Air fryers are now replacing cookers of various forms and uses in our kitchens. These gadgets are on a revolution that is not likely to be slowed down at any moment. With air fryers, you are able to cook foods with little to no oil while still retaining the sweet and delicious taste plus the crispy and crunchy outer layer. Before this time, convection ovens have been in use by most homes. The way we see cooking today is changing and digital air fryers are taking the places of most other cookers in our kitchens. The question you then ask is that, are air fryers that good that they will now be handling most of our cooking? Or, is an air fryer better than oven? We’ll look into this question and provide answers in the next parts of this article.
Air Fryer vs Convection Oven, Is There a Difference?
Looking at both of these cooking appliances, they work on the same principle, the use of hot air, blowing around in the cooking chamber to cook foods. Before we go into details, it will be nice to handpick each of these two and explain both differently.
Convection Ovens
Convection ovens have heating elements made of coil wire on both the top and bottom of the oven chamber. These coils are the heating element and when electric current flows through, these coils get hot and the electric current is converted into a very high temperature heat, radiating slowly. Convection ovens also have fans. As the oven gets hotter and hotter, these fans function to blow the hot air around consistently to cook all foods properly and evenly.
Convection ovens have been in use for long and are known to pose some problems while using them to cook soft, baked foods like cakes and soufflés. The reason for this is the harshness of the hot air on the surface of pastries which may mostly cause them to collapse.
Air fryers
In an air fryer, the circulated air is faster when compared with what happens in a convection oven. So, generally, air fryers are better at handling these soft baked foods. The air fryer has an heating element above the food. The heat this generates is circulated directly by the fan. This means there is no direct heat source on the food and the hot air is dispersed throughout the chamber.
When you want your cooked foods to have the perfect crispiness on its outer layer, then you’ll certainly want an air fryer. This is so because the air fryers have chambers that are very small thereby making the speed of circulation higher than that of the convection oven. Cooking with an air fryer may take less time than you would normally get with an air fryer.
Are you looking for the best cooking appliance to simplify things in your kitchen? If yes, there are so many options on the market right now. If you are tired of the microwave or the normal oven, you can try the best air fryer or convection oven. These two cooking appliances can help you prepare a wide range of foods, ranging from chicken to cakes. Air fryer vs convection oven, is there a difference? To find out the answer, continue reading.
How Do They Work?
An air fryer uses the same principle as a convection oven to cook food. You will find that an air fryer cooks food using hot air circulating at high speed in the cooking chamber. Air is heated by the heating element which can either be located at the bottom or at the top. After the heating, the super-heated air is blown by the fan around the cooking chamber where food is placed, cooking it.
On the other hand, convection fan comes with a heating element, fan, cooking chamber, among other parts. The air is heated by the heating element, and then circulated in the cooking chamber where you will find either a roasting rack or pan with food. You will find that a convection oven is of larger capacity compared to an air fryer, and hence can be used to cook much food at a go.
What is the difference?
The only main difference between an air fryer and a convection oven is that hot air is circulated at a higher speed in an air fryer than in the convection oven. Therefore, an air fryer cooks food faster compared to the convection oven. Also, you need to know that most convection ovens are larger in capacity compared to air fryers. Besides that, a convection oven cooks tastier meals than an air fryer.
Is an Air Fryer Better Than a Toaster Oven?
Another cooking appliance that many people are asking about is the toaster oven. It’s a unique cooking appliance that can be used to toast, bake, reheat and even air fry. The appliance is ideal for cooking food for 1-2 persons at a go. Besides that, a toaster oven offers more functionality and uses less energy than an air fryer. However, that doesn’t mean that a toaster oven is better than an air fryer.
Can an Air Fryer Replace a Toaster Oven?
Yes, an air fryer can replace a toaster oven in baking, reheating and cooking almost anything. You know that an air fryer is highly versatile and can be used to cook eggs, fish, pizza, chicken and more. Therefore, if your toaster oven has an issue, you can just replace it with an air fryer, and you will enjoy crispy and tasty meals.
An air fryer is one of the most important kitchen appliances you need to have to always make healthier dishes. An air fryer works just like a convection oven. However, the final taste and texture of the food varies.
Air fryers are also easier to clean when you compare their cleaning with convection oven. Convection ovens would require extensive cleaning of the rack as well as any drips or spills to the bottom will require proper cleaning with a scrubbing device. The only area the convection oven seems better is in the size, they are considerably larger than air fryers but there are also those air fryers with large enough size to serve the whole family.
Though this two seem similar, the air fryer is the better choice, it offers much more than you get from convection ovens.
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