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Air fryers offer a healthier alternative to deep-frying, cooking up crispy, juicy foods without the extra calories and trans fats that comes from frying in oil.
Crispy chicken wings, french fries, tasty desserts—or anything else that you might deep fry—are just a button push away. Some of our top picks can even do double-duty as a toaster oven or pressure cooker.
After several years of extensive research and testing many dozens of appliances, we can confidently say that the Philips Premium Airfryer XXL (available at Amazon for $299.95) is the best air fryer you can buy. It yields results closest to conventionally deep-fried food. And, once the cooking is done, most of its parts are dishwasher safe, making cleanup a cinch.
If you're looking for a more budget-friendly option, our best value pick is the Cosori Air Fryer Max XL 5.8-Quart (available at Amazon) which cooks food evenly at a low price.
We also recommend the Cuisinart AirFryer Toaster Oven (available at Amazon) if you prefer an appliance that can really multitask.
These are the best air fryers we tested ranked, in order:
Philips Premium Airfryer XXL Cosori Air Fryer Max XL 5.8-Quart Cuisinart Compact AirFryer Cuisinart AirFryer Toaster Oven Dash Deluxe 6-Quart Ninja Air Fryer Ninja Foodi Dash Compact Breville Smart Oven Air GoWise 8-in-1 Air Fryer XL 5.9 Qt. Krups Easy Fry Deluxe Digital Air Fryer 4.2 L Farberware 3.2-Quart Digital Oil-Less Fryer Krups Fry Delight Power Air Fryer XL Black and Decker 2L Purifry Instant Vortex Plus NuWave Brio Digital Air Fryer 6 Quart Oster DuraCeramic Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
What makes the Philips Airfryer XXL our best overall is that it’s consistently the very best at air frying, even with large family-size portions.
Best Overall Philips Premium Airfryer XXL
The Philips Airfryer XXL was the most user-friendly air fryer we tested, making it our top choice. During testing, I tasted a ton of french fries and this appliance made the ones that I couldn’t stop noshing on. They had the combination of crunchiness, tenderness, and potato flavor that make great fries so delectable. Even when I loaded the basket with more than 3 pounds of frozen fries, they all came out crispy. Battered Nashville hot chicken came out with a crackling crust as if it had been deep-fried, and hamburgers rivaled ones made on the grill with the Philips Airfryer.
What makes the Philips Airfryer our top pick is that it’s consistently the very best at air frying, even with large family-size portions of healthier fried foods. And you can sense that for top dollar, you’re getting a solid well-built machine. If you cook for a discerning crew that really likes fried food but not the fat, we think the Philips is definitely worth the investment.
That said, the XXL is a big, heavy, and very expensive machine that’s noisier than most of its competitors while it’s operating. It doesn’t have digital controls and therefore it’s hard to set the temperature and cooking times precisely. With a few more parts than most, there’s more to clean and while all of the parts are dishwasher safe, the air fryer basket will eat up considerable shelf and counter space. However, it’s still relatively easy to use—no preheat is required—and the results are worth the payoff. An easy-to-read recipe book with lots of cooking ideas is also included.
Pros
Huge capacity
No preheat required
Foods come out crispy
Cons
Expensive
Takes up a lot of space
Noisy and Heavy
$299.95 from Amazon Credit: Cosori
The Cosori Premium 5.8-Quart Air Fryer is our best value pick because it's great at air frying and just over $100.
Best Value Cosori Air Fryer Max XL 5.8-Quart
The Cosori Premium 5.8-Quart rivals the Philips XXL for air frying prowess and costs about a third the price, making it a very good value indeed. Even a large load of two pounds of frozen crinkle fries came out well browned and crispy.
The appliance is big, boxy, and unlike many models, not at all bad-looking. It has digital controls with preset cooking programs for a variety of foods that work well. You do have to manually preheat the oven before you select your setting, but halfway through cooking a helpful beep will remind you to shake or rearrange your food.
It takes a little bit of effort to pull out and replace the baskets—we found the inner basket especially tricky to remove as you have to slide a small safety cover and then depress a button before lifting it out. After cooking you can chuck both pieces in the dishwasher. The Cosori comes with a paperback cookbook packed with tasty-looking recipes and color photos.
Pros
Inexpensive
Large capacity
Food comes out crispy
Digital controls
Parts are nonstick and dishwasher safe
Cons
Basket is tricky to remove
$99.98 from Amazon
$140.00 from Walmart Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
The Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven worked as well, and in some cases, better than air fryers at browning and crisping.
Best Multipurpose Air Fryer Cuisinart AirFryer Toaster Oven
While not inexpensive, the Cuisinart Airfryer Toaster Oven is definitely cheaper, not to mention more space-efficient, than buying two relatively large countertop kitchen appliances. It comes with an air fryer basket to be used along with a specific setting. I found it worked as well, and in some cases, its heat element was better at browning and crisping than other appliances we tested. In addition, it toasted exceptionally evenly.
Unlike most models in this price category, it doesn’t have digital controls, which keeps it from being our top choice. While it’s not a huge appliance, it is taller than typical toaster ovens. It accommodates two pounds of fries, six slices of bread, and according to Cuisinart, a four-pound chicken. If you love to toss everything in the dishwasher, be aware that all the parts need to be cleaned by hand. But unless you already have a toaster oven that you love, the Cuisinart is a good buy for its versatility.
To read our reviews of all the multipurpose models we tested—including Gourmia Digital Oven, Yedi Total Package, Emeril Power AirFryer 360 Plus, and Cosori Air Fry Toaster Oven—see our guide to the top Air Fryer Toaster Ovens.
Pros
It's a toaster, countertop oven, and air fryer
Foods come out crispy
Toasts evenly
Cons
Controls aren't digital
Parts aren't nonstick
Not dishwasher safe
Buy now at Amazon
$199.95 from Home Depot
$199.95 from Abt
$199.95 from Walmart How We Tested The Tester
Hi, I'm Sharon Franke, and I’ve been reviewing kitchen equipment for more than 30 years. Before that, I worked as a professional chef in NYC restaurants for seven years. Now I’m an avid home cook. While I’ve made French fries and pan-fried chicken cutlets countless times, they’re not in heavy rotation in my house these days. Just like you, I want to avoid the oil and all that work that comes with frying. That’s why I was thrilled to test air fryers and see if they could satisfy my hankerings for crispy food, fat, and fuss-free.
The Tests
To find the top performers, over the past few years, I've tested dozens of air fryers, including appliances that can double as toaster ovens or multi-cookers. Each appliance was rated on how well it cooked fresh and frozen French fries and chicken nuggets.
Since each appliance is unique, you’ll be relying on the manual to get started. I checked to see if each explained how to use the product thoroughly, provided guidelines for cooking specific foods, and included recipes. I considered how easy it was to use the controls, slide the basket in and out, and of course clean up. As you may not cook with this appliance daily or even weekly, I checked to see how easy it would be to stash away, too. I also took note of customer reviews on Amazon and other popular retailers.
Credit: Reviewed / Sharon Franke
In order to test air fryers, we cooked up dozens of batches of french fries and nuggets, as well as Nashville hot chicken and burgers.
How Do Air Fryers Work?
For starters, it's not actually a fryer, but rather a countertop convection oven that circulates hot air around foods in a basket. Using at most a half tablespoon of oil, the appliance will brown and crisp up food but not as evenly as frying.
And things don’t always come out with the same combination of allover crunchiness and perfect tenderness as they do when they’re dropped in hot oil. However, thes appliances don't require more than a few minutes to preheat, which means from start to finish they deliver the goods faster than deep- or oven-frying. Plus, I discovered they didn’t give off any cooking odors, so your house never smells like a chicken shack.
What Can I Cook in an Air Fryer?
A good air fryer can also be used as an oven to bake, broil and help cook meats, casseroles, or even desserts. They are, of course, limited by their size and don’t offer any advantage here over a traditional oven. But if you use your oven for storage, it tends to heat up the kitchen, or you often wish you had an extra oven, these countertop appliances can come in handy.
One thing to know: These kitchen tools are big and oddly shaped, so they take up a lot of countertop space and aren’t easy to store.
Bottom line: If you find crispy foods irresistible but want to avoid the fat, this might be just what you're looking for.
What are the Best Recipes to Make?
It depends on how creative you can get! Meats, vegetables, and even baked goods can work. Plus there are tons of air fryer recipe books on the market now.
Some popular cooking options include:
Vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, squash—essentially anything you would roast on a baking sheet Meat dishes, such as breaded chicken, battered chicken, bacon, burgers, and hot dogs Frozen foods like chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, tater tots, onion rings, and french fries Baked goods such as donuts, fritters, and funnel cake Air-Frying Tips
Reviewed cooking staff writer Valerie Li offers this air-frying advice:
Preheat before cooking to prevent food from over-cooking. In general, preheat the appliance at 375°F for three to five minutes, depending on the size of the fryer.
Use baking powder if you are making chicken wings. By coating the wings in baking powder, the peptide bond in chicken skin will break down due to an increase in the pH level. This will allow the chicken skin to become crispy and brown.
Lay all food as flat as possible. An overly-crowded frying basket can lead to unevenly fried foods and unwanted burns. To avoid this, make sure you divide the food and cook only small batches at a time. This is especially important if you’re heating frozen fries—the water can make them soggy!
Frying starchy food produces acrylamide. One common way to decrease starch content is to blanch ingredients before cooking.
Other Air Fryers We Tested Cuisinart Compact AirFryer
Unlike most of these appliances, the Cuisinart Compact AirFryer isn’t oddly shaped like a huge egg or space capsule. Rather it’s a big stainless-steel cube that looks like a truncated toaster oven. While its boxy shape helps it fit more neatly on a countertop or in a cabinet, the Cuisinart still takes up a bit of countertop real estate (in spite of its name).
You’ll find the Cuisinart is a relatively uncomplicated appliance in terms of heating elements. It doesn’t have cooking preset programs for specific foods or additional functions like “keep warm” or dehydrate, to make the cooking process easier. You simply turn dials to set the temperature and the cooking time, and there’s no need to preheat. There’s also a straightforward manual that includes recipes to get you started.
Since it has a wide basket, food can be spread out to get more even and crispy results with relatively quick cooking times without the food drying out. Most others force you to pile the food on top of each other, which can create uneven results. Using the Cuisinart Compact AirFryer, homemade fries looked and tasted like they had been bobbing in a deep fryer vat of oil.
Neither the stainless-steel basket nor the drip pan is dishwasher safe, so it’s not necessarily easy to clean. When you cook drippy battered items like tempura shrimp or onion rings, you may need to use a little effort to get them spotless. However, if you’re looking for an appliance to air fry and do it well, and don’t want to pay an exorbitant amount, this Cuisinart is well worth your consideration even though it wasn’t our top pick.
Pros
Uncomplicated to program
Doesn't require preheating
Foods come out crispy
Helpful manual
Cons
Controls aren't digital
Parts are not dishwasher safe or nonstick
$99.95 from Amazon
$99.95 from Home Depot
$99.95 from Abt
$99.95 from Bloomingdale's Dash Deluxe 6Qt Air Fryer
Food comes out browned and crispy from the Dash Deluxe 6-Quart Air Fryer as long as you don’t overload it. Although it’s dubbed a 6-quart model, the basket has a small diameter so it holds less food in one layer than larger models, like the Philips Airfryer XXL.
While this model doesn’t have digital controls, it's very simple to operate; simply turn the temperature and time dials for a two-step process that’s totally intuitive. If you’re tired of boring-looking appliances, the Dash comes in glossy red or aqua as well as white and black.
Even though you have to hand wash the baskets, they're nonstick and easy to get clean.
Pros
Food comes out crispy
Simple to operate
Multiple colors available
Cons
Controls aren’t digital
Basket is tricky to remove
Parts are not dishwasher safe
$79.99 from Amazon Ninja Air Fryer
The Ninja Air Fryer performed so well, you could have convinced me that both breaded and battered chicken pieces were fried in a cast iron skillet. French fries came close to the real thing but didn’t have quite the allover crunch that you get from a fryer or the Philips (which can even crisp up a whole bag of frozen french fries at once). However, the Ninja is about a quarter of the price of the Philips and is nowhere near as big or heavy.
On the Ninja, you’ll find digital controls and settings for reheating, roasting, and dehydrating. More options make for more complicated programming but after a few cooks, you’ll easily master the necessary steps. The nonstick coated basket can be chucked in the dishwasher. With this appliance, you also get a stainless-steel rack for multilevel cooking.
Pros
An air fryer and multi-cooker in one
Digital controls
Food comes out crispy
Cons
Very large and heavy
Cookbook not helpful
Noisy
Buy now at Amazon
$129.99 from Target
$119.99 from Home Depot
$99.99 from Best Buy Ninja Foodi
I admit to having had a healthy dose of skepticism when it came to the Ninja Foodi, an appliance that in addition to being an air fryer is also a pressure cooker and a slow cooker. Well, I’m here to tell you that it not only does both, but it also does them both well. In fact, it cooked the crunchiest, most well-browned results in our cook-off, plus it pressures cooks as well as any I’ve ever tested (Reviewed named it the top upgrade pick in its best pressure cookers guide, too.)
If you like, you can even combine the two functions, pressure cooking a chicken and then browning and crisping the skin on the air-fry setting. Additional programs on the Foodi allow you to broil, dehydrate, steam, slow cook, and sauté, making it the most versatile multicooker on the market. One thing of note: During air frying mode, it’s noisier than most.
As you would expect with so many options, it takes a little practice to get a hang of programming the digital controls. However, the screen is well designed with large easy to read lettering.
The Foodi is space-saving compared to owning both an air fryer and a multi-cooker, but it is a large, heavy appliance that you won’t want to be lifting in and out of a cabinet. It’s worth giving it a dedicated place on a countertop if you plan to take advantage of its versatility and use it often. Considering the multi-functionality of this machine, I wish the cookbook that comes with it was better organized and had recipes and charts for all of the functions. The basket and the pot are nonstick coated and safe for dishwasher cleaning, but the lids require TLC.
Pros
Cooks very well
Includes air fryer function
Versatile
Cons
Expensive
Oversized
Buy now at Amazon
$169.99 from Home Depot
$169.99 from Blain Farm & Fleet Dash Compact
This little guy is just so darn cute you can’t help loving it (It's probably why so many Amazon reviewers go gaga for it). The Dash Compact does a decent job of “frying” as long as you confine it to about a half-pound of food at a time. No preheating is required but, to achieve great results, you need to toss or turn items a few times during cooking.
With its dial controls, you can’t set the Dash precisely. For the most part, the manual is helpful and even includes a few recipes, but some of the temperatures specified in the charts and recipes are different from the ones printed on the machine. You have to guess where to set the dial between 320° and 400°F if you want to cook at 350° or 390°F.
The basket has a nonstick coating and is small enough to go in the dishwasher without hogging too much space. You can choose the Dash with a glossy red, aqua, white, or black exterior.
Pros
Small
Doesn't require preheating
basket is nonstick and dishwasher safe
Cons
Controls aren't digital
Cooks only one-half pound of food well
$49.60 from Amazon
$49.99 from Target
$49.99 from Bed Bath & Beyond Breville Smart Oven Air
You pay top dollar for the handsome brushed stainless-steel Breville Smart Oven Air, but you get a state-of-the-art toaster oven in addition to an air fryer, which consistently turned out crispy food and chicken nuggets that tasted fried. The digital controls are intuitive to program and include automatic preheat. The Breville also has a bright oven light.
Although it’s large even by toaster oven standards, it can truly replace your oven. No need for special toaster oven-sized cookware here. And Breville claims it can accommodate a 14-pound turkey.
I do have one major quibble with this product. The manual doesn’t contain any recommendations for what, how much, or how long to cook various foods. This may not be a problem for baking or roasting, but if you’re new to air frying, you’re on your own when you’re getting started. Also, keep in mind all of the parts require hand washing.
Pros
It's an air fryer, toaster, and countertop oven
Has digital controls
Foods come out crispy
Cons
Large
Manual isn't helpful
Parts aren't dishwasher safe
Buy now at Sur La Table
$399.95 from Amazon
$399.95 from Abt
$399.95 from Bloomingdale's GoWISE USA 8-in-1 Air Fryer XL
The GoWise 8-in-1 does very well and has some nice advantages. In addition to a large capacity, it has digital controls with eight preprogrammed settings (hence the name) and an alarm that you can set to remind you to toss food during cooking. It doesn’t require preheating and the basket is both nonstick coated and dishwasher safe. With the GoWise USA, you get a cookbook to give you lots of recipe ideas. In addition to black and white, you can choose from red and purple housing.
Pros
Doesn't require preheating
Has digital controls
Includes recipe book
Cons
Basket is tricky to remove
$69.95 from Amazon Krups Fast Fry Deluxe Digital
Thanks to its barrel shape and stainless-steel housing, the Krups East Fry Deluxe Digital Air Fyer 4.2 L is one of the classier looking appliances on the market. It yields respectable results, giving foods crunch and light browning, but I doubt you’d be able to hoodwink anyone into believing their fried chicken dinner came out of a deep-fat fryer.
It has digital controls and automatic programs for basics like fries and chicken as well as for more unusual ones like grilling and cake. The instructions for preheating in the manual are confusing and during testing, I never heard a preheat beep. In the charts, temperatures are given which don’t match up with the ones shown on the display. While the basket can go in the dishwasher, its nonstick coating makes cleanup relatively easy if you opt for handwashing.
Pros
Digital controls
Basket is nonstick and dishwasher safe
Cons
Requires preheating
Only gives food light crunch and browning
Buy now at Amazon Farberware 3.2-Quart Digital Oil-Less Fryer
One of the most reasonably priced air fryers you can buy, the Farberware 3.2-Quart Digital Oil-Less Fryer does a pretty good job of crisping and browning, especially when it comes to frozen foods. You do have to be sure to preheat and flip foods over to get even results. As the manual didn’t explain the usage as clearly as it could have, there was a little bit of a learning curve to get up to speed. When it’s time to pull the basket out, it sticks a little. However, if the price is your main concern, you can’t beat the Farberware, and it even comes with a cookbook. It comes in black and in white.
Pros
Reasonably priced
Includes a Cookbook
Basket is nonstick and dishwasher safe
Cons
Requires preheating
Basket is tricky to remove
$59.88 from Walmart Krups Fry Delight
While the Krups Fry Delight won’t give you quite as crunchy results as the others we tested, it also won’t empty your bank account. Before the most recent round of testing, it was my best value pick. I love its square design which not only looks more attractive but makes it easy to stash away. While this is one of the smaller models, it can still hold up to a pound and a half of fries, 4 chicken pieces, or a pound of meat. It doesn’t have digital controls and you have to fiddle a bit to set the cooking temp and time correctly. As the grid at the bottom of the basket isn’t nonstick coated, it takes a bit of elbow grease to get it clean. But for the money and the size, the Krups is a good choice. Select either a black or white housing.
Pros
Reasonably priced
Holds a lot of food for its size
Easy to store
Cons
No digital controls
Difficult to clean
Buy now at Amazon Power Air Fryer XL
Although it’s a little smaller in size and capacity than other models, the Power Air Fryer XL can cook and crisp about one pound of food at once. It has digital controls with cooking preset programs. I found it somewhat generic in appearance and the basket doesn’t glide out as smoothly as on some. But on the positive side, it cleans up in the dishwasher, comes with a recipe booklet, and won’t set you back a bundle.
Pros
Digital controls
Holds a lot of food for its size
Basket is nonstick and dishwasher safe
Cons
Basket sticks when it's removed
$79.00 from Amazon
$98.99 from Bed Bath & Beyond Black and Decker 2L Purifry
The egg-shaped Black and Decker 2L Purifry is not all that much smaller in size than other air fryers but has a much smaller basket. Black and Decker only recommend that you cook a half-pound of fries or one burger at a time. While it gives good results, it seems like if you’re dedicating so much counter space to an appliance, you should be able to cook enough food for four at once.
Plus, the air fryer basket didn’t glide in and out easily. Like many, it doesn’t have digital controls so it’s hard to set precisely. But my biggest complaint is that the numbers are so small that I literally needed to use a magnifying glass to set the temperature. Finishes are available in black and white.
Pros
Reasonably priced
Foods come out crispy
Cons
No digital controls
Doesn't hold a lot of food for its size
Difficult to read settings
$59.99 from Amazon
$65.00 from Home Depot
$75.36 from Wayfair Instant Vortex Plus
This is an example of a product that is seriously handicapped by its manual. Unless you already have experience with air frying, we’d recommend you avoid the Instant Vortex Plus, the first air fryer from Instant Pot. The “Getting Started Guide” comes with few suggestions as to what to cook and no recommendations as to how much to cook. Both a basket and trays are included. While for the most part, the manufacturer suggests air frying in the basket, we got much better browning and crisping when we used a tray.
On the digital control pad, you’ll find five other functions and for them, too, you’re left in the dark as to what and how much to cook and for how long. The most unique feature is a rotisserie, but there’s definitely a learning curve for figuring out how to insert the spit and get a chicken rotating in the oven. If you are willing to put in some trial and error, you will be satisfied with the cooking results from the Vortex Plus. On the plus side, there’s a bright interior light and the parts are dishwasher safe.
Pros
Includes a rotisserie
Bright interior light
Good cooking results
Cons
Manual not helpful
Confusing to use
$119.99 from Target
$119.99 from Macy's NuWave Brio Digital 6 Quart
The NuWave Brio Digital is on the large size and has a big capacity. In our tests, it cooked more unevenly and gave less browning and crisping than others. Thanks to digital controls that are easy to read and program, I did find it particularly convenient to use. It has a built in preheat setting and preprogrammed settings for things like fries and nuggets that you’re likely to cook. A divider for the basket is included so that you can air fry two foods at once and keep them from mingling. In the manual, there’s a slew of recipes to help you get good use out of your air fryer. While the parts are dishwasher safe, a top rack only is recommended and the basket may be too large for the upper shelf.
Pros
Holds a lot of food
Has digital controls
Cons
Large
Foods don't come out crispy
Buy now at Amazon
$119.99 from Wayfair Oster DuraCeramic
Unlike most, the Oster DuraCeramic is round and has a see-through lid so you can see what’s cooking. It has a detachable handle that you clip on to the bowl to remove it after air frying but I found it tricky to use. For cooking items like fries, there’s a mechanism to use the fryer in a tilted position to eliminate the need to shake or toss during cooking. In our cook-off, the Oster took the longest to cook and gave the least crispy results of everything tested.
Pros
See-through lid
Cons
Foods don't come out crispy
Long cooking times
$131.99 from Amazon
$159.99 from Target
$120.79 from Walmart More Articles You Might Enjoy I hated my air fryer—until I learned this one trick The Best Meal Kit Delivery Services The Best Toaster Ovens The Best Slow Cookers
