During the past few years, air fryer cooking became mainstream and for a good reason. Aside from ease of use, it’s much healthier eating and a great no-mess option. When it comes to replicating fried foods, your air fryer takes the tastes to new levels. And it does this without the added fat and calories of traditional frying methods.
What’s Up With This Air Fryer Craze?
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Ever since Philips Electronics Company patented the air fryer, the craze for this fancy gadget increased. Now, 40% of U.S. homeowners own at least one air fryer. However, before you buy one, it’s a good idea to learn how they work and the benefits of air fryer cooking.
Furthermore, we bought our first air fryer last year and never looked back. Now, we can’t stop using it for so many of the foods we love cooking. Our air fryer replaced so much of our stovetop cooking we feel officially spoiled! Not only that, we use less cooking oil, ingest less fat, and our favorite foods cook fast and easy. It’s a win-win!
If you haven’t had a chance to cook with an air fryer, you might change your mind and swiftly after reading this article. And if you love your air fryer but want to discover more about how they work, we think that’s a great idea. Not only is your air fryer great for cooking foods fasters, but it’s a much healthier option as well.
Below, you’ll discover (almost) everything you need to know about air fryers.
1 – How Your Air Fryer Works
Air fryers look like small egg-shaped devices (about the size of a coffee maker) and sit on any countertop. If you’ve seen one before, you already know that this appliance’s top section contains a fan and heating mechanism. Instead, they use a forced-air system for cooking food. The airflow creates a convection effect and replaces traditional cooking methods.
Furthermore, since air fryers don’t fry food, you don’t need all the extra oils and butter you typically use when frying foods. The internal fan pushes up heated air to about 400 F, and this air surrounds the food. The circulated air browns the outside of the food giving it a golden brown and crispy taste.
Typically, your air fryer features a basket. The basket easily removes and cleans up quickly. Under the basket, a container sits where it catches any grease droplets. Depending on the model, air fryers have many features. With the touch of a button, you can let it know which food type you want to cook.
Of course, you can add whatever type of food you want to fry (chicken nuggets, zucchini slices, chopped potatoes, pizza, French fries, etc. The list is endless! You can add a few drops of cooking oil if you prefer, but it’s not necessary. Your air fryer does a fine job without adding any additional fats.
Once you place the food in the fryer basket, you can turn on the fryer, and the hot air will go around in rapid circular motion, which will make the frozen food crisp, oil-free, and healthy.
2 – Why It A Healthier Cooking Alternative
Air-fried food features a healthier and equally delicious option compared to deep-fried food. Typically, because you use less oil and butters when cooking. Plus, it helps you cut down your calorie intake and make veggies even tastier than when you’re using typical cooking methods. You can read the following info to understand better why they’re a healthy option.
When we first started using ours, it felt a little overwhelming because we couldn’t believe food would taste as good as stovetop frying. Boy, were we wrong. After our first experience making chicken wings, we knew there was no turning back.
Not only that, but we saw the health benefits right from the start. In the past, when we fried chicken wings, we added at least 2 cups of oil. Now, we didn’t add a drop. The health benefits of air frying cooking almost seems too good to be true, but it is!
3 – Air Fryers Are Safer Than Deep Fryers
Because deep fryers cook food by filling a large container with hot oil, they’re not exactly healthy or safe. Air fryers tend to get hot as well, but they’re not as dangerous since there is no risk of touching, spilling, or splashing the oil against your skin.
If you read more about kitchen safety measures, you can better understand how air fryers are critical to maintaining your kitchen safety. In any case, you still must be careful when operating an air fryer. Make sure that you’re following the instructions on the user manual to maintain safety.
Now, our deep fryer sits and collects dust while we enjoy a much safer and healthier option.
4 – Reduce Fat Content
There is no denying that deep-fried food is higher in fat content as opposed to other cooking methods. For instance, a fried chicken breast will have more or less 30% more fat content than a roasted chicken. On the other hand, air fryers use less oil (about one tablespoon of oil).
Thus air-fried food will have less fat content (almost 50 times less oil) than deep-fried food. Some studies have also shown that deep-fried food has a significant amount of fat compared to air-fried food, which had the same color and moisture content.
Thus, if you still want to enjoy fried food while also maintaining your low-fat levels, you might want to think about purchasing one.
5 – Decrease The Formation Of Acrylamide
Frying food helps create dangerous compounds. Acrylamide can develop while frying food and usually found in carbohydrate-rich foods. And even more so in fried food.
Unfortunately, acrylamide is a potential carcinogen, which means that it can cause cancer. Although there is no concrete evidence that fried food can develop cancer, we should avoid any potentially dangerous substances like acrylamide.
Air frying can reduce acrylamide up by 90% when compared to deep-frying. Other harmful compounds might have carcinogenic effects as well, like heterocyclic amines and aldehydes. More so, these form when using high-heat cooking methods. That’s why it’s best to steer clear from deep frying and avoid the hazard.
6 – Everything Taste Better In An Air Fryer!
If your children make a fuss at dinner time because they won’t eat their veggies, try air frying them instead. You can also top them with some cheese and make them even more appealing. We love our favorite air fryer and use it almost every day. With many design options and features to choose from, we know there’s one with your name on it too!
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