We have heard about pan frying, deep frying and even oil-less frying, and then, there is frying with hot air. Amazing technology, right?
If this nifty, less greasy cooking technology is not enough for you, your friends with At Least We Fried have listed our top 10 reasons you should get yourself an air fryer.
Benefits of Air Frying
A good air fryer makes for a great ‘go to’ cooking appliance for the following users:
- Busy Moms – You just place your food in the fryer, turn it on, and it will do its job without you constantly watching You’ll have time to do other tasks while cooking. It’s perfect for those busy moms who are doing multiple tasks while cooking.
- College Students – It can be used to cook quick small meals. It is ideal for students or those living in dorms. Compared to a convection oven, an air fryer is practical, cooks faster and economical. Since students normally don’t have time to cook, this is a great companion and can even be used to reheat leftovers without losing their crispiness. This is a better alternative than fast food.
- Elderly – It is easy to operate even for elderly It has no complicated settings or adjustments.Grandma and Grandpa would not have to worry about figuring out which buttons to press and in what order. The preset fryers have icons (fish, chicken, meat, etc.) that they just need to press to cook their meals.
- Fitness Buff – It uses very little oil or no oil at all. Food has less fat and healthier than those that are oil fried, but still tastes good. This fryer pretty much answers the need of someone who wants to eat delicious food but is conscious of his or her weight. You now have an alternative way to fry food the healthy way.
- Teenagers – It has features that ensure the safety of the users. Parents would need not worry about their teenagers using the fryer.
- Small apartment dweller – It is not just limited to frying. You can use this fryer to bake, roast or even grill. If you live in a small space, this is a very good equipment to have. As it has several functions in one machine, you can save the space where you would still need to place that oven or grill. It saves you money too as you would no longer need to buy an oven or grill.
Let’s now go to the benefits.
1. Amateur friendly
Expecting some visitors but don’t know how to cook? Get that air fryer out and cook like you’ve done it a thousand times.
Learn the right temperature setting for the type of food you want to cook so you can get your preferred texture and taste (ask your mom or search online).
Once you have a basic grasp of that temperature setting, place your ingredients inside your fryer and then set the temperature and the timer. Your fryer will do the cooking for you. When the timer goes off, your food is ready and cooked like a pro.
2. They’re Automated
You’re rushing but you still have so many things to do, toast the sandwiches, brew the coffee, prepare your kids’ snacks and then still clean up before leaving?
You’ll love the air fryer. It is basically hands-free so you can do other chores or attend to other things while also cooking.
Just place the food inside the fryer, and you can leave it to cook on its own. You can now brew some coffee and prepare the snacks.
You don’t even have to clean up afterwards as it is basically mess free and dishwasher safe. Most of all, you won’t be sweaty and smelling like oil after standing in front of the hot stove.
Two general types of hot air fryer:
Tefal Actify with stirring paddle and bowl: With this fryer, you just need to put your ingredients (cleaned and cut) into the bowl. While the fryer’s bowl is rotating, the fryer’s stirring paddle will gently stir the food. There is no need for you to watch over your food and stir it. Once the timer goes off, your food is ready.
Mesh bottom basket with a grease tray: Most fryers in the market have this design, and some would even have their own accessories. This fryer is technically also just a “press and go” type. However, to ensure proper cooking of your food, we recommend that you flip your largely cut ingredients or shake the small ingredients in the middle of your cooking.
3. Convenient and Fast Fryer
For people who are always in a rush, the air fryer might be the answer to your prayers. You don’t have to wait for your frozen food to thaw before placing them in the fryer. You don’t even need to wait while the fryer is warming up as it does not need any preheating.
Those frozen nuggets or potato wedges or French fries? Just place them in the fryer (yes, in frozen state), set the temperature, set your timer and in just 10 or 20 minutes, you’ll be eating.
As a bonus, you don’t need to clean any oil spatters or drippings.
Your walnuts and groundnuts are cooked in 10 minutes, and even your left-over food will maintain crispiness when reheated.
4. Easy to Clean
If you’re anything like me, you probably like cooking but hate cleaning. Thankfully, the air fryer’s removable parts are dishwasher safe (Hallelujah!). That means, those are safe to go in the dishwasher. There is no need for a manual hand washing.
There is nothing to worry though if you don’t have a dishwasher, just simply soak it in soapy water and gently rub its cooking surface with a sponge to remove pieces or bits of food that are stuck on it.
5. Saves oil
Since the air fryer uses minimal oil or no oil at all, you get to save. You save not just on cooking oil but also on money spent to buy the oil.
If you want to use oil while staying on the healthy side, you can use organic or exotic oils. They don’t come cheap, but you’ll only be using around a tablespoon or less, so it would last long.
6. Fuss-free Frying
You don’t need to worry about any complicated steps in using an air fryer. It only has two buttons, one for the timer and one for the temperature. Just set to your desired temperature then set the timer. When you hear the timer beep, that means you are ready to eat.
TheTefal Actifry makes it even simpler. You don’t have to figure out the right temperature for cooking your food is as it has a set temperature. All you need to do is set the timer.
Some fryers have preset programs where you just need to press the type of food you’re cooking. You can press the fish icon if you’re cooking fish or the chicken icon for chicken. Your cooking is quick, easy and definitely fuss-free.
7. Low Fat Fryer
Who says healthy is not tasty? With an air fryer, you can now cook low-fat meals that are healthy but tastes delicious.
You can now fry your favorite chicken wings, steaks, fish, roast pork or chicken, pork chops and even meat patties, in hot air with no oil. Isn’t that deliciously healthy?
Even frozen food can be cooked easily without adding any oil. Just take your frozen food out of the freezer and place it in the fryer. Then set the temperature and the timer and you’re good to go.
You can even cook raw meat in your air fryer without adding any oil. The fryer’s hot air that’s circulating rapidly would cook the meat on all sides while the excess fat would drip down to the grease tray behind the basket. You’ll have meat that’s crispy but juicy.
If you really need to add oil – French fries that are homemade, for example, are hands down crispier when added with a little bit of canola oil – just drop a tablespoon of oil, and you’ll get fantastic French fries. This is what we call healthy frying.
Here are some examples of Low fat and tasty meals you can cook with the air fryer.
- Air Fried Chicken Wings
- Green Vegetables
- Air Fried Prawns
- Baked Garlic Prawns
8. Mess-fee
The air fryer uses a system of closed cooking. That means, it has a cover and the food is cooked inside the fryer. This makes your cooking literally mess free.
Your skillet or frying pan normally have exposed surfaces that when you cook in those, you get oil splatters and oil vapors on the floor, walls and kitchen counter tops. You’ll need to wipe those off and mop the floors, and oil does not come off easily.
With the covered air fryer, you’ll just need to remove the cooking bowl, cooking basket and the drip pan and you can put them in the dishwasher. You don’t even have to worry about any used oil.
9. Multi Cooker Fryer
Don’t we just love those buy one get one promotions? Well, an air fryer is more than just your buy one get one. It is more like buy one get three or more.
When you have an air fryer, it’s having an oven, a grill, a toaster, a skillet and a deep fryer in one machine. Now, you can roast, grill, bake and fry in the air fryer.
You can toast some sandwiches for a quick breakfast or fry your favorite chicken wings or legs for lunch. Grill those succulent pork chops to share with someone special for dinner and maybe some French fries for a midnight snack. You can do all of these with your single air fryer.
In this millennia where people are always in a rush, and spaces are cramped, this multi-function compact machine is a blessing.
10. Safe Fryer
One of the unsung benefits of air frying is the safety factor. You can trust that even your teenagers can use an air fryer safely because of its safety features. The Philips air fryer even declares their product safe enough for children aged eight.
Air Fryer Safety Features:
- Splatter Free – The fryer has an enclosed cooker to ensure that if ever you use oil, there are no oil splatters than can possibly scald This also makes cleaning easier as you don’t have to worry about the oil getting on the floor, walls or counters.
- Non-slip base – The fryer’s feet are non-slip to prevent it from sliding or toppling down from the kitchen This would that it won’t accidentally fall on your or any of your family members and possibly cause burns.
- ETL Certified – Rest assured that your fryer follows all the widely accepted safety standards created for air fryer products.
- Automatic Shut Down – Once your food is ready, your air fryer would automatically turn off. This does not only prevent your food from getting burnt but keeps the fryer from overheating that may lead to house fires. Let’s admit, there are times that we forget that we have something on the stove because we were pretty occupied with another task, maybe talking on the phone or taking care of a baby. This shut down feature can make busy or forgetful individuals worry less about burnt food or house fires.
Final Thoughts
And that concludes our ten benefits of air frying. Are you too lazy to cook? Let the air fryer cook for you. No waiting for the food to thaw, no pre heating, no stirring, no complicated instructions. Just press a couple of buttons and wait for your food to get cooked.
Don’t like cleaning up? No problem. Just get those removable parts and put them in the dishwasher. The fryer has a cover so there are no oil splatters that you would need to wipe off of walls or kitchen counters or from the floor.
Craving for fried food? No worries, air fry them without using any oil. You get low fat, healthy and delicious food that’s easy to cook.
In today’s world where everything is fast paced, an air fryer is very useful. It is a versatile cooker that make your cooking process easy, fuss free, convenient and healthy even for novice cooks.
