Are Air Fryers The Most Overrated Kitchen Appliance? Not Exactly

With air fryers blowing up the way they did in the early 2020s, you've probably seen a lot of folks talking about how overhyped they are. You can't, for example, use it for wet batters because the appliance rapidly circulates air that will just blow the coating off of your food. You can't stir-fry in an air fryer because the sealed basket removes that possibility. While the device makes crispy French fries, they won't quite taste the same because frying oil actually contributes a lot of flavor and texture to the fries.

Critical opinions of air fryers tend to focus on them being marketed as cutting-edge alternatives to frying. One of the more common complaints about these cooking devices is that they're just small convection ovens. In that sense, there's nothing new about them worth hyping. A writer for Business Insider found that their air fryer made "fried" foods dry instead of crisp and that any promises of faster cooking times were offset by significantly longer cleanup times compared to a regular oven.

However, these appliances are actually worth the hype if you break away from their image as a brand new tech that provides an alternative to frying — emphasis on the "frying." Because of how air fryers work, they give results closer to baking, but at a rate much faster than traditional ovens. This opens up a lot of possibilities for cooking that have hype-worthy results more often than not.

Reddit users have raved about all sorts of uses for air fryers, including roasting poultry, reheating pizza, quickly cooking up all sorts of frozen foods, and even hard-boiling eggs. While these countertop appliances aren't too great at cooking traditionally deep-fried foods, they're fantastic at crisping up previously fried leftovers. You can even get creative with their capabilities and make perfect poached eggs in an air fryer.

Baking is also an option, albeit with a few adjustments. Since air fryers circulate heat much more aggressively than a convection oven, you'll need to trim down both the temperature and baking time of your recipes. King Arthur Baking Company recommends going 25 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the recipe calls for and baking for about 75% to 80% of the recommended time. Some foods turn out better than others in the air fryer, but this chocolate chip cookie recipe should work if you want to practice baking with the appliance.

Air fryers may be overhyped when it comes to actual frying. However, if you treat them as smaller, turbo-powered convection ovens, you might be significantly less disappointed with these appliances. As long as you avoid the most common mistakes people make with air fryers, you'll be getting good results out of yours.