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Best air fryer of 2020: Dash, Philips, Ninja, Cosori and more – CNET [CNET]
Crispy, crunchy, hot and delicious, it’s hard to turn down fried food. But these tasty treats also harbor tons of oil, making them far from healthy. Enter the air fryer, a kitchen contraption designed to deliver dishes with deep-fried taste but without all that grease. And since air fryers cook without oil, they’re easier to clean up as well.
Here we explore what to look for in a quality air fryer if you’re itching to try that air-fried recipe you found on Pinterest. We’ve also taken into consideration things like counter real estate and whether or not you’re feeding an army. This list will help you find the best air fryer, so grab some frozen french fries and chicken nuggets and prepare yourself to fry up a storm.
In recent years, the number of air fryer brands has exploded since demand for the products is at an all-time high. You can choose from personal fryers, large family-size models and every size in between. There are air fryers with basic mechanical dials and controls, while others have fancy cooking options and presets — some even have smarts and an app connection.
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The best air fryer overall
Brian Bennett/CNET
When it comes to turning ingredients into delicious food, it’s tough to beat this air fry model from Cosori. Incredibly sophisticated, the air fryer boasts 11 preset cooking modes for preparing a wide array of food types. It also looks sleek and compact despite offering close to 6 quarts of capacity.
I put the Smart Air Fryer’s presets to good use too. Everything from frozen food like chicken nuggets and french fries, to onion rings, to mozzarella sticks tuned out golden brown and delicious. It even tackled Brussels sprouts with gusto, thanks to its dedicated root vegetable mode. You can also link the air fryer to your phone via mobile app. The software provides cooking alerts, plus reminds you to shake the frying basket (and its contents) if necessary.
The Cosori fryer is enjoyable to operate as well and isn’t too loud. All that adds up to a compelling air fryer pal if you’re on the hunt for one.
Amazon average rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (21,360 ratings)
Best Buy average rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)
Brian Bennett/CNET
It’s hard to pass up a plate of chicken wings. That’s especially so if they’re made by the Ninja Air Fryer. This air fry machine transformed humble frozen wings into something magical. They came out evenly cooked, with crispy skin, and were a real crowd pleaser. My kids snapped them up in no time.
The Ninja also whipped up batches of mozzarella sticks that were nicely done. They started out frozen and were transformed into crispy, crunchy and gooey cheese bombs in 8 minutes flat. If you’re into fries, the Ninja won’t disappoint either. Frozen french fries were golden brown and delicious in 10 minutes.
The only time the air fryer stumbled was when I cooked Brussels sprouts. The Ninja lacks a special mode for vegetables so my fresh sprouts emerged overdone, even burnt in spots.
Amazon average rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (9,646 ratings)
Walmart average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (983 ratings)
Best Buy average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,525 ratings)
Brian Bennett/CNET
Here’s an air fryer that’s easy on the eyes. While the Dash Deluxe is large and has a massive 6 quart capacity, its design is striking. The appliance I tested was colored in aqua, though it also comes in red, black and white. Its controls are also all manual (no presets), but they’re simple to operate. The fryer even has an interestingly textured, patterned top. I’m a sucker for that stuff.
The air fry machine also fried up batches of wings, Brussels sprouts and french fries that were all evenly and well cooked. That said, it’s easy to overshoot when air frying a mozzarella stick if you’re not careful. I did which resulted in a cheesy explosion after just 6 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit. That said, the fryer’s cooking basket has a non-stick coating that’s a cinch to clean.
Amazon average rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (2,151 ratings)
Others we tested
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Target review average: 4.5 out of 5 stars (229 ratings)
Best Buy review average 4.6 out of 5 stars (104 ratings)
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Target review average: 4.4 out of 5 stars (571 ratings)
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Walmart review average: 4.1 out 5 stars (259 ratings)
Home Depot review average: 4.5 out of 5 stars (667 ratings)
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Target review average:4.5 out of 5 stars (297 ratings)
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Target review average: 4.3 out of 5 stars (168 ratings)
Philips Avance Airfryer with TurboStar
Even with a significant drop in price, the Philips Avance Airfryer isn’t worth your money. Sure, this appliance does a decent job of heating frozen convenience food like mozzarella sticks and pizza rolls. When it comes to fresh food like chicken wings, the results were on par with what you’d expect from a conventional oven.
Amazon review average: 4.6 stars out of 5 (906 ratings)
How we evaluated them
It’s certainly a surreal feeling to test multiple air fryers while a pandemic silently rages around the globe. Just like my colleague Ry Crist found with waffle makers, I found the busy work of cooking quite soothing. Perhaps that’s why so many people have embraced bread-making and baking during this time of uncertainty.
At four runs per machine and eight air fryers in all, I performed a minimum of 32 separate test fries. I also washed each appliance thoroughly between each batch of food. That’s a lot of hand washing too, which is a good thing.
Chicken wings cooked in the Ninja air fryer were very tasty.
Brian Bennett/CNETHow they cook
To get a sense for how each air fryer in this test group handles, I ran a battery of four anecdotal tests on each product. Each test centered around one food ingredient. These were mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, Brussels sprouts and frozen french fries.
Roasting Brussels sprouts well is tricky for an air fryer.
Brian Bennett/CNETMore cooking coverage at CNET and Chowhound
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