I got an air-fryer and it did not change my life

I shocked everyone I knew the day I declared I was buying an air-fryer. For years, I’d scoff when people talked about how amazing they are. What’s so great? It’s just a countertop oven! Perhaps my dislike came from the 20% hipster that still remains in me from my varsity days (urgh, they’re so mainstream 🙄). It could be the hundreds of comments on TASTE’s social media asking “can I make this in the air-fryer” that plague my existence. Whatever the reason, I was firmly set on never having one in my kitchen.

Of all the testimonials praising air-fryers, there was only one that swayed me. I saw a reel demonstrating how air-fryers use much less energy than ovens. In this economy, with the constant electricity tariff hikes (I'm looking at you 18% hike coming in April 2023), this video cracked my anti-air fryer resolve. I'd just moved into my own place (paying bills solo is no joke), and finally had the counter space to accommodate one. It made financial sense, so I caved. I waited for Black Friday because there was no way I was going to pay full price for an appliance I technically hated. I bit my tongue when people made fun of me for caving and told me how much better my life would be. I was going to be the judge of that.

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The first time

To be clear, I'm not anti-air fryer because I hadn’t seen what it can do. My parents have been team air-fryer since 2017. Colleagues who own one gush about it. I see amazing air-fryer recipes on social media all the time (which I successfully recreated in my oven). I just can't get over how people talk about this appliance as if it were a miracle. So I had high expectations and slight hope that I would be proved wrong. I'd invested in one now – I didn't want my purchase to be a waste.

The first thing I made was a butternut-and-chickpea salad. It’s one of my go-to recipes because it’s easy, delicious and quick to make. Not with the air-fryer though… I spent about an hour looking up the optimal times to air-fry butternut, chickpeas and bacon. I read blogs, and appliance websites and finally found a guide outlining cooking times for various ingredients for my specific model. This was tedious. Especially since the recommendations were off and I ended up with unevenly roasted butternut (yes, my butternut was cut to roughly the same size and was a single layer on the tray). This ruined my normally awesome salad and I was upset.

It took way longer to make than usual because I had to roast all the ingredients separately. SO annoying. Before you come for me, I know I could have made the dish in the oven where I roast everything once, but I was on a mission to test my air-fryer properly.

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I also hated how loud it was. This probably won't bother you if you live in a big house where you can escape the noise (and heat), but I live in a tiny apartment. There's also more clean up needed, compared to an oven.

All this made for a disappointing first experience. I don’t want to conduct research worthy of a thesis before doing something as simple as roasting vegetables. And I don’t have the patience for the trial-and-error approach, because I have to eat all of the errors.

Air-fryer successes and fails

After my first experience, I avoided making things without explicit air-fryer instructions. Thank goodness Woolies has those on many of their products – I don’t know how people managed before. Social media recipes were my best bet. There are hundreds of interesting recipes done in the air-fryer with exact instructions and visual references.

NEED AIR FRYER RECIPES? Check out our recipe guide.

The first social media recipe I tried was chicken breasts, stuffed with red pesto, mozzarella and salami. Initially, I thought the chicken was dry, because of that characteristic air-fryer crisp. But inside it was actually succulent and delicious. I have also successfully made sausages, meatballs and ribs – but they take roughly the same time as they would in the oven (which is much quieter, btw).

All these successes gave me a false sense of confidence. This resulted in the worst eggs I've ever made in my life. I had leftover tomato chutney and decided to make a cheat’s shakshuka in the air-fryer. At this point, I had seen many videos of people doing eggs in the air-fryer, and I did the dreaded research on cooking times. But I got half crispy, half raw eggs. I had to finish the dish in the microwave to avoid getting salmonella and, let me tell you, twice-cooked eggs are not a vibe.

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Yes, air-fryer baking is possible. It’s just not for me

Determined to test the air-fryer fully I had to bake something in it, despite not being a baker. I consulted my team and we agreed I'd try Louisa Holst’s air-fryer milk tart. We were fascinated by the idea of making this South African classic in the air-fryer. I should have known this was too higher grade for me. I’d never made milk tart before.

The pastry shrank. I put the filling into the crust too soon, making it doughy. I didn’t wait long enough for the filling to set. The milk tart was not inedible (the filling was actually really tasty), but it was an utter failure, and I can’t blame the air-fryer for this. I’m sure more experienced people will have better results. The jam turnovers I made with the excess pastry were good though, so it wasn't a total loss.

I will say that baking in the air-fryer made me feel like a child playing with an Easy Bake Oven, and I'm not sure whether I love or hate that feeling… But that’s something I’ll dissect in therapy.

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The grand finale

I ended off with a bang. I made Abigail Donnelly’s air-fryer roast chicken with all the trimmings. It was amazing! The chicken was crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. The crispy onions were a game-changer. I will make it often to add to salads, eggs (done on the stove), sandwiches… the possibilities are endless. The cauliflower was perfectly cooked, which was a relief because I had not made veggies in the air-fryer since the butternut incident. While I was super-happy with how this meal turned out, I was impressed by Abi and her incredible recipe – not the air-fryer.

Find the recipe for Abi's air-fryer roast chicken here. 

Final thoughts on the air-fryer

I'll admit that I had a distinct bias against air-fryers going into this. But I also took the time to thoroughly use all its features and make multiple things over months before coming to a conclusion. I am a journalist, these things must be done properly. After air-frying, roasting, reheating and baking, I can say this with absolute certainty, I was right. Air-fryers are just countertop ovens.

They may be (slightly) faster than ovens, but they are smaller and cook less food, so that’s expected. I will admit that reheating things like chips and fried chicken is great, much better than the microwave. But I barely make these things and I never have leftover takeaways (don’t judge me). My life is not better because of an air-fryer. In fact, it’s noisier. The appliance really is so loud. I don’t regret getting it, because it‘s better for me economically. But I will not spread the gospel of the air-fryer. It’s not a miracle. It’s just an appliance.