You may need heard folks speaking about air fryers and air fryer ovens and puzzled in the event that they’re the identical factor.
However the phrases aren’t interchangeable. Learn on to search out out what the variations are and which sort of air fryer is best for you.
What’s an air fryer oven?
An air fryer oven is a kind of air fryer, like a single drawer or dual-drawer mannequin.
However it doesn’t have the acquainted air fryer form or construct. As a substitute – and simply as its title suggests – it’s a mini countertop oven. It’s full with all of the options you’d anticipate an oven to have: a pull-down door with glass viewing panel, area for a number of cooking racks, and an inner gentle.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Why would you need to use a countertop oven as a substitute of your inbuilt oven? The reply is that, because it has a smaller inner cavity and a strong fan for circulating scorching air, it’ll nonetheless be sooner and cheaper to prepare dinner in.
You may see all our high suggestions in our round-up of one of the best air fryer ovens we’ve examined.
Benefits of air fryer ovens
The important thing benefit of air fryer ovens is the quantity of cooking area they supply. They’re a lot bigger than run-of-the-mill air fryers, with a capability from round 10QT/10 litres to 25QT/25 litres.
The biggest mannequin we’ve examined is from HySapientia and has an enormous 26QT/24-litre capability.
Their measurement means you’ll be able to ditch your inbuilt oven for much more cooking duties. Only a few typical air fryers have the area for a 12-inch frozen pizza, however an air fryer oven does. You’ll additionally have the ability to roast a whole rooster, or a joint of meat and potatoes on the similar time. There’s additionally loads of area for baking full-size desserts.
One other main benefit is that they’re multifunctional, though cooking modes other than air frying range from mannequin to mannequin. Virtually all fashions may have a devoted toasting setting for bread, bagels and extra, which suggests you’ll be able to eliminate your devoted toaster if countertop muddle is turning into overwhelming. You’ll have the ability to roast, bake and grill in them as properly.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
A number of have a rotisserie setting (and include a spit), such because the Cosori air fryer oven, the HySapientia and the Breville Halo rotisserie air fryer oven.
Alex Greenwood / Foundry
Alex Greenwood / Foundry
Alex Greenwood / Foundry
Some even double as a microwave, together with the Drew&Cole microwave oven air fryer combo.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
They’ll sometimes include all of the cooking equipment you want, equivalent to grilling racks, air fryer baskets and crumb trays, though some fashions might have further equipment you should buy individually.
Disadvantages of air fryer ovens
An air fryer oven gained’t be as economical to prepare dinner in as a smaller, single-drawer mannequin. Should you’re recurrently utilizing it to grill a single rooster breast, you gained’t be making the identical financial savings on electrical energy. Equally, if you happen to’re utilizing it to toast bread, it’ll be dearer to run than a devoted toaster.
The obvious drawback of an air fryer oven over a traditional air fryer is the quantity of counter area it requires. It’s the most important kind of air fryer – often taller and deeper than a dual-drawer, and simply as extensive.
Sometimes, they can be harder to wash than typical air fryers. That’s as a result of the whole thing of the cooking space gained’t be coated in non-stick, as is the case with air fryer cooking drawers.
Do you have to purchase a dual-drawer air fryer or an air fryer oven?
Should you’re searching for a big capability air fryer, you have got two key choices: dual-drawer, or air fryer oven. Their costs might be across the similar. The correct kind for you’ll rely on the way you’re almost certainly to make use of it.
Purchase an air fryer oven to:
- Prepare dinner giant roasts
- Make rotisserie rooster
- Bake full-size desserts
- Toast bread and bagels
- Prepare dinner giant frozen pizzas
Purchase a dual-drawer mannequin to:
- Prepare dinner two separate dishes directly, utilizing two totally different cooking strategies
- Make power financial savings by solely cooking in a single drawer
Our round-up of one of the best dual-drawer air fryers options our high suggestions.
Nevertheless, there’s one dual-drawer mannequin that has a lot of some great benefits of an air fryer oven: the 10-litre Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer – within the US, this mannequin is the Foodi FlexBasket and it has a barely smaller, 7QT capability.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The FlexDrawer is a twin drawer air fryer with one essential distinction: you’ll be able to take away the divider between the cooking areas to create one, enormous cooking “megazone”. We’ve even used it to bake a cake.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Learn our FlexDrawer assessment to search out out extra or take a look at our round-up of one of the best Ninja air fryers to see the way it compares to different fashions.
