However, these are coated in batter, so it’s a good test of whether the air fryer can handle those textures. What struck me more is that the instructions come from a QR code. They’re simple and easy to use – all you really need to do is plug in the air fryer and switch it on for an 18 minute test run to make sure everything’s ready to go. To see if it could, we took the Instant Vortex Slim into the test kitchen to try it on a variety of air fryer staples and see how it stacked up against the best air fryers. First, I put the Instant Vortex Slim to the test with a portion of steak fries and salmon.
My work can be found in Food & Wine, Foodnetwork.com, Saveur, Real Simple, and more. Of course, that will depend on what you’re cooking, and therein lies my biggest issue with this machine. The manual provided in the box includes a small table of recommended times for a few foods, but for instant pot duo nova most, you’ll have to go through some trial and error to get a good result. I’m not a fan of wasting time or food, and I wish the directions were clearer on this front. Even trimmed down and trussed up, my small chicken still dragged the bottom of the foil-lined tray on each rotation.
You’ll need some practice assembling the accessories and a few tries before you figure out just how to cook your favorite meals. For the rest of us, I’d recommend holding on to your current air fryer or toaster oven for now. Set the mode and temperature, and the display reads ON while preheating the oven. I would much prefer to see PRE or a real-time count up to the requested temperature.
Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International instant vortex Culinary Center in New York. He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade.
He then moved to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, assessing gardening tools, machinery, and wildlife products. Helping people find true quality and genuine value is a real passion. We also tested the Instant Essentials on the same day, and the Essentials would be much better suited to small kitchens in apartments or smaller homes. Of course, the trade-off is that the Essentials has a smaller 4-quart capacity. While it isn’t flat-out stinky, the Instant Vortex Slim doesn’t have OdorErase like its siblings, so you do get cooking smells akin to those from a convection oven – especially with meats such as chicken. Unlike its siblings, the Instant Vortex Slim doesn’t have a ClearCook window through which you can watch your food cook.
After 20 minutes of cooking at a medium-high temperature, my nuggets were well-cooked, if a little less crisp than what I’d usually expect from my go-to air fryer, the 6-in-1. As for the nugget I’d placed in the side I wasn’t using, it had thawed from frozen but was not hot to touch. The insert underneath it and the divider were both very hot, and I suspect that the heat did ‘leak’ into the side I wasn’t using, which is why it took my nuggets a little longer to crisp up. With a total capacity of 9 quarts, this air fryer could genuinely replace your oven.
In terms of dedicated air frying ability, I prefer these basket-style fryers to the other winner in the list—the Breville Joule Oven Pro—which didn’t yield quite as crispy results when frying. We have found that most Philips air fryers crisp well, but the larger ones take longer. It took longer to crisp, usually requiring around five extra minutes to get almost-as-good results. This air fryer has Wi-Fi connectivity, so you can set the temperature and cook time and turn off the machine using an app on your phone—but you have to press start on the machine itself.
If you want to air fry for the whole family at once, a convection oven or air fryer toaster oven is your best bet. With a large cooking basket and easy-to-understand controls, this is the perfect air fryer for busy families looking to streamline weeknight meals. The basket can fit up to two pounds of fries or even a 4-pound whole chicken.