Deep Frying VS Air Frying

February 11th, 2015

Appliance Talk Kitchen Ovens & Cooking Small Appliances Stuff about appliances you'd be an idiot not to read

Today we’re looking at the differences, plus the benefits, of both the Sunbeam DF7700 Deep Fryer, and the Philips HD9240-30 AirFryer.

I guess the question most people ask about the two is, “which one is better?”

Before we can really answer this question, we must first look at all the benefits for both deep frying and air frying.

Deep frying

Don’t we all just love the taste of freshly fried chips or steaming hot pork spring rolls? The sound when you first bite into a crispy fried chicken is the best sound in the world! All that crispy outer layer goodness, and the salty or sweet soft filling will make anyone drool with excitement.

Deep-frying is a faster way of cooking your savoury treats, and is more ideal for larger households.

There is also a lot that can be cooked in a deep fryer. From potato dumplings and fried cheese scones, to apple fritters and strawberry stacks, deep fryers can satisfy you during any mealtime.

Of course, deep frying is ALWAYS going to be worse for you (health wise) than air frying, or any other method of cooking in that fact, BUT by controlling the number of times it’s being used, as well as choosing the healthier options of oil, having a deep fryer at home can actually benefit you.

If you’re in a rush, or have a lot of mouths to feed, the deep fryer can come in handy. What’s faster than frying your own fish and chips? Or what about the guests you need to entertain? Throw a few handfuls of spring rolls into the deep fryer and serve to your guests with a sweet chili dipping sauce.

And we have to admit, as bad as we know it is for us, we still prefer the taste of fried chips!

Air Frying

Now, air frying – what is it really?

“Hot air frying is a new cooking technique that allows you to fry, grill and roast without the use of copious amounts of fat or oil. These appliances are designed to circulate extremely hot air in a fashion that mimics the movement and flow of heat currents in a pot of boiling oil, to crisp up the outsides of food while cooking it inside.” Source- http://www.hotairfrying.com/what-is-hot-air-frying

So, an air fryer is basically a deep fryer without the oil? Awesome!

But hang on, why haven’t the big chain fast food restaurants jumped on the bandwagon and replaced all their fryers with air fryers? Is it purely because deep-fried hash browns and deep fried fries taste better? Or is it something else?

This is why we must dig deeper into the benefits of air frying and see if an air fryer is better suited to our OWN lifestyles.

One of the better benefits of an air fryer is that it is definitely a healthier way of cooking, as you don’t need to use any oil at all to cook your food. And no oil means it is also safer to use than deep fryers.

I purchased the Philips AirFryer a few years ago and I only found two downfalls when using it:

1)   I found it took a lot longer to air fry a few handfuls of chips than if I were to deep-fry them.

2)   I have a family of five, and feeding them with only one air fryer was a struggle as the basket unfortunately is not big enough for larger households.

Other than that, I loved my little air fryer, and I would have loved it even more if there were only 1-2 mouths to feed. I also found that the chips and calamari rings didn’t taste ‘as good’ as if I were to deep fry them, but if it’s healthier for me I don’t mind sacrificing the taste by just a bit.

The verdict

So, after all that, the question still stands, which one is better?

The answer – they’re both just as good as each other, just for different reasons.

A single person, living alone who works 5 days a week, and goes to the gym 5-6 days a week, is going to benefit better from owning an air fryer, as opposed to a family, which consists of 4-5 kids and 2 parents that work full time, who would better benefit from having a deep fryer as it is faster, and can cook more food in one go. We don’t recommend using a deep fryer for every meal, every day, but if it is used moderately, a deep fryer can really benefit larger families. 

So there it is: a Deep fryer is faster and cooks larger amounts, where as an Air Fryer is a healthier cooking method and not only fries, but can also bake, roast and grill.