Air fryers are without a doubt the must-have kitchen gadget at the moment, with celebrities from Sir Mo Farah to Drew Barrymore confessing their love for them.
The appliance uses hot air rather than hot oil to cook foods, offering a quick and healthy alternative to deep-fat fryers.
However, a new discovery may have you reaching for a different appliance.
Experts from Which? have uncovered misleading information on air fryers that has fooled millions of customers.
The information regards the device’s capacity.
While most brands advertise the capacity in litres, Which? warns that this is misleading.
‘Most models advertise their capacity in litres, which can sometimes be misleading as not all the internal space is usable,’ the consumer champion explained.
‘Which?’s lab test measures the capacity of food in grams and has found that the true capacity is usually between 60% and 80% of what’s claimed by brands.’
Air fryers are already known to be cheaper and more effective than traditional ovens. And now a study has revealed a surprising health benefit to using the trendy cookers in your kitchen
As a guide to their size, most manufacturers quote the total internal volume of their air fryers in litres.
However, this doesn’t always match with how much food you can realistically fit inside an air fyer, as not all the internal space is usable.
‘The smallest air fryers we’ve tested can hold up to 400g of food,’ Which? explained.
For reference, that’s about two portions of chips and roughly equivalent to the amount of food you can fit on two baking trays in an oven.
‘If you want to cook for more than four people – or you just have a particularly hungry household – air fryers such as the Tefal Actifry 2 in 1 can fit almost twice as much (1.7kg),’ it added.
‘Dual air fryers are also an option if you’re cooking for more people. They can fit between 0.6kg and 2.3kg of food.
‘It is also possible for an air fryer with large external dimensions to have less space available inside for cooking than a smaller one.’
The insight into air fryers comes as part of Which?’s 2024 product testing round-up.
Harry Rose, Editor of Which? magazine, said: ‘Every year, Which?’s rigorous and independent tests uncover secrets and bust myths to help people make the right buying decision and get value for money.
‘By keeping our testing insights in mind, consumers can cut through dubious marketing claims and spend their hard-earned cash on items that will serve them well in the long run.’
The news comes shortly after a study revealed a surprising health benefit to using air fryers in your kitchen.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham say that air fryers produce a tiny fraction of the indoor air pollution emitted by other cooking methods.
In their study, the team cooked a chicken breast using five popular methods, including boiling, air-frying, and pan-frying.
Their analysis revealed that air-frying produced the least particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) of all five methods.
Previous research has shown that indoor air pollutants can increase your risk of several health conditions.
‘People spend, on average, more than 80% of their time indoors, with cooking emissions contributing significantly to indoor air pollution,’ the researchers wrote in their study.
‘Exposure to indoor pollutants may induce various health effects of acute symptoms and chronic diseases, such as heart failure; cardiovascular diseases; cerebrovascular diseases; neurodegenerative diseases; lung diseases including emphysema and bronchitis; irritations in the respiratory system and eyes; respiratory infections and asthma attacks; and increased risks of cancer and mortality, especially in vulnerable people.’
