That expensive air fryer I bought on impulse does nothing better than my $20 toaster oven

I dropped $150 on a fancy air fryer after seeing it all over Instagram, but it just takes up counter space and makes everything taste drier. Has anyone else gone back to their old toaster oven after buying one of these things?

4 comments

4 Comments

mason_reed4724d ago

The fan in those things just blasts hot air directly on the food and dries everything out way too fast. My old toaster oven has a convection setting that actually keeps things crispy without turning them into cardboard. Air fryers are basically just countertop space heaters that happen to make decent frozen french fries once in a while. People act like they changed the game but it's just a smaller oven with a loud fan.

young.michael24d ago

Wait, you're saying yours was $150 and it still dries stuff out that bad? I can't believe people are shelling out that kind of cash for what's basically a noisy fan in a box. Mine was only $60 and I still feel ripped off after using it three times. The toaster oven makes better toast, better chicken, better everything. How do they even get away with selling these things at that price point when a basic toaster oven does the same job for under $30? I'm honestly shocked anyone actually keeps using them past the first week of hype.

colescott24d ago

Man, I was right there with you until I figured out you gotta treat 'em different than a regular oven. I started preheating mine for a solid 5 minutes and cutting the cook time by like a third from whatever the recipe says... plus I spray a little oil on the food before it goes in. Night and day difference, honestly. Still not a replacement for my toaster oven for most stuff though, I'll give you that.

eva_moore17d ago

Yeah, preheating is key... I learned that the hard way too. But honestly, even with preheating and oil, mine still dries out chicken breasts way worse than my toaster oven on convection. What finally worked for me was using a meat thermometer and pulling stuff out at like 5 degrees below the target temp, letting it rest... that saved a lot of my dinners from turning into shoe leather.