Air fryer vs oven. You might wonder what the difference between an air fryer and a convection oven is if you’re thinking about buying one. An air fryer cooks food via convection baking, not actual frying.
Here are five ways air fryers beat ovens, and three reasons ovens are better than air fryers.
1. Air fryers are more compact than ovens
Because air fryers are smaller, they heat up faster and their fan is closer to the food they’re cooking, which decreases cooking time. Compared to countertop ovens, they also take up lesser countertop space.
2. Air fryers are all about airflows
There’s more to air fryers than just sticking a fan in the back. To ensure consistent and crisp cooking as quickly as possible, they are carefully designed to maximize the flow of hot air. Air fryers are, in fact, small fan ovens, but they’re designed for quickly grilling or roasting, rather than frying.
3. Air fryers use baskets, not pans or trays
It’s pointless to have brilliant airflow if something gets in the way of your food. Because of this, most air fryers provide a mesh basket instead of a baking sheet. Therefore, crisp fried foods are less likely to get soggy bottoms since the air reaches everywhere.
4. Fan ovens are not as economical as air fryers
Considering points one to three, air fryers are more energy efficient than ovens for cooking food. Try baking the same meal one day and airfrying it the next if you have a smart meter. You’ll be amazed at how much you save with the latter. You’ll be even more impressed as energy prices rise.
5. Reheating takeaway is easy with air fryers
It’s wonderful to reheat leftovers in an air fryer if they are dry foods: chunky chips, French fries, Chinese chicken balls, and chicken pakora work great. Also, pizza reheats better in an air fryer than in a microwave. You get your food faster thanks to the much shorter heating-up time. If you want to reheat rice, you should put it in a heat-safe container and mix in a little oil so that it doesn’t get too dry.
Here’s now to where the oven hits the air fryer back.
1. Air fryers can’t cook as many things as oven
A wet-coated food and an air fryer don’t mix well. When tempura or battered fish are fried in an air fryer, they cook differently than they do in hot oil: when dipped in a deep fat fryer, the batter solidifies quickly as it gets in contact with the oil, but in an air fryer, it tends to blow off – just like light, leafy food like spinach, which gets blown about so much you end up with burnt and undercooked leaves.
In the absence of a multi-function cooker, we wouldn’t suggest cooking cheese (it melts and falls out of the basket), roasts (unless your air fryer is huge) or red meat. Although it is certainly possible to cook steaks or burgers in an air fryer, we prefer using a well-seasoned skillet.
2. Air fryers are not suitable for big dinner
Obviously, air fryers can’t produce as much food as ovens. Due to the lack of multiple shelves, some air fryers are only big enough to make fries for two people. Of course, you can use your air fryer for one part of your meal while using another device for another part.
3. It is harder to clean air fryers
It is more difficult to clean an air fryer. In an air fryer, you have to clean the perforated basket along with the bucket it fits in. Cooking something like chicken wings will result in a lot of dripping. Cleaning a convection oven is as simple as wiping down the pan.
