How to choose an air fryer and best cooking practice

Kya deLongchamps examines the viral chatter surrounding air fryers

Wash all non-stick surfaces with care, avoiding steel scourers. Undamaged and used at reasonable temperatures, modern non-stick coatings are chemically inert and safe to use.

Air fryers have remained our favourite countertop genius for a few winters now. With the days drawing in, and hungry kids falling through the door from school demanding a fast turnout for dinner, their popularity continues to soar. I popped a Swan 4l fryer I found for under €40 into my daughter’s student accommodation this year as she learned to dry vegetable slices in ours. Air fryers use little or no oil and turn the moisture in the basket into a mist of droplets that together with fan-circulated heat in a relatively small cavity, cut cooking times by as much as 40%. 

They don’t actually “fry” food and are really equivalent to small convection ovens.