It’s the dream, isn’t it? Making cracklingly delicious fried foods like chicken wings and french fries without all the guilt (not to mention the mess) of traditional deep frying. The world is an amazing place, though, and it seems that we really can have it all. In this Power Air Fryer oven review, we’ll see how to get those fried foods without the grease.
In addition, our Power Air Fryer oven review will take a look at three other popular air model fryers and see how they stack up to this As Seen on TV device. And since no Power Air Fryer oven review would be complete without a few recipes to get you started, so we’ve got one or two favorites for you.
Power Air Fryer Oven Review: Comparison Table
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
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BLACK+DECKER Purify 2-Liter Air Fryer, Black/Stainless Steel, HF110SBD | $72.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Philips Airfryer, Avance Turbo Star, Digital, Black, HD9641/96 | $149.95 | Buy on Amazon |
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GoWISE USA GW22826-S 5-Quart Air Fryer with 8 Cooking Presets and Duo… | $75.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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PowerXL Air Fryer Pro, Crisp, Cook, Rotisserie, Dehydrate; 7-in-1… | $115.00 | Buy on Amazon |
What Is the Power Air Fryer Oven?
Power Air Fryer Oven
The Power Air Fryer sits on your countertop, hardly taking up any more space than a large stand mixer. This handy little machine bakes, grills, steams, fries, and roasts food. It turns out “fried” food with all the taste and none of the grease, and unless you’re cooking for a really large group it can bake and roast much faster than your conventional oven. About the only thing it can’t do is cook liquidly things.
Our bodies need fat; in fact, much of our brain prefers fat to any other fuel source. We can get great, healthy fat from fruits like avocados, olives, and coconuts and from certain animals (Timemagazine announced it: butter is back folks!)
The problem is that fried foods have enormous amounts of fat: far more than we need. Compounding the issue, most of the healthier fat sources can’t be used for deep frying as their smoke points are too low. This means most of the fried foods you eat, especially out, are cooked in unhealthy seed oils and trans-fats.
Enter the air fryer: a great way to have those fried foods you love without soaking them in unhealthy fat, first. Air fryers are also great because they cook faster than conventional ovens and generate a lot less heat, which means cooler kitchens and lower energy bills.
Power Air Fryer Oven Review: Specs
We start our Power Air Fryer oven review with an overview of how it works and the technical aspects of using one.
Controls
This air fryer can be controlled manually or automatically. To use the automatic control, you simply push on the button corresponding to the food you’re cooking (included are most air fryer favorites, like fried chicken and french fries) and then tell it how large a portion you’ve got.
By default, it sets the temperate at 370 Fahrenheit and 15 minutes of cooking time. You can adjust the temp in five-degree increments down to 150 or up to 400 degrees. You can choose a cooking time as short as one minute and up to an hour.
The unit also comes with a dehydrator function. Choose this function and a temperature between 90 and 170 degrees and you can easily make your own dried fruit snacks for the kids. (Or you. Admit it: you love dried apple slices!)
Set Up
If you’re new to the world of air frying, there will be a small learning curve no matter which model you use, so don’t be put off of this Power Air Fryer oven review by learning that it takes a few uses to get right.
Out of the box, you’ll see it comes with a couple of kinds of racks and a rotisserie feature. You can put food in the basket, on the racks, or secured with the rotisserie tool. Choosing the right cooking method for what you want, and making sure you don’t overload the basket, are really the only tricky things.
Cleaning
If you don’t attack the problem the right way, it can get tricky. If you do, you’ll be fine. If the food inside the basket, for example, has got food caked on it, you’ll need to soak it. All the washable items are dishwasher safe, and that makes it easy to clean them all. The fryer itself just needs an occasional wipe with a damp cloth.
Size and Color
There are two sizes to choose from: six-quart or eight-quart. For the purposes of this Power Air Fryer oven review, there’s no difference in function, use, or cleaning between the two. Both these sizes are significantly larger than most other models on the market.
The most popular color is black, but it also comes in white or red. Which do you want? Well, aside from considerations about what will match your decor or other appliance colors, we would recommend the black. It is the least likely to show little splashes of sauce or drips of chocolate.
image via: pixabay
Oh man: the question is really what you can’t cook in it. Here are just a couple of quick recipes to get your mouth watering and show you what this baby can really do:
Onion Rings
All you need for this are some frozen, battered onion rings. If you prefer, you can make your favorite onion rings from scratch: just be sure the batter is thick and not overly drippy. Instead of throwing these into a deep fryer or a pan of oil that splatters everywhere, simply choose the French Fry setting on your Power air fryer.
When the fryer is done, remove the basket and toss those onion rings around. Then put it back in for another go. Serve with any sauce you like. No grease at all.
Mozzarella Sticks
Ingredients:
- 1 lb mozzarella in a block
- 2 eggs
- 1 C of bread crumbs
- 1/4 C flour
- 3 T milk or cream
- 1 t Italian seasoning
- 1/2 t garlic powder
- 1/2 t salt
Method:
Cut the block into sticks about a half inch wide. Mix the dry ingredients (except the bread crumbs) in one bowl and the wet ones in another. Dip your cheese sticks into the egg/milk mixture and then roll them around in the dry mix. Throw them briefly back into the wet and then roll them in bread crumbs. Put them on a tray and freeze for an hour to twelve hours. When it’s convenient, put your air fryer at 400 degrees and cook the sticks in small batches for 12 minutes.
10-Minute Lamb Chops
The great part about baking or roasting with one of these things is the speed. Lamb chops aren’t usually a week-night possibility, but they are with your Power air fryer.
Ingredients:
- 2 T lime or lemon juice
- 1 t cumin seed
- 1 t chili powder (or to taste)
- 1 T coriander seed
- 3 t garam masala
- 2 T natural, unsweetened yogurt
Method:
Mix all the spices into the yogurt and coat the chops. Leave this in the fridge to marinate for an hour or more: you can do it the night before or in the morning before work if you like. The, simply cook on the rack for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Yum!
Chocolate Cake
Yes, you can make a cake in one of these. All you need is a pan that fits it and any cake recipe you prefer, whether homemade or a box mix. The key to getting a great cake is to remember that your air fryer might cook a bit more quickly than your oven, so knock 5-10 minutes off the time.
Once you think it’s done, be sure to test the center with a toothpick and don’t take the cake out until the toothpick comes out clean with no wet batter on it. Once you figure out the right timing for your cake, you’ll never go back to the giant oven.
The cheapest models we looked at in this Power Air Fryer oven review run around $60 and the most expensive around $200. Of course with the right sale, you can get any of these items for a lower price. Typically, the more expensive units will be larger and have more options for adjusting functions or cooking in different ways, like rotisserie or baking.
Power Air Fryer Oven Review: How It Compares
We’ve picked three other popular models of air fryer to compare in this Power Air Fryer oven review:
PowerXL Air Fryer Pro, Crisp, Cook, Rotisserie, Dehydrate; 7-in-1…
Sale PowerXL Air Fryer Pro, Crisp, Cook, Rotisserie, Dehydrate; 7-in-1…
- EFFORTLESS COOKING: With the 6 Qt. PowerXL Air Fryer, you can oven air fry rotisserie for savory chicken and pork…
- RAPID AIR TECHNOLOGY: Rapid Air Technology enables the PowerXL Air Fryer to surround your food with a whirlwind of turbo…
- 7-IN-1 MULTI-COOKER: Super-heated turbo cyclonic air surrounds your food with crisp 360° air circulation to replace…
With the abundance of automatic settings, this model is supremely easy to use. While the different accessories take a bit of getting used to, once you know how to use them you’ll find it versatile and simple.
There’s nothing to complain about here: the Power Air Fryer delivers delicious food with a minimum of effort.
The rotating basket feature and the fan have been known to stop working. These are covered by the warranty, but it’s still something you have to get fixed. Where the design is best is in the cleaning: soak for a little bit, then throw everything in the dishwasher.
This comes with a 60-day warranty. Fortunately, if your unit is going to have a problem with the basket or fan, this usually happens very quickly. Yet we’d still love to see a longer warranty for this machine.
- Larger size than other models
- Good price, especially for the size
- Easy to use
- Very short warranty
- May have function issues early on
BLACK+DECKER Purify 2-Liter Air Fryer, Black/Stainless Steel, HF110SBD
Sale BLACK+DECKER Purify 2-Liter Air Fryer, Black/Stainless Steel, HF110SBD
- Dual Convection Fans – The exclusive cooking element combines heat with a powerful dual fan convection system to…
- 2L Capacity – The 2-liter (about 8-cup) air-frying basket fits 2-4 servings of your favorite snacks and main dishes
- Qucik and easy cleanup – The nonstick cooking surfaces release food without the need of cooking spray; plus, the air…
This is one of the cheapest air fryers you can get and is popular with people looking for a small, entry-level option. At only two liters, it’s a lot smaller than the six or eight quart Power air fryer. But as with that model, you can fry, bake, or roast without added grease.
The unit comes with a basket, a temperature range from 175 to 400 degrees, a 60-minute timer, and two convection fans that help get your food crispy quickly. The controls are very simple and there are no automatic cooking options. It also can’t work as a dehydrator and doesn’t have a rotisserie function or rack.
This is super simple to use, though it doesn’t have the features of some of the other models. It does take time to get consistent results, however.
Overall this produces quite tasty food. However, it does occasionally fail to get certain foods as crispy and browned as other air fryers featured in this Power Air Fryer oven review.
The four stars we’re giving here are relative to the price. Considering how inexpensive this unit is, it lasts quite well and does the job. The fan can be pretty loud, though, and the two-quart basket is quite small.
This one comes with a great two-year warranty. No complaints here.
- Very reliable and consistent
- Nice size
- Easy to use
- Easy to clean
- Smaller than Power brand
- Shorter warranty than Black and Decker
- Only comes with a basket
Philips Airfryer, Avance Turbo Star, Digital, Black, HD9641/96
Our Power Air Fryer oven review could never be considered complete without addressing the Big Boy in the field: Philips. The HD9461 is part of their newest generation of air fryers. The unit has almost a three-quart capacity and comes with plenty of nifty features.
There’s a keep-warm function, which is awesome if everyone’s late to dinner, and the unit is exceptionally easy to use. The dial makes it easy to choose your setting, and it comes with preset automatic functions for frozen french fries, meat, chicken, or fish. The drawer and basket are dishwasher safe and easy to clean.
Philips has been doing this a while, and their units are a snap to use.
You’ll get exceptional, consistent results with this air fryer. You don’t have to put breading on things to get a crisp result, and the unit comes with a recipe book featuring 200 recipes.
In terms of design, this unit lasts well and gives users consistent results. It’s easy to clean, too. The only complaint we have with it is that it comes with only a basket. There’s no rack or rotisserie function here, so it truly is a “fryer” only unless you buy a separate baking pan.
You get a one-year warranty with this product, and Philips is a name that backs up their products.
- Very reliable and consistent
- Nice size
- Easy to use
- Easy to clean
- Smaller than Power brand
- Shorter warranty than Black and Decker
- Only comes with a basket
GoWISE USA GW22826-S 5-Quart Air Fryer with 8 Cooking Presets and Duo…
GoWISE USA GW22826-S 5-Quart Air Fryer with 8 Cooking Presets and Duo…
- Healthier cooking in 30 min Or Less: thanks to rapid air technology, you can now experience your favorite food without…
- Modern look: sleek and modern look with advanced touch screen menu. Take the guesswork out of cooking with the built-in…
- Recipe book included: Includes 50 recipes specifically made for go WISE USA Air fryers. Get started today with 50…
This is another popular budget model, and it’s almost twice as large as the Black and Decker for a comparable price. As with the others on our list, this prepares fried food without the need for much oil: though you will need a spritz of it for really crispy results.
It comes with eight pre-set options for cooking everything from fries to shrimp to cake. The temperatures go from a low of 176 to a high of 392, and most things are done in 30 minutes or less. Cleanup is easy with its dishwasher-safe basket, but the non-stick pan isn’t as good as that on other models. You can bake with this, but you’ll have to buy the pans separately.
This is very easy to use. The preset functions work well and users report being very pleased with how it functions.
This unit delivers great, delicious results that are quite consistent. Perhaps it shines best in terms of crispiness, which is one of the biggest challenges for any air fryer.
This is a good design that offers plenty of functionality. It looks good, lasts well, and doesn’t make a lot of noise. The main downside is that it’s tougher to get really clean than some other models on our list. You also have to add some oil if you want really crispy results.
This unit comes with a limited one-year warranty.
- Great price
- Large basket size
- Consistent results
- Pre-programmed functions
- Difficult to clean
- Must use a bit of oil for good results
Image Source: Pexels
At this point in our Power Air Fryer review, we need to decide how the Power Air Fryer holds up in comparison to the others on the list. In the end, we love the Power Air Fryer. It’s huge, it’s reasonably priced, and it works well in a variety of applications. The various pans and racks it comes with let you cook more than one thing at a time and in different ways, and cleanup is so simple.
Throw it in the dishwasher: doesn’t get easier than that. If price is a huge barrier for you, the GoWise is what we recommend. It gives you a lot of cooking variety, a good amount of space, consistent results, and an unbeatable price. However, it just doesn’t quite come up to the level of the Power Air Fryer. Power Air Fryer results? 4.5 out of 5 stars. Go get one as soon as you can. You’ll never regret it.