Are Air Fryers Overrated? Why Critics Think They're A Waste

Between sky-high grocery prices and a need to reduce waste and clutter, downsizing your kitchen to the essentials is now more important than ever. When it comes to appliances, basics such as a toaster, microwave, kettle, and the like are certainly vital. Though it was once America's favorite kitchen appliance, it seems that the air fryer has waned in popularity to the point where some critics — including this writer — deem it a waste.

With the promises of using less oil than deep frying and lowering cook times, the number of easy air fryer recipes and opportunities for culinary creativity are almost too good to be true. These bulky and cumbersome machines often make more of a mess than they are worth. With a fairly steep learning curve, there's a lot of room for wasting food and not being able to get the most out of an appliance meant to streamline food preparation.

Whereas air fryers can be useful with reheating leftovers and crisping up canned or frozen foods, it has been my experience that getting an air fryer to properly and thoroughly cook raw chicken or similar proteins is excessively difficult. The sentiment is echoed in eviews across Reddit and other forums, where users share concerns about under- or overcooking chicken, with the results of their labor yielding unpleasant and inedible dishes. Among the myriad of different cooking methods available, it's no wonder that air fryers are quickly becoming obsolete.

Though air fryers are intended to create a crispy layer around food that leaves it tender on the inside, there are many disadvantages to this style of cooking via hot air circulation. For one thing, air fryers rely on using items that are coated in dry seasoning rather than batter, limiting your choices for air-fried foods. This means it would be nearly impossible to prepare your favorite beer-battered onion rings or similar recipes.

While this presents the illusion of a healthier option, the risks of using an air fryer are another concern. Among several complaints and criticisms, Redditors refer to air fryers as "a super powerful blow dryer," and a "dumb microwave," in addition to citing multiple safety issues. These issues include melting kitchen outlets and leaching toxic coating into food.

Despite the largely touted benefits of air fryer cooking, the appliance seems little more than a passing fad. Albeit an enjoyable gimmick for a brief time, using an air fryer is not entirely practical and takes up way too much kitchen space to be worth it. There are so many unique and thoughtful ways to prepare food, but air frying is simply overrated.