Don’t expect anything in the way of fancy cooking modes, and it features simple manual dials to control the time and temperature. But it’s reasonably sturdy and toasted four slices of bread evenly in about four minutes. If you are using frozen wings, the air fryer chicken wings cook time will need to increase by 5 additional minutes at 360 degrees F (29 minutes total at this temperature). Simply shake the basket after a few minutes to separate them, then use tongs to arrange them so they are not touching.
Pods are typically more compact, which means they cook a bit faster, since there’s less oven space to heat. Some people also find that it’s easier (or just more fun) to use an air fryer basket with a handle, rather than pulling a hot pan from an oven. But if you are short on time or space, cooking just a few servings, and favor crispy food, a pod-shaped air fryer might be right for you. The Cosori Pro LE was able to fit the most food—six chicken wings in the Cosori versus four in the Philips. As for the cooking performance of the Cosori Pro LE, it wasn’t the best of our final contenders.
They were crispy and crunchy on the outside, and tender and juicy on the inside. In spite of the fact that they needed 18 minutes to cook to a medium doneness, the burgers were more gray than brown, although they were moist and juicy. Air Fryer Garlic Roasted Green Beans is a quick and easy recipe that is the perfect side dish for your weeknight dinner. You can also serve this keto dish, crispy or fried, and toss in crumbled bacon if you wish. My keto recipes reflect my philosophy on cooking…everything needs to be easy, fast, exceptionally delicious, and use common ingredients. My Air fryer has a 6 quart basket so 4 chicken thighs fit perfectly.
Some may argue that air frying is just like cooking with convection, but its technology typically allows food to cook quicker and get crispier thanks to a powerful heating element and a large, quick-moving fan. Compared to stand-alone air fryers, air fryer toaster ovens can be used for more cooking tasks and differ in design, making them more versatile. For all intents and purposes, air fryers toaster ovens are countertop convection ovens. Convection ovens use heating elements and fans to circulate hot air around the item you’re cooking so it can cook evenly—and potentially reducing the cooking time. It’s also what creates that crisp outer layer on food that gives the illusion that it’s fried.
This article has been reviewed since its original publish date for accuracy, pricing and availability. Our best overall air fryer was updated in 2022 to the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro. While the Hamilton Beach Air Fryer Sure Crisp Toaster Oven has a contemporary brushed chrome housing, it pretty much has the same design as toaster ovens from decades ago.
Sarah Holden, culinary producer for Food Network Kitchen, breaks down three of our top picks, above. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was ordering an air fryer. After all, the genius kitchen device makes it easy to cook crispy, hamilton beach toaster oven fried foods in no time with less grease and oil. For example, the large glass door gives me easy visibility of the food I’m cooking and quick access to it as needed. It’s big enough the toast six slices of bread at once, or an entire 12″ pizza.
There are exceptions for a few recipes, like this air-fryer meatball recipe, but many foods follow this halfway mark rule. Here are more details on what is an air fryer and how it really works. Try these recipes for brussels sprouts, chicken wings, french fries, broccoli, or green beans from NYT Cooking. In our tests, the Ninja Foodi Air Fry Oven air fried crispy, even wings and fries. At the top of the pile are super tech-heavy toaster ovens also known as “smart ovens.” These are the priciest of the bunch, and models from names such as Tovala and Brava can cost over $1,200.
We liked the spacious square basket of the Instant Vortex 6-quart Air Fryer, which offers a lot of surface area for evenly cooking food. We also appreciated that this model allows you to silence the beeps, which can be annoying. Unfortunately, you have to press the controls really hard in order to operate the machine, which meant we had to grip the machine with one hand to hold it still while attempting to press the buttons with the other. The touch sensor LED display shows all of the functions in clear, easy-to-read text. It even has a “shake” button that makes the machine remind you halfway through the cook time to toss the food—a nice feature for the fiercely forgetful (guilty). The tempered-glass display on the top of the machine is slightly slanted to make it a little easier to see on a high countertop.
That said, the beeping is loud enough to be heard from far away, which is handy if you’re in another room. Like the Premium Airfryer, this Cosori model is about as loud as a hair dryer while the convection fan is running. The Hamilton Beach Air Fryer Sure Crisp Toaster Oven is considerably smaller and less expensive than the other models we tested.