According to Expert Market Research, air fryer sales topped $953.6 million in 2023.
And it doesn’t look like sales will drop in the near future. Instead they’re estimated to increase to $1.4 billion in the next ten years.
The air fryer requires less fat while cooking, is energy efficient, speedy, and easy to clean. This appliance that simplifies meal preparation, helps produce healthier food, and saves money has earned its place on the countertop, revolutionizing how many people approach home-cooked meals.
Air Fryers Require Less Oil and Fat
One of the main selling points of an air fryer is it cooks with less oil and fat. Dutch inventor Fred van der Weij was looking for a way to cook crisp French fries without deep fat frying. His efforts led to developing an early prototype for the air fryer in 2005.
By combining close contact with the heating element with increased airflow to better heat the food’s surface and forcing hot air to circulate around the food, van der Weij achieved the holy grail of home cooking — hot, crisp French fries made with hardly any fat.
But, as any air fryer enthusiast will tell you, it can do much more than cook French fries. Try air fryer falafel, for example. All it takes is a light spray of oil to produce a healthier version of the crunchy Mediterranean delicacy that’s usually deep-fried.
Fat clocks in at 9 calories per gram, so cooking with less fat benefits those who are calorie-conscious, as well as those who prefer to follow oil-free cooking methods. Also, the air fryer’s basket design lets excess fat drip to the bottom of the cooker. That’s much healthier than the food absorbing the oil its coated in for the duration of the cooking time.
And it’s more than just hype. A 2015 study examined the differences between French fries cooked by deep fat frying and those made in an air fryer. The results showed the air-fried fries had substantially lower fat content than deep-fried ones while maintaining similar moisture content and color.
Air Fryers Are Energy Efficient
Good things really do come in small packages. The air fryer’s reduced size means food comes out browner and crisper in a shorter amount of time compared to conventional convection ovens.
The air fryer’s small capacity also makes it more energy efficient than standard-sized ovens, especially when cooking meals for only one or two people. Since cooking times are generally shorter than in the oven, this means less energy use overall as well.
The BBC tested the cooking times and energy usage when cooking potatoes in a conventional oven and an air fryer. They found that it took around an hour for a potato to bake in the oven, using 1.31 kilowatt hours of electricity. Meanwhile, the potato cooked in an air fryer took just 35 minutes and 0.55 kilowatt hours to be cooked through.
Plus, cooking in an air fryer requires little or no preheating. It also won’t heat up your kitchen in the warmer months like the oven does.
Easy To Clean
Many air fryers are dishwasher-safe, and those that aren’t are usually easy to clean. They wipe clean or are rinsed in soapy water. Users should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning their appliance.
Air Fryers Are Fast
Speed is one of the biggest selling points for an air fryer. As in the potato example above, many foods cook more rapidly in an air fryer compared to a conventional oven.
Bacon cooks in minutes, with all the drippings contained in the basket. Roasted vegetables take about half the time than in the oven and come out considerably crisper.
People have been leaning on their air fryers to cook everything from pork loins to cheesecakes in less time. Although some air fryer models have a smaller capacity, the cooking speed means doing multiple batches doesn’t add that much extra time to the process.