A little update after cooking over the weekend:
Chips - Still not found the perfect way to do them but will happily keep testing!
Burgers - Cooked 2 burgers on AirFry, took under 10 mins and tasted perfect.
Jacket potato - 8 mins in the microwave and around 5 mins in the fryer and they came out perfect
Chicken wings - did 1kg of wings all at the same time (not sure if this was the best plan but did not want to only cook a few at a time) Took around 20-25 mins on MaxFry and came out really nice and crispy.
Overall happy with the machine, it is a little small but stacking does not seem to reduce the results.
Will keep trying to get the chips better.
Chips: the most important input decision is which potatoes. Try and buy Bintje, they are best. If you cannot find them, take any other floury/starchy potatoes (not sure this is the correct expression, you need potatoes which are for labelled for mashed potatoes). If you want to improve, boil them for max five minutes after cutting them into shape (shorter boil if you do very thin fries). Then airfry - they are coming out perfect.Originally Posted by NikGixer750
Thanks will try that, we use maris pipers.
That’s because you’ve got a multi cooker vs a simple air fryer! I did like the look of the extra functions but have survived this long without a pressure cooker!
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Whitebait cooked in it today, was marvellous.
Last night tried those triple cooked chips from frozen. I know the instructions tell you to shake the pan during the cooking. I made a stupid mistake & shook the pan like I would good in a wok to redistribute the contents....threw fat from the chips all up over my arm; luckily clothes absorbed without burning me.
I will now be much more careful, didn’t even think about it.
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I was lucky enough to be given a Ninja Foodi at Xmas, just fired it up for the 1st time today to try it out, nothing fancy but i stuck a chicken in and followed the guidelines...
36 mins late and voila...
Tastes fantastic, and very please with the 1st go...
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Looking good indeed! I want to try some form of KFC type thing next.
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Bought a ninja foodi mini this weekend. Glad I went for the mini as its still quite big at 4.7L and our counter space is limited. Haven't done much except make the kids chicken nuggets and chips but it's a massive step up over the oven. Everything was quicker and extremely crispy.
We have a Philips air fryer and I have never taste better sweet potato strips. The best thing with the air fryer is it's easy to keep it clean.
The only negative is it is a little bit loud but it's not a problem.
I am still impressed with the air fryer. Everything is so quick, cooked sausages over the weekend. Stuck 12 in at once and 15 mins later they came out all crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked inside, this would normally be 30+ mins in the oven. I did toasties on Sunday, one downside is you can only fit one in at a time but it took around 5 mins to cook and they came out really nice.
I have a Tefal Actifry.
Do you bung the sausages in, and let them roll around in the base of your fryer?
I'm not using mine to its full potential.
Yes, well the ninja has a base plate to seperate the fat from the sausages. I just put all 12 in, stacked on top of each other, and shook them around every 5 mins. I believe you are only meant to lay them flat but then you could only do a few at a time. Seems to work just as well stacked up, I have done wings and sausages like this and both came out nice.
Thanks. I'm beginning to think that the Actifry is a bit limiting - will seek out recipes for it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07...b_b_asin_title
I bought this, allows you to put multiple layer of food into it. Although I’d go for the 7.5” next time as whilst it ‘fits’ the ability to use the tool to remove the levels can’t fit down the sides.
Did 1.2kg of full wings in it without issue on 3 levels - they don’t quite stack but not an issue. Once they’re crisping drop them all together.
I’m amazed how much fat comes off products that usually end up sitting in it in an over tray. Hence the surprise with the fat coming out as I tossed vs shook chips.
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Some on this thread have said their fryer is easy to clean. My fryer, Power Air Fryer Xl from John Lewis, basket doesn’t clean up easily or well.
Which brands do we on TZ-UK find to be easy to clean?
We have one of the Tefal ones and while the food that comes out is OK, the smell that it makes while cooking means that we don't use it very often. Is this unpleasant smell (very different to normal fried food smell) unusual? Is there something wrong with ours? It's not just me that hates the smell, two of the kids moan about it as well.
I have a ninja 160, to clean it I fill the basket with warm soapy water and let sit for maybe 30 mins. Then rinse it and clean off any residue. Does not take long and comes up nice and clean
^ This.
I think I recognise what you mean.
Not sure that with that model - you can escape it.
I think I bought in haste.
These are close to the best things ever made. I love little square potatoes made in ours.
It is also great for heating those Indian finger food bits and bobs
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Thanks 👍
Just bumping this as im wondering whether to buy one. Beyond me but how long would it take for an air fryer to pay for itself instead of using the oven?
3 people in our house and use oven every day. Not sure what air fryer size we would need.
This is the spec of our oven;
Performance/technical information
Energy efficiency rating (acc. EU Nr. 65/2014): A
Energy consumption per cycle in conventional mode:0.97 kWh
Energy consumption per cycle in fan-forced convection mode:0.81 kWh
Number of cavities: Main cavity Heat source: electrical Cavity volume:71 litre capacity
Temperature range 50 °C - 275 °C
Total connected load electric: 2.99 KW
Nominal voltage: 220 - 240 V
We always use the fan mode.
Don't fall for that one.
I had new windows that were supposed to pay for themselves in five years.
They are taking me to court next month, saying I should have paid them the money. Good job I kept the advert.
We have the big Ninja twin drawer, daughter was lucky I won the slightly smaller version in a raffle which I gifted to her, she was dubious about my raving over the air fryer, much changed opinion now.
Just the two of us here, I bought a 5.5ltr and wouldn’t want any smaller.
We've bought an air fryer and use it for recipes that use an oven for a single thing e.g roasting tomatoes for a pasta dish, doing fish fingers for a sandwich, breaded chicken breasts for a Katsu etc. We have a 5L Corsori and because it has a square basket it makes it fairly easy to do 4 portions of say chicken breasts. I roughly work on the comparable air fryer to oven (fan) run time being about 50% of the time stated for the food you are doing. Plus the heat up and cool down time is more or less zero in the former. But it only works if you are not batch cooking otherwise just use the oven and put multiple items together. I'm sort of ignoring the payback as it is quicker for certain things, some things just come out less dry and it is easier to clean. We find we use it 3-4 times a week now without much effort.
Last edited by reecie; 23rd December 2022 at 23:24.
Just me on my own - guess I use it 4-5 nights a week for some great curries or chicken dishes
I mainly use the pressure cooking setting on mine as it’s an 11 in 1
Just finished a gammon joint for dinner tonight with some mash and pickles and Christmas Eve
I’ll beck back and forward all night to the kitchen cutting a slice off
22 min pressure cook then 12min ‘roast’ with honey and course mustard glaze
Gammon by biglewie, on Flickr
We've had our Corsori 4.7ltr air fryer for a couple of months and the main oven has only been on twice.
Very pleased with the results, scones came out great too.
Cooked all sorts and everything has been pleasing.
Hahaha very good!
We've had one a couple of years (a Philips one). No idea about the efficiency and it wasn't cheap to buy anyway but it is definitely much healthier and does cracking fries with no oil needed.
We also use it for things like Jerk Chicken. Meat is super juicy.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I've been thinking about buying one, as the idea of saving money on electricity is a useful notion for us all to consider at the moment. Helpfully the BBC's consumer program, Sliced Bread, considered this very question. It's worth a listen. In summary and caveats aside, their tests showed that cooking in an electric oven was over twice as expensive as using an air frier.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5hQ8v7qzV8BSNxhWCG39TqK/can-cooking-with-an-air-fryer-save-you-money
From what I remember (it aired a while ago) an oven was only more economical if you were cooking in bulk (where you would need multiple iterations of the air fryer). It's not rocket science, it's simple arithmetic - the air fryer is typically 2kWh, around half that of a conventional oven - and the air fryer should also require less time (for warming up and for cooking). So, the saving should be more than half, say 50-70% (assuming frequency of use is unchanged).
Last edited by jukeboxs; 24th December 2022 at 15:06.
My air fryer will ‘pressure cook’ a fab curry and rice in about 8 mins
That's got my attention!
At least I like it
https://therealfooddietitians.com/in...chicken-curry/
OK guys - yet another gadget I am contemplating. Thank you very bloody much TZUK.
So - lewie's beloved 15-in-one pressure cooker/air fryer - if I save up my pocket money and go for this option (£30 above the price of Ninja 160) will it do everything that the 160 will do, or is there a trade-off whereby the pressure cooker mode is at the expense of some other desirable air-frying feature?
Does this help?
https://www.costco.co.uk/Appliances/...r-76L/p/416085
Thanks lewie; interesting, though I don't have a Costco account. Is there VAT on that? Good saving if not.
I was thinking Ninja = brand leader = must be a reason for that = price premium. I don't mind paying for a brand leader if its performance warrants it. Looking at £180 for the Ninja 9-in-1.
I’m not a expert but think you can ‘join’ online for. £10 inc delivery- you’ll need to take a look
Having read this thread I have to admit I'm tempted to get one!
Quick question - I use a bread maker twice a week - has anyone baked bread in their air fryer and is the loaf any good?(I don't have kitchen space for both gadgets)
Do it in our Ninja 15-in-1 (if that is an air fryer) and is as good as a breadmaker we used to use. Obviously have to knead elsewhere (we have a Kitchen Aid mixer) but proves and bakes in the machine.
Thanks!
Did you get one? I was close to getting the ninja 15 in one but ive seen reviews saying although it air fries dont get it if its more the air fryer side of things that your after. I do like the sound of it but we use the oven every day in our house so its deffo the air frying setting we would use most i reckon.
Agree with above, air frying in the 15-in-1 isn’t as great as in a more specialised air fryer.
Oven chips are excellent (better than the oven), roast carrots and similar also good but roast potatoes have left a lot to be desired so far (only had it a month or so).
On the other hand great as a pressure or slow cooker, for roasting smaller joints of meat and have made loads of yoghurt.
Not yet, so thanks for the advice. As a rule, I have a distrust of do-more-than-one-things, having found that a standalone for each function is the way to go.
Problem is, our tiny wee kitchen doesn't lend itself to muchos gadgetos.
As regards the financing - it will happen, when my wallet has recovered from the Morris Minor, the new windows front & back, the caravan upgrade, the defibrilator, the new coat and the new chair. Been an expensive year!
Completely with you on this. Stand-alone is the best approach here. Friends rave about their Thermomix, but for me it takes one of my life joys away in setting a machine to loving cook a risotto etc. impressive tech if you don’t like to cook.
We have an air fryer and need to experiment more. Great for chips and breaded chicken etc but can do much more.
Be careful if doing any McCain duck fat thick triple cooked chips. Don’t shake / toss the basket as these drop so much oil into the basket it’s unreal. I was luckily saved arm burns by a hoodie that gave up its life absorbing all the fat that would have covered my forearm.
Usually do skinny fries in it & no such issue, hence did not expect such a deluge of fat to appear in slow motion & the realisation you’d done something really really stupid.
Nice. I can see how that lot can thin your wallet. Watched a few vids on the 15 in 1 and air fryers yesterday. They seem loud in operation and a bit of a faff at times. The sage smart oven looks good but again might not be much of an energy saving over me old oven.
It's my turn to win the Lottery on Saturday. Anyone on here use a Ninja 9-in-1?
made seeded pitta bread in my Russel Hobbs Actifry
230C for 4 minutes each side on the air fry setting.
tasted excellent - different leaugue to the supermarket muck
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