Could you cook Christmas dinner in an AIR FRYER?
Graphic shows they deliver juicy results on a roast chicken…and they are up to three times cheaper than an oven to run.
| WHICH APPLIANCE IS BEST FOR COOKING CHICKEN? | |||||
| Appliance | Electric oven | Pressure cooker | Air fryer | Slow cooker | Halogen oven |
| Cooking time | 76mins | 32mins | 53mins | 180mins | 54mins |
| Energy used to cook | 1. 157 kWh | 0. 336 kWh | 0. 54 kWh | 0. 9 kWh | 1. 166 kWh |
| Cost to cook | 39p | 11p | 18p | 31p | 40p |
| Quality | Meat was a little dry but the skin was crispy and browned | Cooked rather than roasted, skin not crispy | Juicy, flavorsome meat with a crispy brown skin | Well cooked but skin only slightly crispy | Full of flavor with a crispy skin |
The Which? testers initially cooked a three-pound (1.4 kg) chicken in all these appliances, including both a halogen and conventional oven. This bird would be big enough to feed four people, with enough meat left for some Boxing Day sandwiches. They found the pressure cooker was both the cheapest and quickest way of roasting it, taking 32 minutes and costing a tiny 11p – 28p cheaper than the electric oven. But unlike the oven, it fell short on getting achieving one of the highlights of the Christmas roast – the brown, crispy skin.
The air fryer also cooked the chicken's skin nicely but gave perfect, tender meat, all for just 18p and in under an hour. Additionally, if you ditched the oven and used an air fryer for every Sunday roast for the rest of the year, using the gadget would equate to an annual saving of £11.
The testers did note that the chicken cooked in the electric oven was also a little dry, meaning the air fryer came out on top over all other appliances.
The cost savings will soon be lost if you have to cook more than one batch though, so it's still better to use your oven if you're cooking large quantities.
However, the slow cooker received a bonus point for requiring less hands-on attention, and was therefore the most convenient.
