Rivaled only by Ninja for accessible, top-performing tools at an affordable price, Instant has our most current best air fryer pick in the Instant Vortex Plus 6-Quart. Instant Brands has moved beyond the famous rice cooker in leaps and bounds, and its air fryers are truly formidable in the kitchen appliance game. It isn’t the largest air fryer available and lacks smart functions. We wouldn’t recommend one style over the other since it depends on your kitchen needs, but this particular roundup is primarily focused on classic basket-style air fryers, with a few great air fryer toaster oven options added in. The capabilities of both can vary, and the best air fryer results are determined by convection power (how consistently the heat rotates through) and the capacity of the basket or tray. These days air fryers have a few possible configurations, but the main types of air fryers are basket-style (including single and dual baskets) and toaster oven-style (often multifunctional with tray inserts). These days they’re present in plenty of home kitchens, including those looking to make quick and simple meals or those adding an option beyond the oven or the stove while cooking for a crowd.

Air fryers began with the reputation of being a “healthy” eating appliance thanks to the lack of oil needed to make classic comfort food like chicken wings and French fries. It uses a fan to circulate hot air to cook, crisp, or caramelize food faster than the usual radiant heat in a regular toaster or traditional oven. We’ve pored over countless air fryer reviews, tried dozens of machines, and can confidently say: We might know too much about air fryers - and we’ve distilled that knowledge here, so you don’t have to do the same.Īn air fryer is, for all intents and purposes, a convenient countertop convection oven. We’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly (read: soggy Brussels’ sprouts and grayish chicken wings), so we know a great air fryer when we see one. Our recent years of testing, researching, and judging more French fries than we can count (not that we’re complaining) have brought us to this point in selecting the best air fryers. They aren’t the sleekest appliances, nor the typical chef’s darling like the cast iron skillet or the sous vide cooker, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t find a great use for this decade’s must-have kitchen tool. Sometimes the fastest way to a home cook’s heart is a shortcut, and the ever-present air fryer has proven that true.

Flat iron steak instant pot