The best air fryer ovenson April 29, 2024 at 15:40 Tech Advisor

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If you need more cooking space, or if you’ve all but abandoned your inbuilt oven for the speed and ease of air fryer cooking, an air fryer oven could be the answer.

Air fryers are actually just very efficient mini convection ovens. They don’t fry at all – they cook by circulating hot air around food. An air fryer oven uses convection in the same way, but it’s built just like a small oven, with a pull-down door and moveable racks for food. You can also use it to toast bread and bagels, and it may have a grill or rotisserie function.

On the plus side, an air fryer oven will give you plenty of space: enough to cook an entire pizza, or a whole chicken or joint of meat. Their versatility also means you can dispense with some countertop clutter, including the need for a dedicated toaster. On the minus side, they’ll take up a lot more of your workspace and, because of their larger size, won’t be as cheap to run as a single-drawer air fryer.

Why you should trust us

Tech Advisor has been reviewing air fryers since 2021 and in that time, we’ve tested all types – smart, dual drawer, oven and combination – from major and independent brands. It puts us in a strong position to be able to compare models and recommend those that are the best value and best performing. We don’t rely on manufacturers’ specs or use a testing centre. Instead, we take the air fryer home and use it in place of our usual cooking appliances for several weeks. We think that’s the best way to find out how well they perform in everyday life.

We’ve also got round-ups of the best air fryers of every type and brand and the best Ninja air fryers and cookers.

Read on for our top recommendations.

Best air fryer ovens

1. Sage/Breville smart oven air fryer – Best air fryer oven

Pros

Ten functions with programmed presets

Nicely made accessories

Great results

High quality design and build

Cons

Sides get hot

No clock

Expensive

Price When Reviewed:



£299.95

If you’re in the US, you can buy this appliance under the Breville brand name. In the UK, it’s Sage.

The smart oven air fryer is a microwave-sized countertop air fryer oven with ten separate cooking functions: toast (6 slices), crumpet, grill, bake, roast, warm, pizza, air fry, reheat and slow cook. The model we tested is in a bright, brushed stainless-steel silver, although there are other colour options: there’s a choice of eleven in the US. It’s high quality and beautifully made and will be an aesthetic asset to your worktop, unlike many competing models.

It has an LCD display and button and dial controls. Inside the oven are three shelf heights and it comes with a set of high quality accessories: a 30cm/12in pizza pan, a wire shelf, a grilling rack, a roasting pan, an air-frying basket, and crumb tray.

But it’s when cooking that this appliance really shines, producing crispy and flavourful food. This may be down to the ElementIQ system, which uses a smart algorithm and sensors to control the temperature perfectly and evenly. You’re paying more for its high quality build and performance but if your budget can stretch to it, we think it’s well worth it.

Read our full

Sage smart oven air fryer review

2. Tefal Easy Fry air fryer oven – 10 cooking functions

Pros

10 functions

20L capacity

Air frying basket

No need to preheat

Cons

Accessories not dishwasher safe

Large worktop footprint

Needs substantial space around it

Price When Reviewed:



£249.99

The Tefal Easy Fry air fryer oven is faster and cheaper to cook in than a conventional oven and has a huge, 20-litre capacity. It’s versatile as well, with ten cooking functions and seven preset programmes, including bake, grill, toast, roast and pizza, as well as two manual modes for toasting bagels and reheating, plus an automatic keep warm setting.

It comes with all the accessories you’ll need, including wire racks, an air fryer basket, a crumb tray and food tray. These aren’t dishwasher-safe, however, so you’ll need to clean them regularly by hand to prevent cooking residue build-up.

The oven itself isn’t quite as easy to clean as a standard air fryer, and it doesn’t have a shake/turn function midway through the cooking programme. You’ll also need plenty of counter space to house it. But if you’re a big or busy household, it’ll give you more options and a simpler way to cook.

Read our full

Tefal Easy Fry air fryer oven review

3. Cosori air fryer oven – Best budget air fryer oven

Pros

11 functions

Compact

Good range of accessories

Cons

Rattly

Small internal cabinet

Significant steam venting

Price When Reviewed:



£159.99

This Cosori air fryer oven has a 13QT/12L capacity and comes with a range of accessories to help you make the most of its 11 functions: a drip tray, a baking tray, two air fryer trays, a rotisserie basket, and a rotisserie spit with spiked fork and a handle. All accessories have a non-stick coating and, aside from the drip tray, are dishwasher safe.

It’s controlled via a touchscreen panel, from which you can choose one of the cooking functions (air fry, roast, broil, bake, pizza, toast, reheat, warm, dry, proof and rotisserie) and adjust time and temperature. The air fryer oven has a cooking range of from 30°C/90°F (for proofing dough and yoghurt-making) to 220°C/430°F (air frying and roasting). Different cooking modes will also use a low or high fan speed and each one has a time range. The toast setting has the option to choose darkness level as well as a flip reminder.

During testing, we were impressed with its speed and the quality of its cooking but the tradeoff for its budget-friendly price is that it’s a little noisy and rattly in operation. About that price: there is usually a voucher deal on Amazon, which will give you a significant amount off the RRP/MSRP.

Read our full

Cosori air fryer oven review

4. HySapientia 26QT/24-litre – Huge capacity

Pros

Stainless steel build

Huge capacity

Crispy results

Faster and cheaper than an oven

Cons

Annoying control panel

Feels like overkill for for small volumes of food

Maximum one-hour cooking time

Price When Reviewed:



£199.99

Best Prices Today:



£134.99 at Amazon

This air fryer oven is the largest we’ve tested, with a whopping 26QT/24-litre capacity. It’s also one of the rare air fryers made from stainless steel (along with other food-grade metals), which means it looks a lot better and brighter on your kitchen counter than many of its rivals. But you’ll need plenty of room to house it.

This HySapientia model is cheaper to run than you may think, especially if you’re cooking for a larger group. You can cook an entire family meal in it, and it’ll cost much less than in a traditional oven. It produces very crispy food as well – perhaps because there’s plenty of room for hot air to circulate. It comes with plenty of accessories, including a rotisserie spit – making it a versatile option.

However, its huge size means you’re heating up much more space than you need to if you just want to cook a couple of fish fingers for the kids. And we didn’t love its control panel. It’s largely dial-operated, where a touchscreen would be preferable, and makes a lot of annoying beeps as you choose your settings.

Read our full

HySapientia 26QT/ 24-litre air fryer oven review

5. Breville Halo Air Fryer Rotisserie – Rotisserie function

Pros

Rotisserie spit and basket

3 cooking surfaces

Easy to use

Cons

Max 1.3kg rotisserie weight

Used accessories may require a pre-wash soak

Changing oven light might be tricky

Price When Reviewed:



£169.99

The Breville Halo Air Fryer Rotisserie Oven comes with a mesh drum, for cooking food such as chips, as well as a rotisserie spit. Its 10-litre capacity is large enough to cook a joint of meat, but not so overwhelming that it seems wasteful to cook small volumes of food.

It’s versatile as well: it can do everything that a traditional air fryer can, and then some. The rotisserie spit is good for a whole, 1.3kg chicken and the drum can hold 750g of chips.

It has touchscreen controls, and you can opt for one of the pre-set cooking programmes (chips, chicken, vegetables, and steak) or one of the manual options (air fry, bake and dehydrate).  

Another handy feature is that it’ll switch itself off after cooking, so your food won’t be burnt to a crisp if you get distracted during the cooking process.

Read our full

Breville Halo Air Fryer Rotisserie Oven review

6. Drew & Cole Microwave Air Fryer Oven Combo – Microwave Plus

Pros

3-in-1 appliance

Multiple preset programmes

Grill racks and oven tray

25-litre capacity

Cons

Much slower than standalone air fryer

Large worktop footprint

Limited guidance for programmes

Price When Reviewed:



£199.99

Best Prices Today:



£179.99 at Amazon

If you’re determined to cut down on countertop clutter and tend to use a microwave more than an air fryer, this appliance could be what you need. It can oven cook, grill, microwave and air fry, and its handy presets can combine a few of those methods for faster, crispier results. Plus, there are plenty of presets, such as defrost and reheat, which are ideal for busy lifestyles.

It has a good range of nine air fry presets, including steak, burgers, vegetables and fish/prawns. However, unlike standalone air fryers, there’s no suggested air frying temperature for each one.

In our tests, we found that air frying is the weakest of its functions, quite literally: its lower, 1000W air fryer power means that it’s much slower than dedicated air fryers. Much better are the combined functions, for example the chicken programme, which uses microwaving and convection heat together, and which produced perfectly cooked chicken, with a crispy skin.

Read our full

Drew & Cole Microwave Air Fryer Oven Combo review

7. Proscenic T31 – Smart features

Pros

Rotisserie accessories

Efficient cooking

Companion app

Cons

App is confusing and sometimes slow

Design isn’t premium

Takes up a huge chunk of space

Price When Reviewed:



£179

What this air fryer offers – beyond a huge, 15-litre capacity – is a rotisserie and smart features. It can do a lot but it takes up a correspondingly huge chunk of space in your kitchen and, at 1700W, it won’t be as cheap to run as a smaller air fryer. If you’re looking for an air fryer that you can use in place of an oven, this could be what you’ve been searching for. It also comes with all the rotisserie equipment and accessories you’ll need.

Via the smart features, you can switch the oven on, control the temperature and programme remotely, which is useful if you need to be in another room. You’ll also have access to a library of recipes if you need cooking inspiration.

Bear in mind that the app is not particularly polished and the air fryer itself isn’t as robust as Ninja alternatives.

Read our full

Proscenic T31 review

Air Fryers

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