Better efficiency but more importantly it heats almost instantly. Thing is like magic. No preheating for 5+ mins.
Plus having a second oven is fucking awesome. I’m out there on thanksgiving with an oven full of turkey, baking dinner rolls on the side like an absolute gangster.
Our oven literally broke (screw you fridgidaire btw) and we made thanksgiving dinner in the air fryer/ toaster oven. Even the turkey! Came out great!
Our current house came with Frigidaire appliances, never again.
The oven that comes with your stove is huge and it takes forever to preheat. I remember mine used to take like 20 minutes to preheat. For a lot of things that doubles the cooking time.
A toaster oven has way less space to heat, together with the fast convection makes it heat up almost instantly and also evenly. It’s just such a huge quality of life improvement.
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I don’t know how to tell you this, but…
Thanksgiving was last week.
It sucks how immediately after Thanksgiving it’s illegal to cook turkey or bake dinner rolls. It’s particularly annoying that it’s like, a global rule even though Thanksgiving is a US thing.
I… what? They literally said they’re out here “on Thanksgiving”.
If you’re going to be pedantic, the full quote is “out there on thanksgving”, not “out here on thanksgiving”. The “there” makes it implied past tense. But I’m sure it’s more important to nitpick trivial parts of someones comment on the internet.
They edited it after my post, homie.
Hey would you look at that, you’re right. Totally missed that part, must have been too excited about the dinner rolls. Sentiment still stands though.
You mean two months ago, right?
You can make that meal anytime you want!
I’ve never said otherwise, my guy.
I’m not your guy dude.
Oh shit. Probably too late to thaw the turkey, huh?
Not everyone has a convection oven. They are portable convection ovens, not portable ovens.
I have a toaster oven because I don’t need to heat my entire oven and use much more energy and time to heat the entire thing to reheat a slice of pizza.
I use the convection function when I’m working with large amounts but for 1-2 people, the air fryer is much faster.
In my experience they work better than convection ovens. Air fryers can move much more air over the food.
Air fryers are convection ovens.
Fundamentally, yes.
Practically, things labeled “air fryer” make different tradeoffs than things labeled “convection ovens”.
In particular, air fryers have comparatively big fans, and vent way, way more air out the back to keep humidity down, so they make food much crispier than a convection oven does.
Yeah, I keep trying to use my convection toaster oven as an air fryer and it doesn’t work out and then I’m like “SEE?! AIR FRYERS ARE STUPID.” But really I’ve never tried one.
Small, very concentrated convection ovens. I have both a medium sized convection oven and an air fryer. They do different things well.
I can bake stuff in my convection oven but would never try to get a crisp fried chicken from it.
I should try this. We recently moved, and now have a gas stove, the over heats up INSANELY fast and I swear food cooks faster in it even with the fan off (Is there some humidity factor?).
This was so uncanny I did some direct comparisons with the oven in our old house (Went back to clean it up for a weekend). And it actually cooks things faster, after preheat. Literally no idea why.
It’s probably just a higher end appliance. After growing up with my family only ever getting used ovens and replacing with more used ovens when they broke, I finally tried a more expensive new unit and it was an induction stovetop with convection oven and it’s unreal how different it is. I still use the air fryer pot lid for various things though.
Gas (UK) delivers heat much faster than electric does. This is part of our problem in changing over from “conventional” fuels to electric, and the reason why I remember my mother’s gas eye level grill so fondly. Cheese on toast under a gas grill was so much better than you can ever do under an electric one. Recent fan ovens help, but you’re still limited to the amount of KW compared with the insane calorific value of fossil fuels per unit of volume.
Air fryers are convection ovens that circulate air much faster, resulting in a larger transfer of heat.
My convection oven actually has an air fryer setting and it basically turns up the fan to 11.
But convection ovens aren’t necessarily air fryers. To be fair though some air fryers I wouldn’t even consider air fryers. If they can’t turn something that already has a decent oil content to at least 60% of their deep fried version then it’s just a piece of junk.
But windy, not breezy.
Have you tried reheating pizza in a pan with a lid on the stove top?
It’s kinda amazing.
Does everyone else start it in the pan with cheese side down?
Cheese down for like one minute or less, then flip.
I use the convection function when I’m working with large amounts but for 1-2 people, the air fryer is much faster.
In how much of a hurry are you if you can’t wait 4 minutes for the oven to warm up?
What kind of oven do you have that warms up in 4 minutes?
A Bosch series 8, specifically model no. HBG976MB1
Where did the recent air fryer trend come from anyway?
Clearly you don’t own an air fryer
Ok, sooo it’s not like a deep fryer and I feel like I can’t be the only one to learn that lesson. I battered up some cod, set it for 15 minutes, and ended up with flat fish pancakes. It’s really a mini convection oven.
Yeah it just turns out that convection ovens make great bagged frozen fries.
I wish my normal oven was a convection oven so I didn’t need an air fryer.I have a fancy oven with convection but it takes a while to heat up and often I just want a couple servings of fries.
People are just not getting it. No lengthy preheat times and you can stick a handful of fries in it to go with your sandwich and it will be done in under 10 minutes. Not inefficient if it can run for less than half the time of a big oven
Not just the fries, it’s great for toasting the sandwich too 😋
No but if you’d used breadcrumbs they come out great. It’s not a fryer, but it will elevate any oven-style “fried” food, like oven fried chicken, oven fries, etc. nothing wet, it will just blow it off.
No but I have a nice conversation toaster oven.
What do you guys talk about?
*is it this model?
Or maybe one of these?
Ovens are so funny it’s just a fire in tinfoil
When did everyone get too good for sticks and rocks?
When their huts burned down from leaving the cookies in too long
I’ve been throwing food into hot coals. It gives it a crunch.
Why is this even a meme? Omg why do can openers exist? 9 inch angle grinders already exist. We had a kids toy lolol
Yeah why does anything exist, we already have rocks and fire
My theory - they got popular in the US because everyone was still microwaving stuff like it was 1980 because their electricity is girly 110v so they can’t have good ovens. The air fryer is an improvement on both those things
In modern countries with 240v, everyone bought an air fryer cos the yanks said they were amazing, and now they’re scared to admit they fell for marketing hype and it’s just the same as their fan oven that they’ve had for 20 years except it heats a bit faster and they can’t fit stuff in it
From what I’ve seen in the comments it’s “Americans discovered an alternative to a microwave”.
It’s more like our corporate overlords weren’t making enough on microwaves alone and decided to push air fryers.
I cook chicken and steak in ours and it comes out way better than any other method I know and it’s easier than any other method I know
Maybe it’s the wrong name but the device is amazing, it’s my favorite kitchen appliance by far
It’s a mini convection oven. Many modern convection ovens come with an air fry mode.
Toaster ovens are a popular thing, why is this one frowned upon?
Or just an enclosed heat gun. The basket kind is where it’s at.
And it actually fries food, because it’s cooking your food with oil (generally), but much less than an actual fry attempt.
Edit: uh, downvoting folks, you do realize that when you cook something in fat, you’re frying it, right? When you make browned butter, for instance, after the water is cooked off, the milk solids are being fried in the remaining butter fat.
Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat.
Frying techniques vary in the amount of fat required, the cooking time, the type of cooking vessel required, and the manipulation of the food. Sautéing, stir-frying, pan frying, shallow frying, deep frying, and air frying are all standard frying techniques.
Air fryers dont heat the entire house 5 degrees. Also they are like 15x faster to make food for 1.
That just sounds like a shitty oven tbh. Modern electric ovens also have strong fans and can potentially draw much more current from a high-voltage outlet.
That’s not great when you’re paying for the power
Air fryers are excellent at cooking up enough food just for 1 or 2 people, ovens are excellent at cooking up a family roast
There’s a good reason they are popular lol, I can have a side of chips ready in 15 minutes flat versus waiting for the oven to heat up then waiting another 15 minutes for my chips to be ready. Plus heating up an entire oven just for 1 serve of chips is just inefficient
There is a good reason why they’re popular, but it’s mostly due to the foodie trend. You can cook one meal for one in an air fryer, or like two dozen meals for one in an oven (meal prep, divide, freeze).
It’s mostly a microwave for crispy foods. I do more re-heating than anything else.
air fryers are machines for heating up frozen french fries, and as an added bonus they can do other things too!
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No, it’s not an oven. It’s a convection oven, which has existed for decades but never caught on until they were rebranded as air fryers.
It’s not just a convection oven, it’s a particularly small convection oven. Due to the size, the air blows faster and the heat requires less energy. It’s absolutely brilliant for certain applications and it should be recognized as such.
I will never reheat fries in anything else.
Air fryer hotdogs are incredible.
Those too, I threw some precooked brats in the other day for lunch… Better lunch than I deserved in ten minutes.
I reheat everything in it. Fried rice, tacos, burgers, pizza… All shit the microwave would turn into soggy much comes out of the air fryer like it was fresh made or sometimes better.
Yes! People have little patience to know the difference and the effects when they already know it’s just an oven.
What’s really strange to me is that every oven and every toaster oven I’ve ever owned has a connection setting. So people are buying these huge space-consuming appliances to do something that they can already do with what they have in their house.
The convection is much stronger than on a regular oven, as someone who has a full sized convection oven, toaster oven with convection, and air fryer.
Also you would have to use a mesh or rack with a cookie sheet on a lower shelf to expose the bottom of the food to the moving air in your oven without drips sticking.
If you’ve tried both, you would see what I mean.
Can confirm. Had an oven that could ‘do’ convection. Didn’t seem to make a difference.
Then I got an actual air fryer. Made a massive difference.
Not every oven has a convection setting. I’d go so far as to say most rentals don’t. Every (electric) oven does have a broil setting. But for some reason you seem to think buying a toaster oven (a small broiler) is fine but an air fryer (a small convection oven) is strange? And an air fryer is “huge”? Are you confused about what an air fryer is? It’s like once square foot of countertop space at most.
Believe me, I thought the exact same thing until we were gifted one, so i get the skepticism! The convection bake setting on my oven is just not even comparable to a $75 air fryer.
As another commenter posted, air fryers use a much more intense airflow. It’s nuts just how much faster and crisper things like chicken thighs and frozen snacks come out compared to the oven.
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the education.
What? All ovens I’ve used in my life have been convection ovens.
Generally (in the US) the term convection oven is used to refer to an oven that forces hot air around with a fan, instead of an oven with the radiant heating elements.
Someone else commented that all ovens are convection and the correct term is “fan forced”… which might be technically correct, but that’s just not how the terminology is commonly used at least in the US. Some newer ovens have options clearly labeled “convection” that turn on a fan, sometimes in addition to the radiant heating elements.
The main reason I think people like convection ovens or air fryers is because the air circulation crisps the outside without overcooking the inside and without all the fatty oils required in a traditional deep fryer.
And I’ve never used a convection oven. What a world.
Fascinating. What country? The only non-convection oven I’ve ever seen in Germany was the fire fueled oven my grandma had, and I’m pretty sure that thing was pre-war.
Canada. It’s a standard gas oven with a broiler inside. They’re for sale, but I’ve always lived in old houses.
I see. Gas ovens are quite rare here, overwhelming majority is electric.
I looked it up: In 2014 7% of households in Germany used gas stoves, and 4% used gas ovens. So probably even less today.
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Not having a convection fan is pretty much a US-only thing.
Actually closer to a sub category called impingement ovens.
Wikipedia:
Another form of a convection oven is called an impingement oven. This type of oven is often used to cook pizzas and lightly toast bread in restaurants, but it can also be used for other foods. Impingement ovens have a high flow rate of hot air from both above and below the food. The air flow is directed onto food that usually passes through the oven on a conveyor belt.
I did not know about them. Thanks for the new information.
A convection oven is a normal oven. “Convection” means it radiates heat and it flows through the oven by convection currents - hot air rises and cold air falls. As opposed to a microwave oven. You probably mean a fan-forced oven - they have been standard in the US since the early 1970s.
yeah they’re just small convection ovens. Great for heating bread rolls, we use ours more as a toaster than for “frying” (they don’t fry)
Yep. Giant superpowered toaster. Useful for … anything that could do. Which is actually quite a bit.
Best way to reheat pizza for instance. It’s nice that they’re a little more energy efficient than doing it in the oven, and don’t leave it soggy like the microwave.
Not better than stovetop, which is actually best imo, but that takes actual effort.
I think the pretty good results for not very much effort is why I use mine as much as I do
I reheat pizza in my air fryer in a moderately involved way (but still low effort). Mine’s got a reheat setting, which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout. Then I hit air broil for maybe 1.5 minutes. It bubbles up the cheese and the oil in the crust without causing anything to char. Tastes pretty great, you just have to be willing to wait 25 minutes.
“which I set at 200 degrees for like 20 minutes just to get it to slightly above room temperature throughout.”
I read that like 4 times wondering how fucking hot your room is.
I keep it around 190 most days.
We make (air) fried chicken with ours, as well as onion rings. It’s super effective.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are perfection with an air fryer.
How do you weigh down the bread so it’s not caught in the heat tornado?
What? I had no idea… I think this may be what will send me over the edge.
They’re a bit more than that.
They’re convection ovens where the fan sounds like they’re trying to take off and they vent a ton of hot moist air out the back.
If you put broccoli tossed in a bit of oil in an air fryer and a convection oven, it’ll come out way crisper in the air fryer.
Air fryers have fans to keep the air circulating. That makes the food cook very differently than a traditional oven. It’s more like a convection oven, but with even more airflow.
Also the food is off the floor on a rack or grate while being easy to clean.
Is your oven from the 70s? Even our old oven from the 80s has convection.
Not sure how that’s even relevant. I didn’t say anything that even mentioned what kind of oven I have. I was just comparing traditional ovens vs convection ovens vs air frying.
It mostly is though? It’s definitely not a fryer. But I agree it still has it’s place even next to a convection oven, if not for anything else, then at least for heating the leftovers.
I guess it’s like a phone vs a tablet. They have a lot of similarities and a lot of functionality overlap and you could get by using one in place of the other but their use cases are different. Some people may only have one or the other, others may have both and use each at different times for different things. You wouldn’t say someone with a tablet has been fooled into buying a rebranded phone.
There’s literally no difference between a conventional oven with a fan forced function and an air frier.
Get yourself a mesh tray for your oven, preheat and you’ve just saved $100+ as well as kitchen storage for yet another gadget.
There’s literally no difference between a conventional oven with a fan forced function and an air frier.
My regular, full-sized convection oven has an air fryer mode. The main difference with the normal convection mode is that the fan runs much, much faster in air fryer mode. Because hot air circulates faster over the food, heat is transferred at a greater rate.
I do not understand why you are being downvoted. I guess there is a lot of air-fryer salespeople online… 😂
Decent air fryer : $300
Air frying capable oven (lower range) : $600
Good air frying capable oven : $1500+
Pristine, uncluttered countertops: priceless
I got a toaster oven with a convection oven/air fry option that also folds up so that it takes up less space. The only down side is that you have to be vigilant about cleaning up crumbs, but I like having a motivator. Second favorite appliance, after the dishwasher.
Our ninja ir fryer wasnt that much at all and it does things our convection oven or any other appliance can do.
My entire fan oven/hob/grill combo was €150
Don’t tell me y’all get shafted for kitchen appliances too?!?
Even with an expensive convection oven I can’t get things to come out as good as they do with an air fryer. The small area through which the warm air circulates is probably the reason. The fan in my air fryer is the same size as the fan in a household oven with convection options, but a much smaller volume of air.
Most people don’t actually have convection ovens. Whoever wrote that post probably doesn’t even understand that there’s a difference between a convection oven and a traditional oven in the first place.
The things that consistently come out better for me in my air fryer (with less cook time) over the traditional oven are:
Home fries Bacon Salmon Chicken thighs Any vegetable Leftover steak Leftover pizza
There are actually very few things I care to use my traditional oven for, it’s all just quicker and comes out better in the air fryer. Pretty much anything where you want it to be browned/crispy without overcooking the inside or using a ton of butter will be better in the air fryer.
Because it’s not just a convection oven that’s needed, it’s also venting the moisture that comes off the product being cooked. It also needs to be powerful enough to keep the temperature up while that moist air gets exchanged. That’s a lot easier with a small cavity like an air-fryer than a regular sized oven. Commercial combi-ovens can do the same thing, and maybe there’s some high end consumer models available, but it’s a lot easier on the pocketbook to get an air fryer than a full size oven. I’m not totally sure, but they might also use impingement(concentrated streams of hot air, as opposed to just regular convection), which is another thing that’s available commercially, usually in pizza ovens or things like the merry-chef/turbo-chef(Subway’s sandwich toasters) but not common in consumer equipment.
I don’t know where you live and which ovens are common in your country, but convection ovens are the cheapest and most common thing in Europe. “Regular” oven mode is usually an extra feature for extra money. This is because convection is more energy efficient and the EU has strict efficiency rules.
Ah, yer in the US it’s the opposite, i recently bought a new oven with an induction cook top, spent $1k and even that one wasn’t convection.
Tilapia is also great.
In the vast majority of convection ovens the heating element is on the bottom. In airfryers the heating element is on top and it circulates the air a lot faster.
They are actually making convection ovens with an airfryer mode now, where it uses a heating element on top and has a more high powered fan.
Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s worse https://youtu.be/AASP4P5vRAA?si=aXMjrYK_aRIKX3YR
Thanks a lot, now I’m shopping for impingement ovens.
I tried, only renting looks barely affordable
There’s some decent looking units for like 5k.
An air fryer is a small convection oven, but convection ovens aren’t particularly common in my experience. It’s definitely different than a traditional oven.
