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How To Choose An Air Fryer - Air Fryer Buying Guide
When it comes to kitchen appliances, there's no gadget more beloved than the air fryer. Air fryers offer an alternative to large kitchen ovens and help to revolutionise your meal preparation. Great for snacks, meals and desserts, air fryers are a showcase of innovative design and practicality that help make your life in the kitchen easier. But, what is the best air fryer for your home?
In this buying guide, we detail everything you need to know about air fryers, including the types of air fryers, the health benefits they bring and frequently asked questions on the functionality of air fryers. Discover the excellence of this kitchen appliance as well as some of our favourite brands that offer a selection of quality air fryers.
Quick Links
- Types Of Air Fryers
- Fit Your Air Fryer To Your Space & Budget
- Air Fryers: Cooking Tool For The Time Poor
- The Health Benefits Of Air Fryer Cooking
- Air Fryer Accessories To Elevate Your Cooking
- A Recipe For Simplicity: What To Cook With An Air Fryer
- Air Fryer FAQs
- Check Out the Best Air Fryer Brands at Spotlight
Types Of Air Fryers
Like any kitchen appliance, air fryers vary in terms of their design. This variety in design also comes with a difference in functionality. Spotlight offers a range of different types of air fryers, each offering their own benefits while all providing a showcase of adequate functionality and acting as a versatile kitchen appliance.
Let us guide you through a few common types of air fryers.
Benchtop Air Fryer
Most often designed with a basket-style compartment, a bench top air fryer is constructed in a compact size to ensure it fits seamlessly on your bench top. This compact size makes benchtop air fryers the ideal appliance for smaller kitchens and apartments. The smaller size also means these air fryers use less energy when compared to larger air fryers and makes them easy to clean.
Offering convenience and compactness, bench top air fryers are great for heating up your meals quickly and offer a number of pre-set cooking modes, so they're easy to use!
Multi-Function Air Fryer
The term multifunction air fryer refers to the appliance's ability to perform several cooking-related tasks. Most air fryers are designed to be able to fry and cook your ingredients, but multifunctional air fryers, on the other hand, are equipped with multiple preset functions. Some common presets featured within multifunctional air fryers include roast, toast, bake, broil, roast, dehydrate, defrost, warm and reheat, as well as settings associated with the cooking of certain foods such as pizza, chips, vegetables, steak and cookies.
Air Fryer Oven
Larger than benchtop ovens yet smaller than traditional electric or gas ovens, air fryer ovens are designed with a large capacity, making them suitable for cooking large batches. They preheat and in turn cook food much faster than a conventional oven, helping to reduce the overall time it takes to prepare your meals. Air fryer ovens also use less energy to what your conventional oven due to their smaller size. These air fryers often offer similar functions of other kitchen appliances including toasting, thawing and dehydrating in addition to their air frying properties, helping you to free up your kitchen space all while ensuring all your meal preparation needs are met. If you're hosting your friends and family for dinner, consider shopping our range of air fryer ovens to help streamline your meal preparation.
Fit Your Air Fryer To Your Space & Budget
Whether you're shopping for a new home, after a quick replacement for your old air fryer or want to upgrade your selection of kitchen tools with a fancy new appliance, we offer an incredible range of air fryers to accommodate any budget. Shop from a variety of different capacities - if you're after a simple everyday air fryer for cooking snacks, side dishes and easy mid-week dinners, our air fryers with a 4-litre capacity are a great option. Preparing to host your friends and family over for an event? Shop our air fryers with larger capacities, such as an 18-litre air fryer.
Air Fryers: Cooking Tool For The Time Poor
One of the key benefits of air fryers is their ability to speed up your cooking process with a quick cooking time. Because they are smaller in size compared to a regular oven, air fryers require less time to heat up, circulating heat faster and in turn speeding up the time required to cook your meals. You can use your air fryers at the same time as your oven, meaning you're able to cook large meals and side dishes at the same time.
The Health Benefits Of Air Fryer Cooking
While most other methods of cooking involve the use of oil, air fryers provide a healthier method of cooking your food. Air fryers work by emitting heat and circulating it around your food, reducing the amount of oil or fat required to achieve perfectly crispy results. While some foods may require a light brushing or spray of oil to crisp, it is significantly less than that required when cooking in a regular oven, stovetop or other kitchen appliance.
Air Fryer Accessories To Elevate Your Cooking
Air fryers are traditionally smaller than your regular kitchen ovens, so it's important that air fryer accessories are sized accordingly. Our range of air fryer liners, trays and pans are designed in compact sizes to fit most air fryers. So, whether you're preparing a flavourful pizza for dinner or delicious muffins for dessert, our air fryer accessories help to make a whole variety of recipes possible.
Shop Air Fryer Liners, Trays & Pans
Air Fryer Liners For Versatile Baking and Reducing Mess
In using air fryer liners, trays and pans, you are simultaneously ensuring an easy clean-up process after your meal preparation. Liners, trays and pans help to catch any grease or oil and catch crumbs before dripping through to your air fryer, protecting the basket of your air fryer. These air fryer accessories act as a barrier between your food and air fryer and are much easier to clean than your air fryer basket. Depending on the material, some air fryer accessories are dishwasher safe, offering even more convenience in your cleaning process.
Air Fryer Accessories To Elevate Your Cooking
At Spotlight, you can shop from a range of liners, trays and pans suitable for use within an air fryer that aim to increase the functionality of your air fryer. These are often made of silicone to ensure your liners, trays and pans can not only withstand the heat of the air fryer, but are flexible so you can effortlessly fit and remove your culinary creations. Silicone air fryer accessories are also typically non-stick, preventing your ingredients from sticking to your air fryer and ensuring they keep their shape in your air fryer.
You can now bake cakes and muffins, make perfect quiche, bake bread, poach eggs and more endless possibilities with amazing air fryer baking pans!
A Recipe For Simplicity: What To Cook With An Air Fryer
While air fryers can be used for cooking up frozen food, they are capable of so much more! Air fryers can cook basically anything one would cook in a regular oven. Some of our favourite things to cook in an air fryer include:
Easy Snack Ideas To Make In an Air Fryer
- Cheese sticks - From fried halloumi pieces to deliciously smooth mozzarella bites, you can make tasty cheesy snacks for the perfect appetizer to your meals
- Salty veggie fries - Whether you're after classic potato or crispy zucchini and sweet potato fries, salty fries are both a delicious snack and an excellent side dish to any meal
- Fruit chips - Combining the health of freshly sliced fruits with the crunchy satisfaction of crispy chips, you can make a range of different flavours including banana, apple, kiwi fruit and pineapple
- Falafel balls - Make yummy falafel balls that are the perfect texture and flavour with an air fryer
Amazing Air Fryer Dinner Ideas
- Restaurant quality steaks - Who would've thought that you could produce delicious steaks all with the power of an air fryer
- Perfect Pub Parmigianas - With an air fryer you can host your own pub dinner in the comfort of your home
- Roasted Vegetables - A nutritious meal or side, air frying your vegetables helps to reduce the amount of oil required to crisp your vegetables to perfection
Delicious Air Fryer Desserts
- Chocolate chip cupcakes - Using air-fryer cupcake pans, you can create the ultimate sweet treat
- Classic Cheesecake - Perfect for an elegant birthday cake or a delicious dessert to bring to your next dinner party, using an air fryer to create a cheesecake is creative and innovative
- Brownies - Decadent and chocolatey, brownies are a fan-favourite at any party or gathering. Bake your own brownies using an air fryer and add a signature twist - whether that be chocolate chips for added flavour or even walnuts for extra crunch
Air Fryer FAQs
How Does An Air Fryer Work?
Air fryers work by an internal heating system that emits heat, with the heat then pushed down by a fan and circulated around your food, surrounding your ingredients. This circulation of heat then causes your food to crisp and brown.
How To Clean An Air Fryer?
It's important to learn how to clean an air fryer to ensure both safety and the maintenance of your kitchen appliance.
First and foremost, before cleaning you should always unplug your air fryer and allow time for it to cool down after using. Remove any air fryer accessories or the basket if you own a basket air fryer and clean these with warm soapy water or in the dishwasher if the materials are dishwasher safe. Using a soft damp cloth, wipe down the interior and exterior of your air fryer.
It's also good practice to clean your heating mechanism. If you find any oil or crumb residue on your heating mechanism, simply use a damp cloth to wipe it away.
Make sure to dry your air fryer and accessories thoroughly before reassembling and reusing.
Can You Put Baking Paper Or Foil In An Air Fryer?
To prevent your food from sticking to your air fryer basket, you can use baking paper or foil to line the base of your basket, placing your food on top of the paper or foil. It's important to weigh the paper or foil down to prevent the pieces from being sucked into the heat system of your air fryer.
Safety Tip: Baking paper and foil may not be suitable for some air fryer designs. Make sure to always read any safety instructions provided.
Can You Put Frozen Food In An Air Fryer?
Air fryers are one of the best kitchen appliances when it comes to cooking frozen food. Make sure to follow any provided cooking instructions in terms of the temperature and time required to cook your frozen food.
Classic Air Fryers From Russell Hobbs
When it comes to kitchen appliances, Russell Hobbs is one of the most trusted brands for delivering quality cooking essentials to make your life in the kitchen a breeze. Russell Hobbs' selection of air fryers includes the Russell Hobbs Satisfry Air Fryer, a small compact kitchen appliance with 9 preset functions that help making both mid-week dinners and snacks a seamless process.
Innovative Ninja Air Fryers
Offering an innovative range of kitchen appliances, Ninja has branched out into the world of perfectly crispy creations with its range of air fryers. The Ninja DualStack 9.5L Double Air Fryer helps to maximise your bench space and allows you to separate your food when cooking, so you can cook your fish and chips simultaneously.
Sunbeam's Trusty Air Fryer
Offering a range of kitchen appliances that aim to elevate your everyday routine, Sunbeam's Digital Air Fryer is a renowned kitchen essential. Featuring a clear window panel, you can watch as your air fryer crisps your food to perfection. With a 4-litre capacity, there's ample space for crisping vegetables or making crunchy fries. Complete with a non-stick surface, this air fryer ensures for a convenient clean up after cooking up a storm in your kitchen.
Budget-Friendly Air Fryers With Mode Home
Updating kitchen appliances can be expensive, but Mode Home makes cooking like a professional budget friendly. With a range of excellent appliances such as the Mode Home 4 Litre Air Fryer, you can recreate your favourite recipes without breaking the bank. This air fryer offers a generous 4 litre capacity along with 7 preset cook modes at a great, affordable price.
Culinary Co For Exceptional Cooking Companions
Culinary Co is known for its variety in both cookware and kitchen appliances. At Spotlight, you can enjoy shopping from a range of Culinary Co air fryers with different capacities to choose from. For everyday dinners or a quick snack, Culinary Co's 8 Litre Air Fryer - in black and white colour options - and the Culinary Co 9.5 Litre Air Fryer offer the perfect fusion between a compact design and ample capacity for cooking your meals.
Preparing for your next dinner party or hosting your friends and family over for a celebration? Shop the Culinary Co 18 L Air Fryer with its generous 18 litre capacity and cutting-edge technology, and revolutionise the way you cook.
Shop The Full Range Of Air Fryers For a Bargain at Spotlight Today
Air fryers are an incredibly useful kitchen appliance that offer convenience and innovation to make a range of recipes possible. With a great range of air fryers and air fryer accessories to streamline your meal preparation, Spotlight has everything you need to cook like a professional in the comfort of your kitchen. Shop our full range of air fryers as well as our other kitchen appliances, online or at a Spotlight store near you. Make sure to check out our helpful Kitchen Appliance Buying Guide and our inspiring blog article detailing the Best Brands and Must-Have Kitchen Appliances For Your Home for more information and ideas on the kitchen appliances you need to recreate your favourite recipes.
