The Best Air Fryers To Buy Online In Australia
Cooking with an air fryer can be a great way to reduce the amount of grease that you consume, and to easily prepare some interesting meals. We've listed some of the top air fryers available in Australia, to make the choice easier for buyers.
Best Overall Air Fryer
Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
- Can crisp up to 1.4kg of chicken wings or french fries
- The basket is easy to load and clean
- Doesn’t take up a lot of space on the counter
- The warranty only lasts for a single year
- The crisper plate reduces the available space inside the basket
We consider the Ninja Max to be one of the best air fryers that you can get because it’s an incredibly well-rounded appliance. It has a pretty reasonable price and comes with a decently large 5.2 L ceramic-coated crisper basket. Additionally, there’s a crisper plate that sits at the bottom and helps ensure that the airflow gets evenly distributed throughout.
It also comes with six different cooking settings, which include max crisp, air fry, air roast, bake, reheat, and dehydrate. With these settings, you’re capable of reaching temperatures of up to 240 degrees celsius, which really allow you to heat up frozen foods in a flash. You can also set it to a lower temperature for up to 4 hours if you want to bake something.
While all of the settings have their own time and temperature presets, you can adjust these settings manually by simply pressing the arrows on either side of the digital display. While this fryer doesn’t have a timer that beeps when the food is done, the large digital display clearly shows how much time is left.
Best Budget Air Fryer
Kogan 6.2L Digital Low Fat 1800W Air Fryer
- Very simple to use
- The basket is easy to clean and dishwasher safe
- Comes with a built-in timer
- Some reviews have said that the basket can be a bit difficult to dislodge
- The controls aren’t lit super well
This Kogan air fryer has a decent basket capacity of 6.2 L, which can allow you to fit around 1.2 kg of french fries or other types of foods that you might like to try and crisp. This can be done using the keypad that allows you to use seven preset cooking settings as well as manually set your time and temperature.
The basket itself is coated in a non-stick caflon material, which makes it easy to clean by hand, but it’s also dishwasher-friendly, so you can just stick it in with your plates and glasses if you don’t feel like cleaning it manually.
You can get this air fryer with a one year warranty that comes with a two-week money-back guarantee, but you also have the option to get the three-year warranty plan as well. Additionally, you also get a recipe book that can be of real help for anyone that’s new to using these devices and doesn’t know the correct temperatures or times for certain foods.
Best Small Air Fryer
Instant Pot Vortex Mini Air Fryer
- No preheating required
- Four different cooking settings
- Auto shut-off in case of overheating
- Some customers found the handle of the basket a bit flimsy
Many people think that this fryer has too much of a limited capacity to actually be useful, but that’s not the case. While the basket may only be able to hold just under one kilo of food, this is more than enough for a single person. The small basket is also incredibly easy to clean, and it’ll take you no time at all to scrape off the remains from your last dish before you’re ready to reload it again.
You get the option to air fry, bake, roast, and reheat, which are really all you need when it comes to air fryers, allowing you to cook pretty much any dish that you could in a larger fryer, albeit in smaller quantities.
If you’re looking for an air fryer that can help you prepare a lot of food for many people at once, then this isn’t the appliance for you. However, if you’re looking for something that’s incredibly easy to use, doesn’t take up any space, costs remarkably little, and can allow you to make delicious crisped meals for one person, then you’ve hit the jackpot with the Vortex Mini.
Best Large Air Fryer
Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer
- Comes with a safety cut-off feature that automatically turns off the device if it gets too hot
- Six different cooking settings
- Separate cooking zones that come with a sync option
- Takes up quite a lot of space on the kitchen counter
- Some customers found the handles a bit too narrow
The biggest advantage of having an air fryer this size is the two different cooking zones that it comes with. These are essentially two separate crisping baskets that allow you to cook very different meals in each section of the fryer at different temperatures. This is a great way to prepare a large meal all at once instead of preparing each course one after the other.
The air fryer has a collective capacity of 7.6 L, which means that you get around 3.8 L to each side. You have six different cooking settings as well as manual temperature and timer options for each side.
You also get the option to match both sides, which allows you to simply use the exact same settings in both baskets in order to cook larger quantities of the same food. The Ninja Foodi Dual Zone also comes with an auto shut-off function, a timer, and baskets that are dishwasher-friendly.
Best Premium Air Fryer
Philips Avance Collection Airfryer XXL
- The mesh-like basket drains excess oils and fats from the foods that you prepare
- Has a 1.4 kg basket capacity
- Comes with a recipe booklet for 30 different dishes
- The option selection buttons are fairly small and can be difficult to press
The biggest selling point of this air fryer is the twin turbo-star technology that optimizes airflow through the customized plate at the bottom of the crisper basket that ensures all of your food gets cooked evenly and quickly. The basket is made out of non-stick aluminium that’s dishwasher-safe, and you also get an automatic cut-off function when the timer stops. The extra safety cut-off function that turns the device on if it overheats is also very useful.
You get five different cooking presets that allow you to choose everything from baking to chicken crisping. They can all be selected using the dial at the front to circle between them. Naturally, you can also use the same dial to manually adjust the temperatures and cooking times.
The bottom line is that this air fryer doesn’t have more features than any other model that we mentioned on our list, but it justifies its high price by preparing your food a lot quicker. So, if that’s your priority, then this is one of the best air fryers for you.
Best Versatile Air Fryer
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer
- Aside from the standard fry basket, you also get a non-stick pizza pan, a wire rack and a broiling rack
- Comes with 11 different cooking options
- The digital PID temperature control eliminates cold spots and ensures precise and even cooking
- Takes up a lot of kitchen space
- One of the most expensive options
This Breville fryer is unlike any other model on our list, and that’s mostly thanks to the design that makes it seem like it’s more of a standard small oven. The advantage of this design is that it provides you with a 22 L basket capacity that allows you to cook quite a lot of fries. Although, the disadvantage of this design is that it gives you very little vertical space that you can work with.
The basket is elevated and allows for more even heat circulation. You also have a very handy cooking light that turns off once the timer runs out, easily letting you know whether or not the food is done without having to glance at the digital display on the side.
You have two separate dials for temperature and timer settings as well as an On/Off button and a smaller functions dial right next to it that allows you to pick between the 11 cooking options displayed on the small LCD screen above.
Best Air Fryer Brands
Philips is a very well known brand, and they make a wide range of different home appliances—from AC units to vacuum cleaners and everything in between. Ninja on the other hand is more specialized in kitchen appliances, and they sell everything from pressure cookers and blenders to cookware and utensils. Both brands are a good choice, but there are a few differences between the two.
Phillips has a larger price range of products as well as a bit more assortment when it comes to sizes. On the other hand, Ninja is a bit more limited when it comes to variety, but they make some of the best air fryers on the market, and they’re quite reasonably priced as well.
How To Choose The Right Air Fryer
How Do Air Fryers Work?
Most ovens or other cooking appliances have a heating element somewhere near the bottom that cooks the food by slowly raising the temperature so that it rises and envelops the dish. Air fryers have the heating element at the top of the device and use a fan to blow the heat down and around the food.
The heat envelops the food and evenly covers it from all sides in order to crisp it and produce some of our favourite fryer meals and snacks like french fries or chicken wings. The benefit of the air fryers is that, unlike deep fryers, they use very little cooking oil in order to prepare the food, which means that the final product won’t be covered in grease, it’ll contain fewer fats, and it’ll be the healthier option.
A lot of air fryers come with mesh frying racks or basket bottoms that have a specific shape to optimize the airflow and ensure that all the food is heated evenly.
We should mention that there are different types and models of air fryers, so not all of them are the same, but this is the general principle that most air fryers work on.
Are Air Fryers Healthy?
When using conventional cooking methods, some meals require less oil or butter than others, but you generally need to use a generous dose of either in your frying pan or in the dishes themselves to stop them from burning. Air fryers are primarily considered healthy since they require very little or no cooking oil to prepare your food. Depending on the meals that you make, this can reduce your fat and calorie intake in a meal by more than half.
Some people also just use a lot more butter or oil than necessary, which significantly increases the number of calories a meal contains. Cooking with an air fryer is a great way to ensure that you only use as much oil as is strictly necessary, while also giving a great crisp flavour to the food that you prepare.
Speaking of flavour, the only hang-up that a lot of people have about air fryers is that the food tastes slightly different than it does if it was prepared through more standard methods, but you eventually get used to it, and it’s a small price to pay for healthier meal alternatives.
Should I Buy an Air Fryer or a Deep Fryer?
The most compelling difference between the two fryers is obviously the amount of oil that gets used. Deep fryers use a large amount of oil in order to flash fry the contents of their basket, which drastically increases the number of calories that seep into the food. This means that if we’re purely judging this on a calorie intake, then air fryers are the better choice. However, there are other factors to consider.
For example, the oil that the deep fryers use gets heated up so quickly and to such a high temperature that the food will be ready in half the time that it would take an air fryer to cook them.
The oil also seeps into the food, and while this may make it a lot greasier, it also gives it a much thicker and crispier crust. Air fryers are definitely capable of cooking your food, but they can’t make it as crispy as deep fryers.
However, air fryers are much easier to clean than deep fryers. The latter need to be cleaned very thoroughly before they can be used again. Air fryers also have different cooking options, whereas deep fryers are strictly for frying foods.
The decision isn’t as one-sided as it may seem, and both appliances actually have their own uses. So, the decision on which one you get will depend on what you want from the fryer.
What Can You Cook in an Air Fryer?
The obvious choices that we’ve already mentioned a few times throughout this article are french fries and chicken, but there are plenty of other recipes that you can prepare.
Fish is always a good choice for an air-fried dish. The inside will be cooked, while the outside will be nice and crispy. Throw in a few veggies in there, and you have yourself a nice simple meal.
Speaking of veggies, it’s always fun to see what sort of interesting flavour combinations come out when you fry certain vegetables. Our favourite are pickles because the taste of a crispy gherkin is probably unlike anything you’ve tried before, so we’d definitely give that a go.
When to Replace Your Air Fryer
An air fryer usually lasts around two to three years. The biggest factor when it comes to how long your air fryer will last you is the number of times that you use it on a daily or a weekly basis.
The problem is that there’s really no solution here since the only actual way to extend the lifetime of your air fryer is to not use it as often as you want to, which doesn’t really make sense because then you wouldn’t be getting your money’s worth out of the product that you’ve purchased.
Higher-end air fryers are usually a bit more long-lived, so as long as you don’t get the cheapest model that you can find, you should be fine to use it for at least a few years as often as you like before it stops working properly.