they had a demo when it first came in. Raw-cut potatoes done as fries were crispier than if they were baked, but they really didn't taste much different than baked store-bought fries. I guess I'll find out. If I really hate the thing, she said I can always return it.

There are various accessories with it as well as I've now seen several air fryer cookbooks.

I've been intrigued with them now for a few months.
 
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msserena

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Oh fun! I can't wait til you get it try it out. That will let me decide if I'm gonna buy one or not
 
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MoochNNoodles

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I can't wait to see what you think Pam!  I think when I checked Amazon they were the same price as BB&Beyond.  We dont have one locally unfortunately. 
 

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There is no such thing as "frying by air."  You are convection baking.  Some big ovens and many smaller toaster ovens have the capability of convection cooking.
 

Winchester

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Yep. I am aware of that. The top oven in my stove is also convection and I use that a lot for roasts and for vegetables like squashes. Not so much for breads, cakes, or cookies (although the neat thing about using convection for cookies is that I can put four pans of cookies in the oven at one time to bake using convection. It really cuts down on time when I'm in a hurry.

Still intrigued and I still want to try the air fryer. 

Stay tuned!
 

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It's here! I am so excited. I'm working over lunch so I can go home early, get it unpacked and washed, and see what we can put together for supper tonight. Stay tuned! :woohoo:
 

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Yay!

I know it's silly but I sort of wonder how it would do with frozen burritos. They're gross when microwaved but baking takes like 40 minutes. I'm sure there are better uses for it but that's what's in my head right now! :lol3:
 

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Ok. I use three nice-sized Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and sliced thinly, but not overly so. Soaked in cold water for 30 minutes (while they were soaking, I sliced my onions and peppers to brown for the brats that we were having with the fries). Drained the potatoes very well, then patted them dry. Threw them into a large bowl with two tablespoons of olive oil and tossed very well. Preheated the fryer for 3 minutes at 360 degrees.

Put the potatoes on the bottom of the basket in a layer. Placed the rack on top and added another layer of potatoes on the rack. Didn't even come close to filling the basket (but that's OK; it was just Rick and me and that was fine). The MAX line, which is the line that says means the basket is full, is almost to the very top of the container, so we had a lot of room to go. I could probably do enough fries for four people, if I pushed it, I'm thinking. But that depends on appetites, too. 

I had read where people were experimenting with prepared foods (burritos, for example, meatballs, etc.) And they said that they put on a few pounds because of what foods they were using. I want to keep things on an even keel, but we'll see how it all goes. I'm very intrigued by this thing! But I like kitchen gadgets and I'm always interested to see what all I can do with things.

Tomorrow.....wings. When we go in town, we're going to stop at our local butcher for some nice wings (you cannot get nice wings at the grocery store, or at least I can't; they're really fatty and way too small and just not that great). I'd also like to try pork chops.
 
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msserena

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huh, so it looks like you put the food on the basket & the air comes from the bottom & then circulates around? interesting. can't wait to see how the chicken comes out, cause that's what I would use it for mostly.

So from the bottom where the potatoes are to the top, where I would assume a lid goes on? you can fill up that whole area??
 

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The bottom portion simply pulls out. The basket is inside and the rack is inside the basket. The basket will lift out of the container; there's a white button there to release the basket. Just press on the button.


You put some of the potatoes in the basket, put the rack in on top of the potatoes and put the remaining potatoes on the rack.


It's hard to see, so I outlined the MAX word in red. Supposedly you can fill the basket up to the outline (in red). Believe me, that would make a lot of French fries, easily enough for 3-4 people, I'm thinking. You see how full our basket was (in the first photo showing the fries) and that was plenty for Rick and me.


Link to some air fryer cookbooks (if anybody is interested):  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...ps,214&crid=2WNMWOPKPSRQN&tag=&tag=thecatsite

FWIW, I like the Blue Jean Chef (Meredith Lawrence). I have a couple of her pressure cooker cookbooks and the recipes are good. 
 
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Winchester

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The wings. Two pounds of frozen wings that I thawed in cold water today. I followed the recipe in the cookbook, except I used allspice berries (that I cracked) instead of ground allspice. This is the marinade that I used (don't mind the mess; I am so not a neat cook).


The wings in the marinade in the bag, ready for the fridge. I think they were in the fridge for about four hours and I brought them out once every hour and tossed the bag around a bit to expose more meat to the marinade.


 After taking them out of the fridge, I drained them and then patted each wing dry with a paper towel. 18 minutes in the air fryer at 390 degrees. I originally set the timer for 14 minutes, shut it down at 8 minutes to take the basket out and move the wings around a bit (I couldn't shake the basket, I had to use tongs to rearrange them.) On again for another 6 minutes. I didn't think they were done, so I let them go for another 4 minutes. Half are under the rack in the basket; the other half are on the rack. The ones on the rack got nicer than the ones underneath. But they are done. And that was two pounds of wings.


They're really good. I think they could have been a bit spicier and Rick agreed. Next time, I'll use an extra habanero pepper or a bit more cayenne. They are crispy, not limp or flaccid at all. 


So.....I am pleased. We'll be keeping the air fryer. And yeah, I'd recommend it.Well, the Phillips....I'd recommend that one, since that's the one we used. I am not worried in the slightest about it catching on fire; that doesn't mean I'd leave the house with it on. But I did come back to the bathroom to sort through laundry while it was running (and I don't really do that with the pressure cooker!).

I think we're going to try pork chops next. Maybe with a bit of bread coating, just to see what happens. I really want to put it through some paces for the next couple of weeks. But don't worry, I won't post any more pictures. I just thought you'd like to see what we got from it.
 
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