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Updated: Sep 15, 2021 87 Comments · by

Coffee Break: AirFryer Toaster Oven

Coffee Break |

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Let's talk air fryers! I was one of the many people who bought my first air fryer during the pandemic. I had been wary about buying one because of an old Wirecutter article that said the staff couldn't find one they could recommend highly (can't find the link now), but I was intrigued by April's CorporetteMoms post about her air fryer.

We ended up buying this Cuisinart model that is $229 at Amazon and Target, and we've been happy with it. It has multiple functions: air fry, convection bake, convection broil, bake, broil, warm, and toast! We have the regular stainless steel, but I loooove the navy option.

We haven't had the air fryer too long, and so far, I've only used it as a toaster and to bake and air fry frozen foods. (Uh, I'm not making much from scratch these days…) TBH, I don't even know what a convection oven is for…

Here's my list of pros and cons so far:

Pros:

  • It bakes things very quickly, so you can save a lot of time. For example, when I used to heat up frozen chicken nuggets for my son in our oven or toaster oven, it would take 35 minutes. When I air fry them, it takes about 10. (I think — I'm blanking on the exact time. This brand gets perfectly crispy.) When I bake a frozen pizza (we love Amy's and Half Baked Pizza), it takes half as long, and it seems to bake the pizza more evenly than a regular oven.
  • When it's summertime and you don't want to heat up your kitchen too much, this is much better than a full-size oven.
  • It toasts bread very evenly — better than our toaster oven did, I think.
  • Some frozen foods now have air fryer directions on the package, so no guesswork needed! I air fry these garlic parmesan frozen zucchini fries (so good, and zucchini is the first ingredient), and they come out nicely browned and crispy. (Yeah, someday I'll actually make my own.)
  • I like how the bottom tray easily slides out so that you can clean out crumbs, pieces of melted cheese, etc.

Cons:

  • This thing is big — so if you don't have much counter space, you might want to think twice. We got rid of our toaster oven and put the air fryer in the same place, but it's much taller.
  • Sometimes it bakes things a lot more quickly than you'd expect, and there's definitely a learning curve. When using the oven function, I've burned some things before realizing that I need to keep a close eye on them and bake for less time. Sometimes I also turn down the heat a bit. (I also use our microwave timer or my phone timer instead of the built-in non-digital timer, just to be more precise. You have to use the timer unless you're toasting, but I just turn it to a random time that's longer than I need.)
  • It really does not do well with cookies. When I've tried to make them from refrigerated dough, the outside gets very brown and almost burned while the inside still needs several more minutes. I mean, hey, I'll eat them anyway, but a regular oven works much better.
  • It puts out a lot of heat! The metal knobs on our cupboards above the air fryer get hot, in fact.

Finally (who knew I could write so much about air fryers?!), here are Kat's thoughts on hers (which she bought after April's Ninja air fryer review on CorporetteMoms, even though she already had a convection toaster oven):

I've experimented with breakfast egg rolls (meh), dessert egg rolls (meh), TikTok air fried pasta (meh) and salmon-air-fried-directly-from-freezer (delicious!). The kids really love plain air fried chicken. I made the Skinnytaste chicken sandwich, which was a lot of work and tasted OK but still kind of meh. So I'm still on the hunt for better recipes.

Readers, do you have an air fryer, and would you recommend it? What are your favorite uses for it?

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About Kate Antoniades

Editor of Corporette since 2014, Kate Antoniades lives in her hometown of Rochester, NY. A cat person and Oxford comma loyalist, she loves thrift shopping and has too many craft supplies.

Comments

  1. Anon

    OOh, I don’t have an air fryer and I don’t have a toaster oven. The idea of one combo appliance is interesting.

    I bought the instant pot and found it too big and cumbersome, and I don’t want mushy food for every meal.

    Does anyone have this who can comment on whether it’s good? It it more energy efficient to use a countertop appliance vs the oven?

    • anon

      Same q! I have an air fryer that’s sort of falling apart. We prob use it 1-2x / week and would miss having it. It’s a more traditional “drop the food in the basket” one vs this front-loading door. Any downsides to this style?

    • Anonymous

      I have a toaster oven and use it all the time. Once I need to upgrade, I will definitely go for a combo appliance like this. I don’t generally like one use appliances. I got the IP too, but don’t use it very often.

    • Anonymous

      I had this exact model for 2 to 3 years and used it at least once a day. Cooking burgers and chicken from frozen is amazing, and it was great to reheat and re-crisp leftovers, even fries! The only reason why we had to replace it was because my husband was on the keto diet and made fried-from-frozen chicken wings in it at least 5x/week for over one year, so the grease buildup was intense. Costco sells this model from time to time, but didn’t have it available when I purchased the replacement. Can’t recommend it enough!

    • Anon

      I hate my toaster oven. It’s so short in height, I can barely slide a dish in without burning my knuckles. I also hate that I can only find them in black. (I know my white kitchen is outdated, but it will come back eventually, dammit.)

      Very tempted to give one of these a try instead.

      • Anon

        I love all white kitchens FWIW and they definitely come back into style every 10 years or so so you don’t have long to wait!

    • Mrs. Jones

      We have the Breville toaster oven/air fryer and it’s awesome. We use it almost daily.

    • Sloan Sabbith

      I absolutely love my air fryer/toaster oven. I don’t have this one, I have a Black and Decker (I think?). But it is so helpful- much easier to use the air fryer for stuff that would be awkward in a normal air fryer. It reheats things like sandwiches and pizza REALLY well. I use it every single day, no joke.

    • Susan

      I have this exact model and love it! We use the toaster oven part all the time, especially in the summer when we don’t want to turn the oven on. We use the air fryer occasionally. My husband figured out a genius way to may multiple grilled cheese sandwiches with the air fryer. My favorite use is to crisp up takeout. We live in a rural area and by the time we get home, most takeout is soggy. The air fryer fixed that issue. It is big and takes up a lot of counter space, but I think it is worth it to us given how much we use it. Another note of warning: do not follow package air fryer directions. You will burn your food. Start with a short amount of time and check frequently.

  2. Anon

    A convention oven cooks food faster than a regular oven. When you put a frozen pizza (20 degrees F or so?) into a 350 degree oven, the air in the oven is 350 degrees, and the air right next to the pizza is 20 degrees. What a convection oven does is replace that colder air next to the pizza with hotter air, which heats the pizza faster.

  3. KS IT Chick

    The most amazing food to come out of the air fryer is roasted potatoes. If you are familiar with Top Gear or The Grand Tour, you will know of James May. He filmed a cooking show and wrote a cookbook for Amazon. His method for roasting potatoes was a revelation.

    Peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks. Boil on the stove in water to cover for about 6 minutes. Drain and shake the colander until the potatoes start to look fluffy from the starch. Coat in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

    At this point, he roasts the potatoes in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. I put them in the air fryer at 400 for about 20 to 25 minutes.

    The potatoes come out crispy on the outside and fluffy and delicious on the inside. I have used any number of seasonings and had it come out beautifully.

    • Anon

      These are roasties, right? I think they’re amazing but I don’t think James May invented them.

      • Anon

        Yes, sounds just like roasties. My mom (who had a British father) made them with prime rib for Christmas. Cooking them in beef fat is even better than olive oil, and I say that as someone who eats a mostly vegetarian diet. Soooo good.

    • Anon

      I hate to break it to y’all but you’ll get the same result roasting in the oven – the par boiling is the secret to that result.

  4. Sandra

    I have a Pampered Chef air fryer and we use it every day for quick things (toast, frozen items like chicken nuggets, and reheating pizza and other items). I also use it to make fresh sourdough biscuits – it is great even for out of the can breads like crescent rolls although you do have to adjust cooking times. Sometimes we’ll use it as an oven replacement in the summer but with five people in the family it generally doesn’t cook enough at once to use regularly. Check out air fryer parchment sheets on Amazon to help with things sticking and cheese melting everywhere from pizza.

  5. Jo April

    Basic undies: where are we buying them these days? I’m looking for all-cotton bikinis, and haven’t been impressed with how the aerie products hold up to washing.

  6. Anon

    Have any of you remote workers taken vacations without using PTO? I love to travel and am limited by vacation time, not money. I have a trip next month and am considering not taking any official time off. I have a couple meetings which shouldn’t be a big deal since the hotel has wifi, and I would obviously have to monitor email for anything urgent, but the nature of my job is such that I could likely do minimal work for a week without it causing a huge issue.

    • test run

      What I’ve done in this case is take 2-3 vacation days out of the 5 for the week and just worked a few hours each day instead of working for a full 2 days and strictly being on vacation for 3 days. This depends on your employer obviously, but I ran this by my boss just in case there were travel related delays/wifi issues, people noticing my zoom background was different, etc. etc. I pretty much *never* have to go in the office but I was worried that this would be the one time my boss would be like “hey can you come in tomorrow?” and I would be seven hours away.

    • Anonymous

      A co-worker did this. She’s Italian and spent about a month in Italy living with her parents during the summer (pre-delta, post major lockdown). But… I think she was basically working nearly regular hours. She definitely made meetings, despite the time difference.

    • Anon

      I know a ton of people who work full time from a fun destination (like my parents face a beach house so I work from there on occasion), but I don’t know anyone who says they’re wfh but is on PTO. That feels unethical.

    • Cat

      I know plenty of people who have gone somewhere else for a month plus, but they are actually working full time while they are there and maybe taking a few of the days or a week truly “off.” And if they’re in another time zone they’re working off hours for where they are.

    • Anon

      I’m sure you could get work done as needed, but this seems super unethical to me. Either tell your office you’re working from somewhere else or take PTO. Saying you’re going on a vacation but you’re not going to tell your office doesn’t sit right.

      • anon

        I disagree. I think that if you’re true WFH, what does your office need to care if that’s in Hometown or Vacation Town, as long as you’re actually doing the work, not shortchanging hours, have reliable wifi/service, etc.? Relocating for a “working vacation” and also not fulfilling work duties, deadlines and hours is a whole other, unethical ballgame.

        • Anon

          But the OP said that she would be shortchanging hours. I expect the responses would have been different had OP said that she planned to work her normal hours, but that’s the exact oppose of what she proposed.

    • Anon

      I’ve never done it intentionally. I have asked for PTO days back when I took a vacation that turned into more full time working days than I anticipated (I always anticipated keeping up with email, but not producing actual work product and not attending hours-long meetings.) I don’t think I’d try to sneak this in on my employer, and if I planned to work remotely while on a trip, I’d commit to hours I was “at work” and not out touring museums or whatever.

    • Alicia

      I’ve done this but I also spent a good chunk of time working each day, told my company about it ahead of time, and never missed an email or meeting. I basically just saw and went out with my family for meals and evenings and 1 tourist attraction. It felt like slightly more relaxed working at best, not a vacation.

    • Anonymous

      I’ve done it. Being in a nearby time zone is definitely important, because you have to be prepared to get called into a last minute meeting and if 10 am for your team is 4 am for you and you miss the email about the meeting because you’re sleeping, that’s going to be really awkward. If there are weeks you know are always quiet, that’s a great time to go (I went the week before our company’s holiday closure). Our trip was to a Florida beach house where we didn’t really have any plans besides “enjoy the view and go to the beach” and everything was totally flexible. I think it would be hard if you had booked a full day of sightseeing tours and restaurant reservations, because there’s a good chance your plans would get messed up (and/or you’d miss something important at work). I probably worked about 5-10 hours max that week (although in the interests of full disclosure there are weeks at home where I don’t really work much more than that…the Office Space quote about 15 minutes of real, actual work is very applicable to my job). It did feel like a vacation, albeit not a super exciting one, and I booked the same trip again this winter. I’m also actively job hunting and wouldn’t be devastated if I lost my job, although no one really seemed to know or care.

    • Anon

      I guess I do. August is my slow month – I could be sitting at home watching Golden Girls or we could be on vacation – I wouldn’t have work to do either way. So I bring my laptop with me and check my email obsessively and respond to anything immediately, hop on any scheduled calls, and otherwise enjoy myself. On days when I’m really unavailable (like, say, the day we went sailing), I take PTO. It’s basically how I live at home – if I don’t have something hot going on, I don’t see any problem with going grocery shopping during the day.

      I should also say that my company is cool with “be anywhere in the world, just get your work done,” so they don’t care if you’re visiting family in State X so long as you’re responding as you need to be.

    • Anonymous

      I know of a couple friends who did this in 2020 – went from East Coast based offices to WFH then working from an Airbnb on the West Coast. So they would wake up early to deal with all the work stuff/meetings, then go out and play in the afternoons and evenings. One friend said she “worked a lot” but really it was because she had to wake up early to attend meetings on EST and only worked 6 hours a day before going out to play (beach, golf, paddleboarding, snowboarding, etc) and maybe checked her email before she went to bed.

    • AugNon

      I feel like you could either phone it in and do minimal work locally, or travel and work close to full-time hours (or at least be willing to do so), but there’s a risk that if you’re doing minimal work while in a fun destination that it can be perceived poorly. Agree with advice above about perhaps taking a few days of vacation but being willing to work on other days to conserve PTO.

  7. Lyssa

    What’s the difference (or is there one) between an air fryer and a convection oven? As far as I can tell, they seem to do basically the same thing (blow hot air around to cook food faster and crispier). I have a convection/ microwave combo that I got before air fryers took off, and it’s …OK. The controls are weirdly confusing, but it’s handy if I just need to cook something very small or need a second oven. It doesn’t seem to cook much differently then the regular oven (which has convection too), though.

    Since someone mentioned it above and we’re on the topic of trendy appliances, someone got me an Instant Pot and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to benefit from it. By the time you heat it to pressure/release the pressure, you rarely save any real time, or if you do, it still takes long enough that I’m only going to make the meal on a day where I have a lot of time anyway (if I’ve got 1.5-2 hours to cook, I would rather just plan something really good that takes 4-6). And yes, everything is mushy.

    • Anon

      I have a convection option in my range and also have a convection option in my microwave. I find having to preheat the microwave takes as long as the oven so it’s not a feature I ever use.

      I think the advantage of the instant pot is unattended cooking (no stirring, no checking for burning) and in my experience it makes a hell of a pot roast, but how many pot roasts can you make? I also liked it for making indian curries because I can make the rice at the same time using the rack, but we are off our indian food kick right now.

      I don’t have an air fryer, but my college aged daughter does and she loves it. It’s fast and makes crispy chicken nuggets directly from frozen, which I think is all she’s looking for.

        • Anon

          My daughter’s boyfriend has talked her into air frying frozen egg rolls now, so that’s a second usage! Glad she’s getting her money’s worth.

      • Lyssa

        I think that’s what I hate about the IP -I really like stirring! Stir, check, taste, tweak, taste again -that’s the best part of cooking. Having it all happen in secret makes me nervous.

        I will definitely have to try pot roast, though. That’s not in my usual rotation, but maybe it should be.

        • Anon

          It really is yummy. My tips are less liquid than you think you’ll need, and cutting the veggies in huge pieces. I leave the carrots whole. You can put whole potatoes in but they’ll be mushy and wet and I prefer to still make those on the stove for mashed potatoes.

    • Anon

      I make beans in my instant pot and it truly does save time there but for other applications, I’m not using it as a time saver. I love doing big chunks of meat, which I then throw under the broiler at the end. I do it that way because I like the results of the cooking technique, not because I want to save time.

    • Anonymous

      The power of the fan seems to be much higher on the airfryer than the fan in my convection/toaster oven or convection/wall oven.

      Also because the size of the air fryer is quite small with the strong fan (I have a dedicated Ninja airfryer), it reaches cooking temp in less than 2 mins.

    • Anan

      I use my Instant Pot mostly for beans, soups, grains, brown rice, soft boiled eggs and Indian curries. 95% of the time it use it to make dinner ahead of time since i have a later start to my work day. Yeah, I agree that it’s not worth it for me to use it for a meal i can make more immediately on the stovetop. The stove top stuff tastes better anyway.
      I used to also make my own yogurt, but that proved inefficient during the pandemic because it takes a lot of milk to make yogurt. I do still make my own paneer.

  8. Bed frame?

    Anyone have a favorite bed frame? My husband is a bigger guy and has back trouble so we are looking for something durable and supportive.

  9. Alicia

    In job interviews how do you answer “why this company” questions when you really don’t care?

    I’m in say . . . marketing . . . a field that could be done in many companies and industries. So far I have worked for nonprofits where the answer is very easy, and typically includes something like “because I want to save the whales”, in addition to details about why the job duties appeal to you.

    Now I’m applying to a wider range of companies, and when its like a consumer product company, or CRM software, or something else, what do you say? If it is a product I use and like I talk about that, but when it isn’t? I’m applying to these jobs because the role itself seems interesting, or the team seems good, but often I don’t actually care about what their selling. Which I imagine is more common than not.

    I don’t want to come across as smug or something, I’m just trying to figure this out. I always answer interview questions pretty honestly and transparently, which has worked out well enough for me until this point.

    • Anon

      I comb through their social media until I find something I can use. “I’m really interested in your push towards X process” or “I really admired the way the team handled Y public relations issue”.

      Also, being on one of those “best places to work” lists is an easy option.

    • Anon

      In many circumstances, even if the role is done across industries, understanding your company’s operations and products makes you more successful in the role. You get different legal issues at a software company versus a biotech company, for example. Rather than narrowly focus on “what they are selling,” think of the industry as a whole and answer that way.

    • AugNon

      I struggle with this too, particularly with companies that are not a product/service that is easy to get excited about (e.g., an accounting firm). Following for advice.

      • Melissa

        In this instance I might call out an element of their org culture that I found interesting/“inspiring”.

    • Anon

      I am currently job hunting and before I click on a job ad at Linkedin, I ask myself what has interested me enough to want to click. E.g. was it the role, was it the company, was it something about their products, people I have met and then translate it to something recruiters will understand: corporate values and culture, strong talents on their team, growth mindset, I love their products/services, …. I am drawn to biopharma, because they have unique growth mindset (resilience, go after the impossible and make it happen) and they really make impact. I also check who I know in the company and if these would be the people I would like to work with/for because I am done with toxic slackers.

  10. Anonymous

    I’m finally having a sleep study tonight! Any recommendations from other ‘rettes who’ve done one?

  11. Anon

    I saw a thing going around online recently that said “Men have spontaneous desire. Women have responsive desire.”

    It is the most succinct Mars vs Venus explanation I’ve ever seen and it’s been so helpful in understanding the differences between my husband and me, I thought I should share.

    • AZCPA

      Perhaps it’s true in your specific case, but certainly not true across the board!

    • Anonymous

      I feel like I had spontaneous desire before adulthood (job stress, home ownership, etc.) and kids. But now that quote is very true for me.

      • Anon

        This. I don’t think it’s necessarily innate to men and women, but it’s related to all the extra work of the second shift. Spontaneous desire is what happens when you largely get to think about yourself and your needs. Responsive desire is when you largely have to plan it into your life.

        Overwhelmingly, in the US at least, men get to come home after work, relax on the couch, maybe do a home project or mow the lawn if they feel up to it, get dinner served to them, relax after the meal, maybe help with a kid thing, and then relax some more. Of course you can be a lot more spontaneous when that is your evening.

        Compare that to a woman who comes home after work, helps with homework or unpacking bags, makes dinner, serves dinner, cleans up after dinner, gets everything ready for the next day, shepherds kids through bathtime and bedtime and extra requests for water, and then throws a load of laundry in while she’s cleaning the bathroom and thinking of a present for that niece’s birthday next week. Not a whole lot of room for spontaneity in that day, not a whole lot of time to even think about her own needs or wants.

        It’s not biological, it’s circumstantial.

        • Anon

          Eh my husband does more than I do as far as housework and at least as much as far as childcare but it doesn’t impact his desire the way it does mine. I think for men (generally, certainly there are exceptions) desire is more physical and much less mental than it is for women. When I’m exhausted and stressed, I don’t want s3x. My husband still does.

          • Anon

            Yep. My husband is sometimes not fully critical but kind of annoyed and borderline feels rejected that I have to ease into it instead of being in a “jump your bones” mood 24/7. I respond to romance and seduction and even just relaxation, but I don’t spontaneously feel like having sex most of the time, which he does.

          • Anonymous

            Agreed. Mental load is a factor too. My husband makes dinner and cleans up every night, and joins me for the bedtime routine after he’s done in the kitchen. He’s worlds apart from the 1950s dad who sits on the couch with a martini while his wife cooks and does the dishes and minds the children. But at 7 pm when our child goes to bed, he instantly switches out of parenting mode while I’m still thinking about potty-training and playdates and purchasing our kid’s fall and winter wardrobe and etc etc…. I know a lot of really involved dads who cook and clean and spend lots of time with their kids. But I don’t know many who equally share the mental load of parenting with their wives.

    • Anon

      The problem is that it’s really hard for those with spontaneous desire to understand those with responsive desire.

      • Anon

        I didn’t have the concise language to describe the difference, which is why I find this helpful.

    • Anonymous

      I like the brake and accelerator theory of describing desire and arousal a lot more. It’s not gendered, but can still very easily explain differences in behavior as groups. Highly recommend “Come as you are” by E Nagosky.

    • Anonymous

      there’s a book out about this stuff. “Come as you are” I think it’s called. pink flower on the front. I keep getting it out of the library via ebook and it’s due back before I get around to reading it.

  12. I have a job interview

    So for the first time in a long time I have a job interview. I’m very excited. All my suits are dress suits. It is mid September and moving into Fall where I live.

    Should I wear hose/tights?

    It is a less formal environment if that helps. It’s all men lawyers so the way they dress isn’t much help.

    • Anon

      Is it cold yet? It’s 90 in my Midwest city today so tights would look super weird. I only do tights if the high will be below about 60. Weather is more important than what the calendar says.

      • pugsnbourbon

        +1, dress for the weather, not the season. I’d just do sheer pantyhose if I had to cover my legs.
        And congrats on the interview!

    • CHL

      Good luck!! I would wear sheer pantyhose because it’s just a short period of time and maybe there will be one old guy that notices. But that’s just me.

    • Anonymous

      depending how much less formal the environment is, can you wear dress pants, a nice top and blazer, even if it doesn’t form a complete “suit”?

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