Sarah Rainey

Has the air fryer fad burnt out?

I've lost the appetite for mine – and I'm not alone

  • From Spectator Life
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Are you – along with nine million other households in Britain – the proud owner of an air fryer? Amid promises that it could cut energy bills in half, slash cooking times and turn French fries into a bona fide health food, the kitchen gadget soared in popularity last year, with sales increasing by 3,000 per cent on 2021. At one point – much to the consternation of social media chefs, TikTok-ing their every interaction with the machine – there were even fears of a national shortage (mercifully, this never came to pass).

Essentially an amped-up convection oven, blasting the food inside with hurricane-strength hot air that goes from 0°C to 240°C in under a minute, air fryers gained global acclaim, with devotees including Gordon Ramsay, Oprah Winfrey and actress Drew Barrymore – who loves air fryers so much she created her own branded model. This week it was revealed that supermarket chains including Waitrose and Aldi are planning to add air fryer cooking instructions to food packaging alongside the more familiar directions for ovens and microwaves.

But if you are among the many who now have an air fryer in the kitchen, be honest: how often do you actually use it? Sure, there was an initial burst of excitement for making ‘corn ribs’, ‘healthy chips’ and roast chicken in under an hour. But has the air fryer really replaced your oven? Do you fire it up for every meal? Or has it – much like mine – ended up being, well, a load of hot air? 

I’m the first to admit I was entirely taken in by my Ninja Max 5.2-Litre Air Fryer. It cost £130, which I convinced myself we’d save in energy bills in the first month (we didn’t). For a while I planned weekly dinners around it: sausages and potato wedges for the kids; chicken schnitzel and crispy noodles for the grown-ups.

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