Whether it’s giving sous vide a shot, grilling over a volcano or using a drone to fry a steak, we’re almost always willing to consider new cooking methods, no matter how outrageous they sound.
Enter: a relatively new method of frying that claims it’s 75% healthier than traditional methods. Bunch of hooey? Well, let’s review.
According to Philips, the AirFryer’s patented starfish design vastly reduces the need for oil and allows home cooks to make favorites like French fries and fried chicken using superheated air.
After food is suspended inside the AirFryer’s metal basket, the device fills with super-hot air to produce dishes that are crispy on the outside but perfectly tender on the inside — or so the appliances giant claims. The $300 Airfryer needs just a tablespoon of oil to function (it can also work 100% oil-free), which means everything it makes is substantially healthier than it would be otherwise.
“Compared to frying homemade fries in a deep fryer, an air fryer has 75% less fat,” Philips kitchen appliances marketing manager Caitlin Bart told Mic. “Compared to frying frozen fries from leading fast food French fry brands in a deep frier, the air fryer version has 60% less fat.”
Even if that turns out to be true, it sounds like the juice, while healthy, isn’t worth the squeeze.
“The cooking was reminiscent of a deep fry but lacked that pleasurable hit of flavor that comes from an oil-drenched object,” according to Gear Patrol’s review of the AirFryer. “It felt a little like soy ice cream — you appreciate the concept, but it’s no replacement for the real thing.”
Until that changes, we’ll save the $300 and stick to clogging our arteries the old-fashioned way.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
