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I've seen commercial ads about the Philips Air-fryer:

enter image description here

I'd like to hear answers from someone who actually tried it..

  • Does the outcome taste the same as if it was fried in a normal deep fryer?
  • Does the outcome have the same crispness? (or better or worse?)
  • Is it worth its price? (around $248)
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  • Health questions are off-topic as per the faq, so I removed this bullet point from your question. As for "worth", it is quite subjective and wouldn't have stayed on its own, but I think we can leave it in along with the other points, and anybody who answers them can add their opinion on that one.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Apr 14, 2012 at 14:00
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    Looks like nothing but a miniature convection oven with a gimmicky name to me, so I'd have to say "no" on all counts. But, I haven't used it personally.
    – Aaronut
    Commented Apr 14, 2012 at 17:01
  • @Aaronut I'd say the same thing, but without trying, it's not fair to pre-judge
    – evilReiko
    Commented Apr 14, 2012 at 20:00
  • I've tasted the fries from a convection oven, not this gadget, and it needs pre-fried food and it doesn't taste exactly the same, nor is crispness exactly the same. If you're going to fry a lot, maybe it's worth it, but that's very subjective. I wouldn't spend my money on it.
    – BaffledCook
    Commented Apr 26, 2012 at 22:55
  • For this kind of query, I like to check reviews at Amazon. amazon.com/dp/B00D7N43UA It got 4.5 stars of 419 reviews (as of today). That's allot of reviews, it should help you decide.
    – Paulb
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 16:15

6 Answers 6

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I personally haven't used it. Lifehacker did a review on this when it came out though. Basically, it's more like a convection oven, as people have mentioned. They bascially said if you don't own a convection oven and eat a lot of fries it's worth it, but it really is baking them, not frying.

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  • For home-made fries, the results are better than with a convection oven.
    – Amritanshu Prasad
    Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 12:04
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I am not really a connoisseur of French fries, but here is what I felt:

  1. They taste very similar to deep-fried French fries
  2. They were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside
  3. You save quite a bit on oil (about one tablespoon for 1lb of potatoes), so it may be worth it if you eat a lot of French fries.

Some other thoughts:

We are able to use better quality oil (cold pressed virgin sesame oil, for example).

We also it to air-fry vegetables (Zucchini with olive oil and paprika), which was pretty good. But I can't say I have eaten deep-fried Zucchini.

We made Paneer Shashlik out of the Indian recipe book. This was really no better than what we could have skewered in the oven.

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I have tried an air fryer. It is very convenient, but if it is the ultimate taste you want (whether it's fried food or roasted food, health/oil issues aside) then no, it can't beat deep fat frying or oven roasting.

Having said that, it is a good speedy compromise when in a hurry.

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In a word: no. Fries used in this machine taste a lot like oven fries. If you like oven fries, I guess that's perfect. If you don't, it's probably less than perfect.

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The air fryer dries meat out and in my opinion, not that tasty. The air fryer might be suitable for certain things like fries.

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    I'm not clear from your answer, have you used it? What makes you think it might be suitable for fries?
    – talon8
    Commented Oct 28, 2012 at 3:00
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I have the automatic version. It tastes same like deep fries (even better). Initial experiments are required with oil level to judge what/how you need. Don't go by the books. Taste is like as if deep fries have been done on tissue paper to remove oil. Browning is very uniform and excellent, as you can pause and monitor.

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