I’m seeing a dietician because of the surgery on my digestive tract. She’s recommended that I use an air fryer.
I like all of the things that can be done with the instant pot and similar cookers, so I’m wondering if there is some kind of combo cooker that can both air fry and also do instant pot type of cooking.
I don’t have room for two different things plus I don’t want to spend money for two cookers.
I can’t find anything with Google. Does such a thing exist?
From what I have been able to determine, what few items claim to do both, don’t.
OTOH, it may be possible to “air fry” some things for which you would normally use a pressure cooker/instant pot. You might want to look into that.
What all can be air fried? Can you do something similar to stir frying vegetables? I know you can’t stir while it’s cooking but maybe that’s not necessary.
How they’re alike: you can cook things without heating up the kitchen. They are closed during the cooking process; you can’t stir them while they’re running.
Other than that, they’re not alike at all. The air fryer uses hot air that surrounds the food. The instant pot relies on pressure.
I use my air fryer to make foods that are breaded without frying them in oil. Also fast baked potatoes and individual pizzas. The air fryer will make crispy foods. It’s also good for making chicken breast meat for salads or soups.
Instant pot makes food FAST. It does not make it crispy at all. You can make dried beans in less than an hour. I use mine primarily for shredded chicken or pork, taco meat or spaghetti sauce, and dried beans. Baked potatoes and the chicken for salad or soups also possible in the instant pot.
I have a tiny kitchen, so I have a three quart IP which lives on a shelf until I need it. The air fryer lives and works on industrial shelving next to the kitchen. Keep your eye out at Goodwill. I see air fryers there a lot.
I don’t know if there is such a thing, but if there was, I’d want one.
Those are the two kitchen items that are on my wish list.
I don’t think you can put them together though. From what I’ve seen on youtube, the instant pot requires moisture. The air fryer requires it to be dry.
I just saw someone on youtube yesterday talk about how she used the air fryer for broccoli. She said that the air fryer made it crispy and salty (?). Sounded good to me.
I suppose what it comes down to is that anything an instant pot does can be done either stovetop, microwaved, or in the oven; whereas the air fryer does something that can’t be done otherwise.
Therefore I should get an air fryer. Does that reasoning make sense?
Any recommendations for an air fryer?
I usually like The Wirecutter for these sorts of recommendations - they don’t seem to like any of them.
You might consider the Delonghi multifry. It is a combo airfryer/oven/cooker thing. You can cook without oil, or you can do stews and other things. It’s not fast like a pressure cooker, but it can still cook things “by itself” pretty quickly (it has a stirring thing you can use, you don’t have to stand there stirring).
http://www.delonghi.com/en-au/products/kitchen/kitchen-appliances/low-oil-fryer-and-multicooker
The only downside from your perspective is the size, it’s pretty big (but, it’s light, so it’s not hard to store on a shelf or something other than the benchtop).
I don’t think so. To replicate an instant pot, you need a pressure cooker to put on the stovetop. That still costs some money.
If you put it that way, you could also substitute an air fryer with a convection toaster oven. It wouldn’t be the perfect substitute, but it works similarly. Both circulate air around a cooking food. The convection toaster or oven would just have the air move less quickly, so you wouldn’t get the same level of crispness.
It might come down to what kinds of foods you would most like to eat cooked with each and go with the one that does the most of what you’d like to eat.
The one they do sort of recommend is too expensive.
They seem to be popular and the nutritionist recommended it so the Wirecutter seems to be the odd man out.
I do like fried food but I need to avoid the grease, so I guess I’ll go with an air fryer.
Maybe I’ll check out the comments on Amazon for various fryers.
Here’s a link to a piece in the WSJ claiming that the air fryer has been unfairly maligned. Author says it’s really a differently shaped convection oven, and developed recipes for it.
Could This Appliance Replace Your Oven? - WSJ . Also has recommendations.
It’s behind a paywall.
I’d copy and paste the whole article, but it’s a little too long. The author’s top three recommendations are 1) Crux 2.2 qt Air Convection Fryer, $80. You can open it to check the food during cooking.
2) Nuwave Brio 36001 Air Fryer, $80. 3) Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster oven, $200. The last looks like a regular tabletop convection over.
As everyone else says, this is the complete opposite of an Instant Pot multi cooker. Dry vs wet. But, it seems pretty useful for low-fat cooking. However, I don’t have one, and have no personal experience to report.
Copying and pasting the whole article would be copyright infringement as well as being against the forum rules.
I’ll check out the three suggestions.
I just saw an ad for something called the Ninja Foodi and googled it. It claims to be a combo air fryer / pressure cooker.
Thoughts or experiences?
I have no experience with that product but there is something inside my head that screams caution about a commercial product named ‘Ninja’.
It has mostly good reviews on Amazon, with a few caveats. It is a little pricey though.
I haven’t used this Ninja product but my ninja coffee bar is awesome. They have amazing customer service too. The online description of the coffee maker said it came with an iced carafe but that was an error. They put it an order to send me the iced carafe but it was out of stock and I never got it. They then resent an entire unit with the carafe and told me to gift the actual machine to someone.
They also own the brand shark.