I know there have been many discussions on air fryers here. I just want to put my 2 cents in (maybe this should be in IMHO).
I had been pining for an air fryer since I first witnessed one being used on QVC. I told my husband and he said that it would end up in the basement on a shelf never to be used. I’d bring it up once in a while like at Christmastime when he would ask what he could get me. He always gave me the thumbs down. He asked me this week what I’d like for my birthday. An air fryer!! So finally we picked one up at Sam’s Club on Sunday. I used it to make french fries that night - they came out excellent. BUT my house still smells like hot oil! I had windows open, candles burning - nothing touched it. I hate food smells in the house. I kept thinking about it, knowing that he had been right all along. I packed it up and back to Sam’s it went.
I’ve used mine to make various kinds of fried potatoes, chicken parts, assorted veggies, as well as re-crisping leftovers. I don’t put any oil in it beyond a quick spritz of cooking spray, and there’s never any odor that I can tell. I’ve been very happy with mine, and the family loves the chicken wings I make in it.
I only spritzed a little oil too. Maybe I was too hasty, I should have tried a couple of other foods in there. I did notice that it heated the kitchen up a bit.
I just acquired a Ninja air fryer second hand. I’ve used it to crisp frozen foods and to bake salmon fillet. It works great. It’s better than the microwave, and way faster than the oven. It also uses a lot less energy than heating up the entire oven, which also heats up the entire kitchen.
I don’t notice any lingering food smells, but I’ve never been bothered by that anyway (it seems a strange aversion to me, but whatever, I guess).
I use mine frequently. It’s so portable that I usually take it out on my screened back porch if I’m cooking fish or bacon or something stinky. I don’t use oil at all. When you bring the cooked food inside you still get some cooked food odors. I did some (big) chicken breasts last night. Rinse, pat dry with paper towels, roll in flour, dip in beaten eggs, roll in seasoned (with whatever you like) panko crumbs. 10 minutes at 375 degrees, flip and cook another 5 minutes. Very good! The air fryer cooks all sides at once so moisture is sealed in.
I’ve cooked a lot of hamburgers and fish fillets in mine. It makes an interesting grilled cheese sandwich. Butter the bread like usual. The outside gets a crunchy crust.
So what brand/model air fryer do you all have? And what size? The Boss has been talking about getting one, but it hasn’t been in the budget. Still, anniversary is coming up…
I use it for all breaded things and french fries of course, but where it really shines is glazed salmon. I spray the bottom with cooking spray, salt and pepper the filet, preheat for about 2 minutes, put the fillets in, cover them with a jerk sauce and cook for 8 minutes. The fillets are moist, sticky, sweet and spicy. Really good
There are smaller ones but I think you’d be forever making another batch. That one has developed some issue that causes it to shut off (maybe it’s overheating?), so we upgraded:
We wanted to get away from beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep to add six minutes—hence the dials. The worst was it would start at a low 160F or something and you had to beepbeepbeep many many times (8 degree increments) to get to the max 392F. Dials are a little faster and more presets help.
This does all kinds of things, like baking, dehydrating, air frying, broiling…there’s a rotisserie thing you could put in there too (included with the purchase, but we never make whole chickens).
We don’t add oil to much of anything. Aldi recently offered some mini pans and I got those thinking we could do separate items side by side.
I’m a pervert. When I bought an air fryer, I bought it because it was a dough proofer and toaster oven, as well. It’s honestly been the best proofer and toaster oven I’ve ever had access to. I’ve air fried a few things, and it’s been excellent where applicable. I’m pretty sure I’ll never figure out a good way of making onion rings in it from raw onions and batter, though.
I’m sorry that you don’t like the food smell hanging around. I kind of understand. When our house lacked a vent-a-hood, I was basically forbidden from frying bacon. My sweetie couldn’t stand that the house smelled like bacon for a day our so. After we installed one bacon, chorizo, etc. smelled like tastiness and home to her, and it didn’t hang around.
When the weather is nice, we cook a lot of things outside because of the smell - especially when green peppers and onions are involved. We use an electric frying pan on the outdoor table. I will also put the crockpot in the garage when cooking certain things. If I make shredded beef, the crockpot goes out in the garage. I remember the lingering smell of that waking me up in the middle of the night! Yuck
I love baking aromas in the house - bread, cookies, etc. It’s the onion, peppers - anything that lingers. And I like eating the stuff I don’t like to smell!
Upgrading our exhaust fan (to make it a real exhaust fan, leading outdoors) is one if the best, most cost effective upgrades we’ve done to the house. Not quite as much benefit as central air, but at a tiny fraction of the cost.
I remember on This Old House, one kitchen had the exhaust hood as usual but the fan part was much further back in the ducting, closer to the exhaust outside. That sounded like a good idea, because typical exhaust hoods are really noisy in the kitchen.
The smells from an air fryer aren’t really ‘food’ smells, they are oil cooking-off. Imagine walking into a french fry restaurant kitchen at the end of a day. That oil smell sticks to hair, clothing, upholstery, etc.
As for people not noticing it, it is likely a case of nose-blindness; you were there during the cooking (experiencing ‘appropriate cooking smells’) and then when you were done cooking, the smell in your house/apartment didn’t change (to clear air) so you didn’t notice. Much like my mother thinks her house doesn’t smell like cigarettes.
When there was the big craze for air fryers a couple of years ago, several people on my hall got them and they all said there was no smell. But my hall reeked of cook-off oil.
If I ever get to buy a house, I will definitely buy an external exhaust system for my kitchen, My friend in Seattle got a restaurant system for his home and it is great. He doesn’t use it enough, but it is great.
