The Best Air Fryers

Our winning air fryer was the first model we’ve tested that delivers on its promise to offer an extra-large capacity. Though it’s only a foot tall, this drawer-style model was large enough to fit four chicken cutlets or two 15-ounce bags of frozen french fries, cooking everything to crispy, golden perfection. We were even able to cook a whole 4-pound chicken in it. A quick 2-minute preheat ensured that the interior was hot when we added food. The wide drawer-style basket was easy to remove and insert—and our hands were safeguarded from the heating element—and its sturdy handle allowed us to shake its contents for easy redistribution. Intuitive digital controls (including a simple knob to set the time and temperature) were brightly lit and easy to operate. This fryer is a great option for a family of four or anyone who is looking for more cooking space without adding much bulk. Our one gripe is that the basket liner occasionally fell out when we inverted the basket. We solved this by using tongs to remove food or being more careful when pouring.

This model has the same spacious interior, convenient preheating cycle, and stellar cooking ability as its predecessor. But for a bit more money, it includes a few bells and whistles that we particularly appreciated. It’s quieter than most of the other models in the lineup, and its viewing window allowed us to monitor cooking progress without losing heat. The only smells we detected were from the food we were cooking, and we found the control panel even easier to use than that of our winner. And the basket liner rarely came loose when we inverted it, another improvement over the winner. In sum, it performs well and is well worth paying a bit extra.   

This powerful model included an additional heating element under the basket. As a result, it cooked chicken Parmesan and crisped up frozen fries about 2 to 3 minutes faster than our favorite air fryers, though fries from scratch took about the same amount of time. Its basket was a touch smaller than those of our favorites, so chicken cutlets were cramped, though they still cooked evenly. We liked its simple digital controls and thought its smart-home compatibility was usually helpful with the rare signal drop or misunderstanding of a voice command. We only disliked its bulk; it took up too much space under our cabinets.

We love this machine’s slim, compact footprint, and we liked that its nonstick cooking basket was simple to clean and had a removable bottom for deeper cleaning. Its digital controls and dial-operated menu made setting the time and temperature easy and intuitive. It automatically stopped cooking as soon as the set time was up, and its drawer allowed us to remove its cooking basket without exposing our hands to the heating element. While it can’t hold as much food as our winner can, it can handle small batches of frozen foods or air-fryer recipes intended to serve two people.

While this air fryer’s digital controls weren’t quite as intuitive as those of our favorite models, it was still easy to set the time and temperature once we got the hang of the multiple buttons. It cooked foods quickly, and its display was bright, large, and easy to read. Its drawer and automatic shutoff were a boon to safety, and its nonstick interior was easy to clean. Its small capacity wouldn’t work for a crowd, but it cooked our recipes for two and small batches of frozen fries without issue.

This small model’s stature and footprint make it easy to store, but it’s large enough to cook small batches of frozen foods and our recipes evenly and quickly. Its nonstick interior was easy to clean, but its analog temperature and timer dials weren’t as precise as digital controls.

This model sported a powerful “Max Crisp” function that allowed it to reach 450 degrees and cook food quickly, if unevenly. We liked that its digital controls were simple to use. But while its cooking basket was deep, holding a full 2 pounds of frozen fries, it was too narrow to fit four chicken cutlets in a single layer, limiting its usefulness for larger recipes. The unit was tall and heavy with a cooking tray with silicone bumpers that clung tightly to the walls of its cooking basket and was hard to extract. We were also frustrated that it didn’t automatically pause its timer when we removed the basket to shake or turn food. 

This model took up more counter space than its smaller, 3.7-quart counterpart, and its cooking basket was a bit deeper, but its cooking surface was only about ½ inch wider. There wasn’t enough room to cook double batches of our recipes, and when we tried making two bags of frozen french fries, they were undercooked, with the fries toward the center being flabby and raw—even though we frequently tossed them throughout cooking. Still, this model cooked single batches as well as the smaller version.

This flip-top model had an interface with buttons that were intuitive to use. It had an exposed heating element on the inside of the lid, making us a little nervous we’d bump it and get burned. It had a small capacity, only fitting one 15-ounce bag of french fries or two chicken cutlets at a time. It cooked those cutlets well, producing juicy interiors and golden, crisp exteriors, but the fries cooked a bit unevenly, with fries toward the outside crisping more quickly than those on the inside. Because this machine has a flip-top design, we had to toss food using tongs, which mangled some fries in the process. As a multicooker, it was straightforward to use but delivered mushy pressure-cooked beans and slow-cooked beef stew with undercooked vegetables.

Despite touting an 11.6-quart capacity, this model couldn’t really handle much more food than smaller drawer-style air fryers. Single layers of food cooked evenly and quickly, crisping up nicely. But food placed on the upper rack blocked heat from reaching the lower rack, resulting in unevenly cooked food. Its metal racks (called “fry baskets”) trapped baked-on cheese and molasses and were tedious to clean.

This flip-top model had a completely exposed heating element in its heavy lid, which made us worry that we’d burn ourselves or smash a finger when shutting it. The machine was capable of holding two 15-ounce bags of french fries in its tall basket insert, but it cooked them unevenly, with totally undercooked, limp fries in the center of the basket and burnt fries around the exterior. When we used just one bag of fries, they were evenly cooked and crispy throughout. The machine had wire rack inserts that enabled us to cook in layers, holding up to four chicken cutlets, but this delivered uneven results too, with pale, undercooked chicken on the bottom and burned chicken on the top that was nearly touching the heating element in the lid. It was a little frustrating to use There’s a slider on the lid that you have to shift to reveal all the settings under “Pressure,” “Steamcrisp,” or “Air Fry/Stovetop”; this takes a bit of time. We enjoyed using this machine as a multicooker, achieving great pressure-cooked and slow-cooked beef stew and baked beans.

Our hopes for an easy-to-use oven-style model were dashed with this air fryer. The instructions say to use an included rotisserie basket—a rotating mesh barrel designed to cook food more evenly—when cooking fries and other small foods. We found this accessory frustrating to open, fill, close, insert, and remove—especially when the metal was hot—and its cramped interior did little to ensure even cooking. We had better results when we prepared small batches of fries using the perforated oven-style racks. But the racks didn’t help us prepare larger batches: When we doubled our Air-Fryer Chicken Parmesan recipe and used two racks, the cutlets cooked unevenly. In short, this oven-style air fryer offers little advantage over smaller drawer-style fryers when it comes to capacity.

The first copy of this model that we ordered didn’t work properly; it barely heated food at all. The second copy we ordered came without cooking racks. When we procured racks and tested the second copy, we found that it heated up quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, it suffered from the same problem as the other oven-style air fryers: Cooking on multiple racks resulted in unevenly cooked food. This model also came with a frying basket that sported a propeller-like auto-stir attachment. When we tried to cook a double batch of frozen fries in the basket, the attachment completely mangled the fries, and the fries took almost an hour to fully cook. This model’s racks also were difficult to clean and hard to grip with an oven mitt.

Note: This model was recalled due to reports of fire and burn hazards. This model was identical to the other Cosori 5.8-quart model we tested, with an added “smart” capability that allowed us to control it via a mobile app or with voice commands through a digital assistant. We liked being able to control it wirelessly but had occasional minor difficulty with voice commands or signal disruptions. It cooked food effectively and was easy to clean, but it had a smaller capacity than our favorite models, which kept food from cooking as quickly or evenly. Its digital controls were slightly complicated. Its preheat function took a few minutes longer than those of other models, and the preheat cycle wasn’t automatic, so we had to choose an additional cooking cycle for every recipe. 

Note: This model was recalled due to reports of fire and burn hazards. This model offered a good amount of cooking space—more than most other models in our lineup—and it cooked everything we tested acceptably. We liked that the fryer had an autopause option for when we removed the drawer to turn food. And we appreciated that its nonstick interior basket detached for easy cleaning, though it wasn't as big as those of our favorite models, so larger batches of food cooked a bit more slowly and unevenly. It required a preheating program that made us choose an additional cooking cycle separately, and its controls were slightly frustrating to use.

Another smaller, drawer-style air fryer that could fit easily under cabinets, this analog model had simple controls that were intuitive to set. While it cooked food well and cleaned up easily, testers struggled a bit when sliding the basket into the machine, and it required some jiggering to lock in. As with other analog models, its temperature dial was less precise, and it was easy to knock slightly away from the target temperature.

This basic analog model was compact and easy to use, but its timer stopped working early on in our tests, forcing us to use an alternate timer. Though it comes with a one-year warranty, the company was unresponsive to calls and messages left with the warranty line. A subsequent model we tried didn’t have this problem, however, and made food that was crispy and crunchy.

This analog model was effortless to get up and running: no frills, no presets, just simple time and temperature dials. While it made crispy fries and chicken, we were dismayed by the awful burnt-plastic smell it gave off when cooking, which permeated the food and left chicken wings and french fries inedible. Though the manual says that this smell is from manufacturing grease and should go away within one to two uses, we still noticed it nine tests later, after multiple long cooking projects and washings. Its analog timer dial was a bit difficult to set precisely, and we were disappointed by its small capacity.

Resembling a tabletop model of the Death Star, this flip-top air fryer was too tall to open fully under our cabinets. Its heating element was contained under its heavy lid, which threatened to crash down and burn our hands if we weren’t careful to engage its locking mechanism when checking on the food. Though it was easy to set the time and temperature, we were frustrated that we had to remember to press the start button again whenever we lifted the lid (which was fairly frequently, since many foods need to be shaken for even cooking) or else the unit would eventually reset and turn off.

Testers appreciated this flip-top air fryer’s shorter profile, which allowed it to fit easily under cabinets even when fully opened, as well as its see-through top, which let us check on food as it cooked. However, it relied on its own temperature system; instead of standard degrees, it used “levels 1–4” with no guide to corresponding temperatures. It also came with an optional paddle attachment that was meant to stir the food as it cooked but which mangled both frozen and fresh french fries when we used it. We were perplexed by its interface. The timer was nearly impossible to see and hear; the machine didn’t stop cooking when the timer expired; and it had confusingly labeled buttons, so we had to consult the manual frequently.

This hulking air fryer, which testers compared to a salon hair dryer, hogged our counters with its 17-inch footprint. Its heavy flip-top lid needed 2 feet of vertical clearance to open all the way and lock into place—a safety problem since the main heating element was fully exposed when the lid was open. It came with a whopping 11 attachments. We tried three, all made from a thin metal mesh that warped and stained during use. Many attachments had unclear uses (what exactly does one do with a “steak cage”?), and none had handles to help us remove them from the fryer when hot. Instead, we had to rely on the laughable “lifter” tool, which was essentially a flimsy pair of extra-long tweezers.