My new best friend!
Okay I'll say right off, maybe I should get more friends! But as a man who is a self-styled amateur chef, I have been pining for one of these types of cookers for a couple of years now. I always find a way to squeeze in one more item on the countertop. I choose this model based on reviews, features and brand name. I use my Instant Pot pressure cooker on a semi-regular basis and it is also a great cooking appliance, so I trust the brand name, and it doesn't disappoint. I first took the air fryer into the garage and ran it through a couple of cycles before using it in the kitchen. There was clearly some smell as noted elsewhere, likely from manufacturing. By the time I used it "for real" on the 3rd run, barely any smell. And by the next time...no discernable smell at all. My complaints are small, but let me get those out of the way. I wished it preheated up to temp faster. It's advertised in such a way that you think in 60 seconds, you're cooking. In my experience, it's 5+ minutes to get it to 400. Faster than an oven for sure, but not quite the blink of an eye I was hoping for. Second - the beeper is not loud enough. It beeps to tell you it's now at cooking temp, to rotate food or when food is done. For some reason, it seems louder to tell you food is done than it does to tell you the preheating is finished and to add food. You've got to be very close, so you can hear (or see) when it's up to proper temp. Since most foods are specifically timed, if you don't get your food in shortly after it heats up, it will start counting down whether there is food in it or not. Neither of these takes away from the overall 5 stars. I've had it for about 4 weeks and have tried a variety of items. I used the roast feature for skinless salmon. Amazing taste and quick. I found that 10 minutes was perfect for my fish. Others might find mine slightly overcooked, so experiment. It took about 3 tries for my fresh sweet potato fries to come out perfectly. I finally got it right at 20 minutes at 400 in the basket using the air fry function. Evenly cooked and delish. I did homemade coconut shrimp. I can't remember the exact time - it seems like 12 minutes at 380 but I'm going by memory. There are recipes out there to cross-check my memory. Again - used the air fry function. Baked potatoes were the best I've ever made at home. If you like potato skin, check this out. I rubbed them in olive oil, then lightly sprinkled sea salt, black pepper, and a blend of spices that is mostly garlic powder on the outside. These were large potatoes but I guessed and I guessed right - 400 degrees on bake setting for 50 minutes. Perfectly done inside and a nice crispy and tasty skin. You'll have to take a stab at it based on potato size. HUGE potatoes could be up to 60 minutes. Small taters - might be as low as 25 or 30 minutes. Other items I've done are quick prep items. Some frozen and breaded shrimp were perfectly done at 8 minutes at 400. Frozen tater tots same temp at 8-10 minutes. I sprayed a light coating of olive oil and salt on the tator tots. Crispy and delish. Everything so far has been easy and delicious. I have not used all functions - only bake, air fry, and broil so far. If you're on the fence and you like to cook, take the leap! 3/5/23 update: still really enjoying my air fryer. I find that it makes fish taste amazing. The dinner shown in the photo is flounder and sides. The flounder was cooked about 7 minutes using the broil function. Rubbed a bit of avocado oil, then used some fresh thyme and lemon pepper seasoning and a touch of garlic spice blend. Squeezed some lemon over the top, and broiled perfectly. I still use it, still enjoy it and continue to recommend it! Read more
