Best Air fryers have gained popularity for producing crispy, evenly browned “fried” foods without the use of an actual deep fryer. They work by circulating hot air around food, similarly to a convection oven, and eliminate the need for much, if any, cooking oil, resulting in grocery savings, less clean up, and fewer calories.
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Many air fryers are programmed with multiple cooking functions and can double as a toaster oven, convection oven, warmer, rotisserie, indoor grill, and more. No matter which features you’re looking for, there’s an air fryer to meet your needs.
What to Look for in an Air Fryer
Capacity:
Are you frying a small batch of wings, or do you want to make French fries for the family on burger night? Make sure the fryer you choose can handle the amount of food you want to cook. Also, make sure to consider a fryer’s overall size—more capacity might mean that it needs more storage space when it’s not in use.
Cooking temperatures:
A wider range of temperatures will give you more options for cooking different foods. Generally, fryers that can achieve higher temperatures can cook faster and brown foods more easily—which is perfect if you plan on making wings and fries since you might not need to cook at low temperatures.
Timer:
Timers are always handy, and most air fryers include some type of timer. Do you want an audible alert or a fryer that can turn off automatically? Do you need a timer that can be set for long cooking times or will all your air-fried recipes cook for a short time? Think about your needs and choose accordingly.
Here’s a roundup of the best air fryers available now.
1. Instant Pot Instant Vortex Plus 10QT 7-in-1 Digital Air Fryer Oven – Best Overall
Pros:
- Seven features in one
- Stellar performance
- Cooks quickly and quietly
- Easy to clean
Cons:
- Interior is small considering the appliance’s overall size
- Included instructions are limited—look for the full manual online
You may know the Instant Pot Company from their popular line of electric pressure cookers, but they also manufacture other gadgets that are useful in the kitchen. The Instant Vortex Plus 7-in-1 Air Fryer Oven is one of their latest offerings, combining the features of a standard air fryer with features you’d find in countertop ovens.
The cooking basket rotates during cooking, so your fries or wings will tumble during cooking, so they’ll cook and brown evenly. When you’re cooking something larger, you can ditch the basket and rotisserie cooking a 4-pound chicken or a roast or you can use the two cooking trays for foods that shouldn’t tumble or spin.
A drip tray keeps everything tidy and makes cleanup easier. This has a 10-quart capacity, so you’ll have plenty of room when cooking for the whole family.
2. COSORI Pro Air Fryer CP158-AF – Best Digital
Pros:
- Wide flat basket for great airflow
- Presets for common foods work well
- Compact footprint for its capacity
Cons:
- Sometimes takes two hands to insert/remove basket
- Relatively new brand
- Little customization
With 11 presets, a beautiful LED screen for selecting your functions, and a reminder when it’s time to shake the cooking basket, this model couldn’t be easier to use!
If you’re cooking for a large group, the 5.8-quart capacity makes this big enough for large meals and then some. It can fit a 5-6 pound chicken or plenty of wings, so it’s great for more than just after-school snacks. The inner and outer baskets feature a nonstick coating, which our tester said made cleanup easy. Another great feature? This air fryer comes with a cookbook that features over 100 recipes so you’ll never run out of things to cook.
3. Emeril Lagasse Power AirFryer 360 – Best Air Fryer Oven
Pros:
- 12 versatile cooking presets
- Bright interior light
- Easy-to-read and operate LCD control panel
Cons:
- Large and hard to store
- Noisy
- Tricky to clean
It looks like a big toaster oven, but it’s so much more than that. This air fryer boasts five heating elements and 360° Quick Cook Technology so you can produce perfect fries, meats, and vegetables with delicious flavor (and with less oil). There are 12 preset cooking functions, which is more than most air fryers, so you can choose how you want to cook your meal.
Other notable features include an interior light, LCD digital display, and the memory feature that remembers your last preset and temperature so you can repeat the cooking process without fiddling with the controls. It comes with a cookbook, rotisserie spit, drip tray, pizza rack, baking pan, and crisper tray. Emeril Lagasse Power AirFryer was powerful, but loud and difficult to clean. It has some drawbacks as an air fryer and isn’t the cheapest option on the market, but if you’re looking for an all-in-one appliance, its versatility is top-notch.
4. GoWISE USA 2.7-Quart Electric Air Fryer Oven w/Rotisserie and Dehydrator – Best with Rotisserie
Pros:
- Has several racks to use at one time
- Small footprint on your countertop
- Crisps food well
Cons:
- Loud beeps while programming
This handy air fryer oven offers a whopping 15 different cooking presets, which make it easy to use this oven to toast, bake, dehydrate, and much more, while the 50-recipe cookbook offers plenty of ideas for using this oven for all of your cooking and baking.
This model comes with all the accessories you’ll need for whipping up delicious meals, including two rotating baskets, a rotisserie spit, a kebab rack, and a selection of racks and trays. It has a 12.7-quart capacity so there’s plenty of space to feed a family.
5. Dash 2-Quart Compact Air Fryer – Best Compact
Great for singles, or for families whose schedules have those eating meals at different times, this petite air fryer won’t eat up all your counter space, but it still has the features you need to make the perfect crispy potato wedges to pair with your steak dinner.
This air fryer has a 1.6-quart capacity, so it’s not the biggest model you’ll come across, but it’s still got enough room to handle a dozen wings or a pound of fries, and since it cooks so quickly you can always make multiple batches back to back if you’re feeding a larger crowd.
6. Philips Premium Airfryer XXL HD9650 – Best Design
Pros:
- Fat Removal Technology helps drain fat away from food
- Built-in cord storage
- Available in digital or analog
- Keeps food warm up to 30 minutes
Cons:
- Expensive
- Add-on accessories are pricey
Philips Airfryers are available in compact, XL, and XXL sizes. Each size is also available with your choice of digital or analog controls. If you have more space to dedicate to an air fryer and more than just one or two people to feed, we recommend trying the XXL digital model.
The cooking basket on the Philips Airfryer XXL can hold 4-quarts, which is big enough for a 4-ish pound whole chicken or 2 bags of frozen fries. It has cooking functions to air fry, bake, grill, roast, toast, dehydrate, and reheat, along with give cooking presets for some of the most popular air fried recipes, including frozen fries, meat, fish, whole chicken, and chicken drumsticks.
There’s also a keep-warm function that runs up to 30 minutes after cooking to make sure your food remains warm until you’re ready to serve.
The proprietary Fat Removal technology refers to the unique star fished shaped bottom of the air fryer that helps drain excess fat away from food for a healthier and crisper finished meal. There’s a downloadable app that has hundreds of recipes designed for the air fryer to help inspire you.
Cooking parts are dishwasher safe and there are lots of add-on accessories for making pizza, dehydrated snacks, and baking in the air fryer.