Best Air Fryer of 2018 – Complete Reviews with Comparisons

The Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer has a sleek and modern appearance that will sit beautifully on your counter, but it also packs a powerful punch when it comes to creating unique and tasty recipes for the whole family. With an average capacity and several different presets to choose from, there are plenty of features for you to use to your advantage.

As with most air fryers, you can bet that several features of the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer make it a useful appliance to have at your disposal, including:

• Rapid Air Circulation Technology: As a way to produce a similar texture to traditional deep-fried food, the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer has Rapid Air Circulation Technology that fries everything without the use of oil.
• Stainless-steel interior: To help make the appliance easier to clean and more durable over the years, it offers a stainless-steel interior that can easily be wiped clean once you’ve finished frying. The stainless steel also offers improved conduction, so your food achieves the perfect aroma and flavor.
• Touchscreen controls: One of the most interesting features of the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer is its touchscreen controls that are easily accessible through the digital LCD panel. You can do anything from adjusting the temperature to changing the timer with ease.
• Several preset options: Depending on the ingredients you’re working with and the type of frying you’d prefer, there are eight different presets available for you to choose from.
• User-friendly features: The two main user-friendly aspects of the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer are its non-slip feet and its detachable basket. With the non-slip feet, the appliance will not be able to slide off of your counter, which makes it safe to use around children and pets. Also, the detachable basket is ideal for transferring food from the fryer to your plate.

When you first take the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer out of its box, the first thing you’re going to notice is how aesthetically pleasing the entire unit is, especially when compared to bulkier air fryers that you’ll come across. This makes it a great partner for every kitchen, especially if you don’t feel like storing the appliance in your cabinets. You’re also going to appreciate the different presets that you can play with as you cook since most air fryers only offer four or five presets, though you might find that you’ll usually stick to using one or two of the eight.

We also found that the included accessories make using the machine easier, as you’ll have a non-stick baking dish, an Avalon Bay cookbook with 52 different recipes, and a multi-use rack. Above all else, the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer gives you access to a 60-minute timer, so you don’t have to worry about watching over your food while it fries, as you would with a traditional oil fryer.

As with most appliances, there are a couple of negative aspects to take into account as well. The Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer comes with a locking mechanism designed to keep the frying basket in place, but the locking mechanism does not always work. When you remove the basket to transfer your food, it may fall out of the machine which results in your food winding up on the floor.

Another concern with the Avalon Bay Digital Air Fryer is that its Teflon coating is going to experience a lot of deterioration after a single use. Even though it’s designed to help make cleaning the machine easier, it could flake off into your food, which is concerning. It’s important that you inspect your air fryer after every use to make sure the Teflon coating doesn’t begin to wear down.

With so many air fryers on the market, it can get confusing to know exactly what to look for to make sure you’re making the right choice with your first purchase. Below are some of the most important features that your air fryer should have, no matter if you intend on preparing meats, vegetables, or side dishes.

As with any appliance that you add to your kitchen, the wattage is an essential feature because it determines how quickly your food will be fried. The last thing that you’d want is to have to wait hours for your fish or chicken wings to achieve their perfect texture as a result of a low-wattage air fryer. With that being said, wattage is also essential to think about in terms of safety and power consumption, as the higher the wattage, the hotter the machine will get and the more energy it will consume.

We recommend finding an air fryer that operates at approximately 1400 watts, as this will have your food prepared within several minutes and at the perfect texture.

The capacity of your air fryer is all dependent on the number of people that you’ll be cooking for on a regular basis. The larger the capacity, the more food you’ll be able to prepare without having to keep half of your meal in the oven or microwave to keep it warm. If you have a family of four or more people, it’s highly recommended that you consider an air fryer with more than a four-quart capacity, though for one to two people, two to three quarts is ideal, and for two to four people, you could easily get away with three to four quarts.

It’s important to think about where you’ll be storing your air fryer, is it an appliance that will sit on the counter at all times or will you be putting it away after it has been cleaned? The capacity of the unit is going to determine its dimension and weight, as the bigger it is, the larger and heavier it will be. Ideally, you’re going to want to find something that cooks enough food for your whole family, but that can still be stowed away when it’s not being used.

As you can tell by now, the hotter you have your air fryer, the more likely it is to see damage in terms of its interior non-stick coating. That means you won’t necessarily need to find a fryer that gets as hot as 400 degrees Fahrenheit, as you’re not going to want to use it at its maximum temperature too often. Any air fryer that gives you the ability to fry between 100 and 350 degrees Fahrenheit is more than sufficient for nearly any type of meal you can think of.

Air fryers are known for their user-friendly features, especially as they’re relatively new devices that many people have yet to try. With that being said, you can guarantee that your chosen model will have plenty of controls to work with ranging from preset cooking functions to variable temperature controls. Ideally, we’d recommend a touchscreen or digital LCD panel with easy-to-read controls so that you can make the most out of your fryer.

You never know when an appliance is going to stop working for whatever reason, and as most people aren’t engineers or electricians and cannot repair their own devices, you’re going to want to make sure that your air fryer comes with a warranty. As with most electronic appliances, your warranty won’t cover user errors, though we recommend finding a model that has a satisfaction guarantee. This usually gives you the ability to return the unit if you’re not happy with its performance within 30 to 60 days of your purchase.

Even though it might seem complicated at first glance, air fryers are very easy to understand. They typically use air convection to get your food to its crispiest texture in far less time than an oven, and you’ll find most models feature two fans or special convection to disperse the heat evenly. When compared to traditional oil frying, air fryers eliminate the need for oils, which also helps to make your food a lot healthier and at times, tastier.

As these machines are developed to be very user-friendly, using them is simple, though it’s still recommended that you use the instructions to use your fryer to the best of its ability. In most cases, you’ll simply preheat the fryer, add the ingredients into the frying basket, slide the basket back into the fryer, and set the timer for how long it will need to cook. Once everything has been fried to its perfect texture, you can remove the basket and transfer the food to your plate, cleaning the device after it has cooled down.

There are plenty of important things to look for in your air fryer, though the most important is some type of safety rating. These devices work at high temperatures, and as such, you’ll want to make sure that it’s safe to have around your family. You’re also going to want to make sure that you choose the perfect capacity for the number of people you’ll be cooking for, a device that looks great on your counter, and a fryer that can easily be stored in your cabinets.

One of the most variable features of air fryers is their capacity, which can be tough to decide on if you’ve never used one before. If you’re cooking for one to two people, a two to three quarts is recommended, for two to three people you can easily get away with three to four quarts. However, if you’re cooking for more than four people or if you prefer larger portion sizes, a capacity above four quarts is great.

It’s now time to give our recommendation for the best air fryer you can get your hands on, and our favorite is surely the Black+Decker Purify Air Fryer simply because it appears to hold up much better over the long run, especially when compared to the other air fryers on this list. With the Black+Decker Purify Air Fryer, you won’t have to worry about the nonstick coating inside of the fryer flaking away after a couple of uses; it’s only a concern if you reach very high temperatures with years of use. We also love how all of the removable components are entirely dishwasher safe, helping to save you time in the kitchen.

With its high-quality performance, we’re sure that the smaller capacity of the unit won’t be a problem, as you’ll be able to healthily fry your food faster than with other air fryers, even if you have to work with more batches than with larger capacity units. Above all else, it offers an excellent two-year limited warranty that ensures defective devices will be replaced or repaired without any additional charges.

With the ability to finally achieve the perfect deep-fried flavor and texture without actually using any oil, the Black+Decker Purify Air Fryer will quickly become the most popular small appliance in your kitchen.