I Tested 5 Air Fryers So You Don’t Have To Eat Another Soggy Frozen Fry. The Best One Wasn’t What I Expected.

Why I Finally Bought an Air Fryer (and Immediately Regretted the First One)

I held out on air fryers for years. I was smug about it. Every time someone told me their air fryer changed their life, I’d nod politely and think about my oven, which had served me faithfully for a decade without taking up counter space. I didn’t need another gadget. My kitchen was already full of gadgets I’d used twice and then banished to the cabinet above the fridge, the one I need a step stool to reach, the cabinet of abandoned ambitions.

What changed my mind wasn’t a friend’s recommendation or a TikTok video. It was a Wednesday night in February. I’d come home late, I was hungry, and I had a bag of frozen french fries. I preheated the oven — 15 minutes. I spread the fries on a baking sheet. I put them in. Twenty-five minutes later, I pulled out fries that were somehow both limp and dry, the culinary equivalent of a disappointing handshake. I ate them standing over the sink, and I thought: there has to be a better way.

There was. But it took me four months and five air fryers to find the right one.

The Five Contenders

1. Dash Compact Air Fryer — the tiny, cute one, about $40
2. Cosori Pro II 5.8Qt — the Amazon bestseller, about $100
3. Ninja AF101 4Qt — the one everyone’s friend has, about $90
4. Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 — the multifunction that surprised me, about $110
5. Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro — the luxury hybrid, about $200

What Actually Matters in an Air Fryer

After four months of cooking everything from frozen fries to chicken wings to roasted vegetables (and one ill-advised attempt at a whole chicken that I’m not ready to talk about), here’s what I learned actually separates a good air fryer from a disappointing one:

• Capacity isn’t just about the number on the box. A 5.8-quart basket sounds large, but if it’s deep and narrow, you can’t spread food in a single layer, which means the “air frying” becomes “steaming with extra steps.” Wide, shallow baskets cook better than deep, narrow ones, even at the same listed capacity.
• Temperature accuracy is everything. I used an oven thermometer inside each air fryer to check whether 400°F actually meant 400°F. Two of the five were off by more than 25 degrees. That’s the difference between crispy and sad.
• Preheating matters more than manufacturers admit. Most air fryer recipes say “no preheating required.” Every air fryer I tested produced noticeably better results with a 3-minute preheat. The models that heated up fastest (under 3 minutes to 400°F) were the ones I actually used on busy weeknights.
• Cleaning will make or break your relationship with your air fryer. If the basket is hard to clean, you will stop using it. I promise you. The nonstick coatings on some of these baskets started failing within weeks. Others have annoying nooks where grease collects and eventually smells like a fast food dumpster.

Cosori Pro II — The Amazon Darling That Let Me Down

The Cosori Pro II has 60,000 Amazon reviews and a 4.7-star average. People love this air fryer. I wanted to love it too. The design is genuinely nice — sleek, modern, with a large window so you can watch your food cook, which I appreciated more than I expected.

But the cooking performance was inconsistent in a way that drove me crazy. On the “Air Fry” preset at 400°F, the actual temperature inside the basket was 375°F — a 25-degree gap that meant my fries came out pale and limp instead of golden and crisp. I could compensate by setting the temperature higher, but that defeats the purpose of having presets. The Wi-Fi feature, which lets you control the air fryer from your phone, worked about 70% of the time. The other 30%, the app couldn’t find the air fryer, and I stood in my kitchen holding my phone like an idiot while my chicken got cold.

The basket coating started showing wear after about six weeks of regular use. Tiny scratches appeared near the bottom, even though I only used silicone-tipped tongs. The nonstick was still functional, but I worried about longevity. An air fryer that costs $100 should last longer than six weeks without visible wear.

Ninja AF101 — The One Everyone’s Friend Has

The Ninja AF101 is the Honda Civic of air fryers. It’s not exciting. It doesn’t have Wi-Fi or a viewing window or a special “dehydrate” mode you’ll never use. It just works, consistently, every time you press the button.

The temperature accuracy was the best in the test — when I set it to 400°F, my thermometer read 398°F. The 4-quart basket is wide and shallow, which means food spreads out in a single layer naturally. Fries came out evenly golden without shaking. Chicken wings were crispy outside and juicy inside. The ceramic-coated basket cleaned up easily and showed zero wear after two months of testing.

The limitation is size. Four quarts is enough for two people, maybe three if no one is particularly hungry. If you’re cooking for a family of four, you’ll be doing batches, and air fryer batches are annoying because the second batch always takes longer (the basket is already hot, which throws off your timing). Ninja makes a larger 5.5-quart version (the AF161) for about $120 that solves this problem, but I didn’t test it.

Instant Vortex Plus — The Surprise Winner

I did not expect the Instant Vortex Plus to win. I knew Instant Pot made pressure cookers. I did not know they made air fryers, and I assumed this would be a mediocre brand extension. I was wrong. This is the air fryer I kept using after the test ended.

The Vortex Plus has the same wide, shallow basket design as the Ninja but in a 6-quart size that fits enough food for a family of four. Temperature accuracy was excellent — within 5 degrees of the set point. The preheat time to 400°F was just under 3 minutes, tied with the Ninja for fastest in the group. And it has a ClearCook window — a small window on the basket drawer that lets you check on your food without opening the drawer and releasing all the heat.

This window seems like a small thing. It is not a small thing. I didn’t realize how often I was opening the drawer to check on my food until I had a window and stopped doing it. My fries came out crispier because I wasn’t constantly interrupting the cooking with peek-checks. The window gets a little foggy from steam, but you can still see well enough to tell if your food is browning.

The “6-in-1” functions (air fry, roast, broil, bake, reheat, dehydrate) are mostly variations on the same thing, but the roast and broil modes are genuinely useful. I roasted a whole chicken breast that came out with crispy skin and juicy meat, which I did not think was possible in an air fryer. The dehydrate function made decent jerky, though I suspect I will use that feature approximately twice in my entire life.

The basket coating is a ceramic nonstick that, after three months of heavy use, shows no signs of wear. The basket and tray are dishwasher safe, though I still hand wash them because I am now a person who has opinions about air fryer maintenance, which is not something I ever expected to type.

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro — The $200 Question

The Breville is not really an air fryer. It’s a countertop convection oven that also does air frying, and it does it very well — but it’s a fundamentally different category of appliance. It’s the size of a large microwave. It takes up a significant amount of counter real estate. It costs $200. And if you have the space and the budget, it might be the best appliance purchase you make this year.

The “air fry” mode uses the Breville’s powerful convection fan to circulate air at high speed, and the results are excellent. Fries come out perfectly crisp. Chicken wings have the kind of crispy skin that makes you feel like a competent cook even if you are not one. The capacity is enormous — you can air fry a whole tray of food at once, enough for a dinner party, rather than doing batches in a basket.

But the Breville is also a toaster, a convection oven, a slow cooker, a dehydrator, and a proofing drawer for bread dough. I used the toast function daily. I roasted vegetables in it instead of heating up my full-size oven. I made a surprisingly good focaccia using the proof setting. If your kitchen is small and you want one appliance that replaces several, the Breville earns its counter space. If all you want is crispy frozen fries in 15 minutes, it’s overkill.

The downsides: it takes about 7 minutes to preheat (compared to 2-3 minutes for the basket models). It uses more electricity. It costs $200. And cleaning it is more work than cleaning a basket — the interior gets splattered with grease, and while the crumb tray catches most debris, you’ll need to wipe down the interior walls periodically.

Which One Should You Actually Buy?

For most people, the Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 is the air fryer to get. It hits the sweet spot of capacity, cooking performance, and price. The ClearCook window is the kind of feature you don’t know you want until you have it, and the temperature accuracy means your food comes out the way you expect it to. At around $110, it’s not the cheapest option, but it’s the one you’ll actually keep using.

If you’re cooking for one or two, the Ninja AF101 is a close second — smaller, slightly cheaper, and just as reliable. If counter space and budget are tight, the Dash Compact at $40 handles basic air frying for a single person and takes up about as much room as a coffee maker.

And if you’ve been holding out on air fryers like I did, convinced you don’t need another gadget: I understand. I was you. But I haven’t eaten a sad, limp oven fry in four months, and I’m not going back.

More Reviews You Might Like

☕

The Best Drip Coffee Maker Under $100

I tested 5 budget coffee makers. The winner surprised me.

🍳

Why Your Nonstick Pan Only Lasts 6 Months

And what to buy instead.

🏻

I Tried 6 Electric Toothbrushes in 3 Months

My gums have opinions.