Air fryers

I have one that looks just like the Power Fyer XL that I got from Amazon. It is a different brand (GoWise) but it looks identical.  It does an OK job, but for the amount of space it takes up I am going to give it a "meh" rating.  I haven't had it long so only cooked on it a few times.

So let me start out by saying that before I got this I found that I could use the convection oven and cook food on a pizza screen with a little oil and it would produce pretty good results. 

I have cooked chicken fingers and fried pickles using pork rinds as breading and they were really good.  However, I tried chicken fingers with traditional breading and they were not great. Breading was still a but mushy.  So far I have only done frozen fries and they are pretty good; but frozen fries have already been fried once. They really weren't any better than frozen fries in the convection oven cooked on a pizza screen.  I have used it to reheat wings and they were pretty good. 

I am planning to try some scratch fries. I have read you have to use similar tricks to making good oven fries (soak to remove starch, then dry, then air fry). I suspect I will come to a similar conclusion- not really any better than the convection oven.

If you don't have a convection oven it might be worth it. One nice thing is it is really fast- no need to preheat; but I still could predict dropping this off at Goodwill a year from now when I need the cabinet space back. 

Yep, I love mine. My son gave it to me for Christmas and I've used it far more than my egg since then. Fried chicken, roasted chicken, French fries, carrots, chops and a steak come to mind. The steak wasn't so hot, but my steaks never are (pretty sure it wasn't the air fryer's fault). Everything else was delicious. Haven't tried any of the things you listed though. I imagine the onion and the shrimp would be great. I don't do bacon-wrapped anything, least of all tots, so you're on your own there. LOL

I like the fact that I don't have to baby sit. Chicken takes 20 minutes at 390°. I put it in, set the timer for 10, when it shuts off, I flip the chicken and go for 10 more. Not even sure you have to flip, but I do. Easy, quick too. Also, easy to clean and there's no grease spatter all over the place. 

I haven't deep fried anything in years; wastes too much oil, makes a mess, unhealthy, a pain to get rid of the oil. With this, you season the food to be "fried", then spritz with a very small amount of oil (use one of those pump up sprayers if you don't want the aerosol kind) and cook. Or toss in a small amount of oil for fries and such.

For fries, they say to cut them and soak in water for 30 min first, then dry with a paper towel, add a half Tbls oil plus seasoning. Toss to coat and into the fryer. Toss periodically during the cook. 360° for about 20 min as I recall. They aren't quite "real" fries, but I like 'em. The book says the frozen fries from the grocery would be better, but I don't buy those.

My fryer came from Sur la Table... http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-2193548/ Far less expensive than the Philips models. Don't know if there's a reason for that or not. Maybe you get what you pay for, but so far, I'm delighted!

Fried chicken thighs. Soaked in buttermilk, dried off, dipped in seasoned flour, egg wash, more flour. Then spritzed with evoo. Voilà!


Sweet potato fries...


Regular fries (could have gone a little longer, but delicious anyway)...

The basket in mine is pretty small so it might be a problem cooking fried chicken for a family. Also, fried chicken and french fries aren't likely to happen for the same meal, though I did see a vid somewhere where a guy did both in the basket at the same time. Haven't tried that.

Read one review that said something like, "Works great...until it doesn't." I guess his just stopped working one day. Dunno. Mine has been great so far. And it's so easy, I don't need to cook up a batch for leftovers; I just cook enough for a meal, and do it again the next day. Fresh cooked is usually better than leftovers.

Basically, the air fryer is a convection oven on steroids. If you have a standard convection oven (I don't), try "frying" chicken in it and see if that works for you. @Judy Mayberry did it and said it was very good. Don't know if she did it more than once though. Perhaps she'll chime in here.

I was thinking about one until I saw reviews that were Meh too.  My convection feature on oven and toaster oven work fine for similar functions.  

We have the gowise. We like it for certain things. And it can make poppers also.