# What meaningful differences are there between air fryers and convection ovens?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-meaningful-differences-are-there-between-air-fryers-and-convection-ovens/845938>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 4, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-meaningful-differences-are-there-between-air-fryers-and-convection-ovens/845938 "2020-01-04T17:54:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-meaningful-differences-are-there-between-air-fryers-and-convection-ovens/845938/21 "2020-03-19T20:30:31Z")

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> [@Grrr](#):
>
> “Air fryer” is just a marketing ploy directed at people who love fried foods but also don’t want to die of a heart attack.

And “Convection oven” is a sales term aimed at people who don’t know the difference between “convection” and “forced convection”.

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-meaningful-differences-are-there-between-air-fryers-and-convection-ovens/845938/22 "2020-03-20T08:40:27Z")

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I am confused. I have an electric oven with a fan - commonly called a ‘fan oven’ here. I would have thought that a ‘convection oven’ would not have a fan and would depend on convection - heat rising - to circulate the heat from the elements. This would be called an ‘oven’ here. A ready-meal would carry cooking instructions like - 40 minutes at 200c (180 fan)

I realise that these terms are frequently reassigned by marketeers - for example, I am currently sitting beside a ‘radiator’ which radiates very little of its heat, depending mostly on convection.

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**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-meaningful-differences-are-there-between-air-fryers-and-convection-ovens/845938/23 "2020-03-20T17:18:39Z")

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I know the physics are the same, but I have a convection oven, a convection toaster oven and an air fryer and use them all for different things. I use the convection oven when I need to cook a lot of stuff simultaneously and and I need a relatively uniform temp in the oven–like baking. I use the convection on the toaster oven when I need to cook medium size things fast. I use the air fryer for things I’d normally fry in a fryer. I find that the airfryer speed and volume of air along with a spritz of oil on the food give me pretty good frying results except for browning. I don’t find either convection oven moves air as fast. in fact, when I try to put cheese on something in the air fryer, the air circulation blows the cheese off. í don’t get that kind of air movement in the ovens

I’m tired of buying crappy fried shrimp from the grocery store that are more breading than shrimp, so get raw 26/30 shrimp, bread them myself, par fry them in oil to get some color, then freeze. When I want some fried shrimp, I put them in the air fryer and they come out crunchy and golden.

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