What Is an Airfryer and How Does an Air Fryer Work?

It seems that anything prepared in a fryer automatically becomes several times tastier. However, such food can hardly be called healthy, and it’s best not to show it to your dietitian. Even better, have an air fryer at home. With this appliance, your dishes still have a shot at being the tastiest in the world, but without harming your health. In fact, the food you prepare in an air fryer undergoes proper thermal processing without absorbing as much oil as it would in a traditional fryer. So, if you’ve been searching for a healthy alternative, this is it. But the list of benefits of using an air fryer only begins here!

What Is Airfryer? How Does It Work?

An air fryer is a versatile kitchen appliance that can function as a grill, deep fryer, or oven and replace these and other appliances in your kitchen. This device allows you to cook food by circulating hot air inside its chamber — using convection. The hot air is accelerated within the chamber using fans, so the dish inside is evenly surrounded by this stream of hot air from all sides. As a result, the food gets a crispy golden crust. At the same time, you can skip using excessive amounts of oil, even when cooking chicken, vegetables, or experimenting with unique recipes. The treats come out with less fat but without compromising any flavor.

How Does an Air Fryer Work?
The device implements the principle of convection cooking. Hot air envelops the food from all sides, allowing it to cook evenly from the top, bottom, and sides, without burning. The even distribution of heat inside the cooking chamber sets this device apart from others, specifically making it distinct from an oven. The device consists of a body with a built-in fan and various attachments such as a tray, perforated basket, or even a basket with racks. These attachments help ensure the even circulation of air.

Why Do Nutritionists Recommend This Device?
The main reason is that your food will be healthier and more nutritious. This is possible because when you place the ingredients in the basket and turn on the desired mode, a Maillard reaction happens out of sight. This is when, under the influence of heat, proteins and sugars change their molecules in a way that creates a crispy and delicious crust on the food.

At the same time, the appliance allows you to switch between different modes. You just press a button: vegetables, meat, etc. — and the machine automatically sets the appropriate temperature and cooking time. This device knows exactly what to do with specific ingredients to transform them into a delicious meal on your table. Moreover, some models are equipped with an automatic stirring function. For this, they are fitted with special paddles, so you don’t have to open the container to stir the food manually.

How to Use an Air Fryer

To cook anything with this device, follow these steps:

Place the ingredients specified in the recipe into the cooking chamber or on the grill. You can place several items that require different cooking times simultaneously. However, in such cases, you’ll need to remove the already-cooked items earlier and continue cooking the rest. For example, if you’re cooking meat and roasted vegetables simultaneously, potatoes, carrots, or peppers will need much less time to cook than the meat.
To make cleaning easier after cooking, you can place a piece of foil at the bottom of the cooking chamber.
Select the cooking mode or manually set the cooking time and optimal temperature. Most models allow you to adjust the cooking time from 5 to 25 minutes. The temperature in most air fryer options can be set up to 350°C.
If there are many ingredients, remove the food at some point to stir it and then continue cooking. If the container has fewer ingredients, you can skip this step.

After use, be sure to clean the container or place it in the dishwasher. Never leave the appliance uncleaned after use. Also, avoid overfilling the basket. It’s better to divide the ingredients into several portions and cook them in batches — it will be much faster, and the dish will turn out tastier.

Benefits of Using an Air Fryer

There are numerous benefits of using an air fryer, from the quality of the dishes to the cooking process and even the maintenance of the appliance. Let’s take a look at these features:

The food turns out hearty, tasty, and healthy. If your diet requires you to give up fried food, this can be a healthy alternative to frying. Since the air fryer uses less oil, or you can skip oil entirely, the calorie and fat content in the prepared food is reduced. Additionally, the crust that forms on the food has a different nature than the one that forms from frying, making it suitable even for those with certain dietary restrictions.
The food cooks faster than in an oven, a pot, or a pan. As a result, it retains its nutritional value, important minerals, and vitamins, making it significantly healthier. Moreover, it saves you time — about twice as fast as baking in the oven.
It’s easy to use. You can teach a child to use this appliance, and they will safely and independently cook for themselves. Or, if you don’t like complicated recipes or long cooking processes, this will be a great solution.
This device is versatile, replacing many other appliances. You can fry, bake, make desserts, reheat, defrost, and more. It’s a multipurpose kitchen tool.
The air fryer’s container, grill, and other removable parts can be washed in a regular dishwasher.

So, having this device makes you a true culinary expert, even if you never liked cooking before or couldn’t find the time for it.

Are Air Fryers Healthy?

Comparing fried food in a pan or deep fryer with food prepared in an air fryer, the dish from the air fryer will be much healthier. Chicken cooked this way will contain significantly less fat and calories since it doesn’t “swim” in oil during cooking. It’s also much better for making chips — they will turn out well-cooked but not overly caloric. So, for maintaining a proper and healthy diet, it’s much better to use this appliance. It will be tasty and beneficial.

What Can You Cook in an Air Fryer?

With an air fryer, your possibilities become practically limitless. What can you cook in an air fryer? In fact, you can prepare dozens of tasty, nutritious, and healthy dishes.

Meat, especially chicken
Marinate the meat beforehand to tenderize it, then place it in the air fryer. Drumsticks, fillets, tender chicken breast, or even steak will be juicy and delicious, cooking evenly on all sides.

French fries
To make delicious French fries, the cut potato pieces are traditionally placed in small portions into a large amount of oil. Here, you can do without excessive fat. Simply peel the potatoes, rinse them to remove excess starch, and then place the pieces in the air fryer’s container. This way, you’ll get super-tasty fries without much effort and oil dripping off them. The fries will have a crispy crust, an appetizing golden color, and a perfect texture. Once you try making fries in the air fryer, you’ll never want to return to the traditional method of cooking them.

Quickly roast any vegetables
Place bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, or asparagus into the container, add a little salt, and just a small amount of olive oil. In 15 minutes, your vegetables will be perfectly cooked, retaining the vitamins that might otherwise get boiled away in a pot. And this is much faster than cooking vegetables in the oven. Moreover, the vegetables will be evenly roasted on all sides, something that is hard to achieve in a regular oven or on a pan.

Fish
Looking for a nutritious, light, and healthy dinner recipe? Cook salmon or tilapia in the air fryer! Salt the fish, add your favorite seasonings, and place it in the container. While you go about your other tasks, your dinner will be ready. The appliance will automatically turn off after you set the timer, so you won’t have to worry about the fish being overcooked or burnt.

Desserts and baked goods
The air fryer is great for treating yourself and your family to delicious desserts, cupcakes, cookies, or other baked goods. Providing an ideal baking mode, working with baked goods will be even easier than baking in a conventional oven. You can also try making pizza this way, using a premade base or making the dough from scratch.

And these are just the most common recipes and uses for this household appliance. So, what are air fryers good for? Practically everything! In the kitchen, it will be your best helper, making you fall in love with cooking because the process will become much simpler and faster, and each dish will turn out refined and delicious. Perhaps the main advantage of the device is that it’s difficult to ruin a dish with it. It’s suitable for everything from defrosting or reheating to preparing full meals.

Air Fryer vs. Conventional Oven

There are several key differences between an oven and an air fryer:

Size of the appliance. A conventional oven is much larger compared to a typical air fryer.
Method of operation. In an oven, the air is heated by heating elements and then dispersed throughout the oven by convection.
Heating speed. An oven, having a larger volume, takes longer to heat up, even if it has the same power as an air fryer. The air fryer is equipped with a powerful fan that directs a stream of hot air toward the container where your dish is being cooked. As a result, cooking time in an oven is longer.
The hot airflow, rather than direct heat from the heating elements, along with even circulation around the food, ensures that the dish is evenly cooked and quickly forms a delicious crust, which you aim for. At the same time, vegetables, meat, and other ingredients remain soft and juicy inside.

Thus, in the competition of oven vs. air fryer, the latter has significantly more advantages. Additionally, it takes up much less space in the kitchen, so if you’re debating whether to buy an oven or an air fryer, the latter is the better option. It is suitable for cooking regular meals, baking, defrosting, or reheating your dishes. In other words, you can use it to replace your stove, oven, and microwave. Instead of buying multiple different appliances, you can save money by purchasing one solution and using it for all your basic needs. This is extremely convenient, especially if you move frequently or simply don’t like your kitchen being cluttered with too many different appliances and items.

Conclusion

An air fryer is a super-convenient, innovative appliance that will turn daily cooking into an easy task. It allows you to handle cooking faster and more efficiently, with dishes turning out delicious, aromatic, and tender. You can use various modes of the device and, accordingly, manage different types of tasks with just one appliance. So, if you’re still doubting whether you need this in your kitchen and looking for a sign — that is it. Feel free to choose the model you like, and make kitchen work enjoyable. It’s a valuable cooker for your culinary tests and experiments, which will bring you and your family fragrant, tender, refined, and at the same time, healthy dishes.