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[glitchy]

I picked up a Ninja Foodi toaster oven style air fryer a few weeks ago. I do have to say I'm pretty impressed with it. Is it a life changing cooking device, no. Is it handy, yes.

First of all, air fryers are really just small convection ovens. So, if you already have a convection oven, you probably won't be overly impressed with one. I opted for the Ninja because it will toast bread and fit more food that several of the coffee pot/deep fryer shaped units. Just like cooking appliance, you have to learn how to use it. It's not complicated, but when using the air fry mode, you have to adjust temperatures on frozen foods with conventional oven directions. Usually like 25 degrees lower and 20 percent less time.

Today for lunch, we made some excellent 'fried' potatoes. Cubed up a few yukon golds, sprayed with canola oil, sprinkled with Oakridge SPOGOS seasoning, tossed around a bit and put in the air fryer for 24 minutes at 400 degrees, pausing and stirring/tossing half way through. Came out pretty darn good, nicely browned just like the cast iron fried potatoes my grandma always made. Very similar to Perkins breakfast potatoes, but better seasoned. We've made standard Ore Ida steak fries several times. 400 for 18 minutes. As good as what you get at Red Robin by time they usually get to your table. We've also tried Toasted Ravioli, Onion Rings, other frozen fries, etc. Still learning the instruction adjustments on some of the non-potato items, but have turned out pretty good. I just know I can get them a little better. My favorite air fryer indulgence though...Pizza rolls. 6 minutes @ 400. Make the total time from power on to on your plate like 7-8 minutes as it preheats in just a minute or two. Best pizza rolls I've ever made.

It also bakes pretty well too. We've cooked a couple frozen pizzas and my wife made her light bagels in there this morning. She said it baked better than our regular oven. So, for this model, it makes a nice little quick pre-heating oven for smaller baking needs as well as a nice second oven when you have things that need to cook at different temps.

My take on it is, if you crave unhealthy fried foods, it's a way to make very similar tasting stuff at home that should be quite a bit healthier for you than from a deep fryer.

[hughver]

In an Air Fryer, does the food reside in a pan or is it suspended in a basket like fixture. I have a convection setting on my home over as well as both microwaves, one in the house and one in the Casita. Other than cooking a whole chicken or turkey on a suspended rack, I have not found that a convection oven offers much improvement over a normal oven. From the name, I envisioned the food being cooked by circulating hot air all around the food, like maybe blowing air from the bottom through the food. 

[glitchy]

There’s a wire basket that is suspended.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Put some plain kettle cooked potato chips in the air fryer at 200° for about 10-15 minutes shaking once during the cook.  When they come out, put them in a bowl, sprinkle with a dry seasoning that you think would be good, and shake them in the bowl to coat.  Good stuff.  Did some hard Utz pretzels that way last weekend that were good too.  Gonna experiment with seasoning Cheese Nips and goldfish one of these days too.

[Brushpopper]

I bought my wife a Ninja Foodi for her birthday in July.  We both think it is as handy as a button on a shirt.

[cookingjnj]

Hopefully I am not hijacking the thread, I just wanted to point out the goodness of the air fryer.  We did a batch of air fried okra with dinner tonight.  Simple toss with a little olive oil (did not go with EVOO but just virgin due to heat element) and then I threw a bunch of Indian seasonings together...Rogan Josh, Garhram Masala and a all purpose curry powder, S&P.  Tossed and into the fryer.  Pre heat and temp set at 400.  Cooked for 5 minutes, remove and toss in the basket.  Back at 400 for another 5 minutes, tossed and back in the basket.  Cooked 3 more minutes.  We like them to have a nice crunch so back for another 2 minutes.  If you like okra, you will love this.  If you like deep fried okra, give this a shot....you will not miss the batter coating, and very crunchy! 

Sorry, my wife pulled and dished the okra before I could get a pic, so the pic is the okra plated with my wings and green beans.  They had a GREAT flavor and a GREAT crunch. 

Glitchy apologize if I took us off track.
 

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[glitchy]

I think exactly what we are looking for, how people are using theirs that have them. Love the two bites of steak on the plate too. I have reason to believe most of the air fryer produce similar results. Biggest variation would be if you want to bake/toast in addition to frying. We wanted toaster off the counter to make room for ours.

[hughver]

cookingnj, were the wings done in the air fryer? 

[cookingjnj]

hey hughver, sorry to say these were not.  Had to show them in the pic as that was the only way I could show the okra since everything was already plated by the time I was able to take a pic.  That said, I am sure the air fryer would do a great job with wings too.

[Clonesmoker]

Leftover pizza never tasted so good!! Probably the best way to cook chicken breasts. Just put on some seasoning and moist and juicy!!

I've even done day old McDonald's fries and they taste like you just got them out of the fryer!

[silverbullet]

Wife just bought a Cheap one & we are in the fun experimenting stage. So far we love it! Fry's Onion rings, Pizza rolls ETC. Love it so much were thinking on taking the cheap one out to the camper & getting a nicer one for at home so we can start doing chicken, chops etc. A healthy way of frying without all the mess.