Test method
How we test air fryers
The uses we score and the tests we run on every air fryer: frozen fries, samosa reheats, chicken tikka, preheat time, noise, kWh and low voltage.
Every air fryer we review goes through three to five weeks of everyday Indian cooking: frozen fries, reheated samosas and parathas, paneer and chicken tikka. The timed tasks below are the same for every model, so a preheat, fries or noise figure means the same thing on every air fryer page.
Each test result in a review links back to the matching test on this page.
What we score
- Frozen snacks
- How quickly and evenly the fryer crisps frozen fries and similar snacks, and how often you have to stop and shake the basket.
- Reheating samosas and parathas
- How crisp reheated samosas and parathas come out, and whether the result beats a tawa or a microwave.
- Paneer and chicken tikka
- How evenly marinated paneer and chicken pieces brown, how long a batch takes, and whether curd marinades drip and smoke.
- Family meals
- How much food one round holds, and whether a family of four to six can be fed in one go instead of batches back to back.
The tests
-
Preheat to 200 °C
From cold, on a normal supply, we time how long the fryer takes to reach 200 °C. We repeat it three times and report the typical figure.
-
Frozen fries, full load
We load as much frozen fries as the fryer cooks evenly (about 400 to 500 g in a 4 L basket, about 1 kg across both drawers of a dual-basket model) and time it to an even golden colour, shaking as needed. Three runs; the load and number of shakes are noted with each result.
-
Frozen samosas, reheat
We reheat a basket of frozen samosas until they are crisp on all sides and hot in the middle, and record the time. Three runs, typical result.
-
Chicken tikka batch
We cook a batch of marinated chicken tikka pieces, flipping once at the halfway mark, until cooked through with even colour. Three runs; the batch size, and the temperature where we recorded it, are noted with each result.
-
Noise at full fan speed
We measure sound level one metre from the fryer with the fan at full speed. Dual-basket models are measured with both baskets running.
-
Energy per cooking session
A plug-in energy meter logs one typical cooking session: about 20 minutes for single-basket fryers and 25 minutes for dual-basket and oven-style models. The session length is noted with each result, because a bigger fryer cooks more food per session.
-
Heats on a 200 V supply
We run the preheat on a weak evening supply of about 200 V. Pass means the heater still reached temperature; we note how much longer the preheat took than on a normal supply.