In addition to the food itself, one of the things that most affects the amount of calories we consume, and how healthy our food is, is the way we cook it. One of the least healthy, but most widely used forms of cooking is frying.
Habitually, for frying we use large amounts of oil that we heat to high temperatures and that is where we submerge our food. These foods absorb 10% of their weight in oil or fat, approximately, increasing the calories we consume.
Therefore, finding a method of frying without using oil seems like a utopia, but it is not. Currently we can find oil-free fryers on the market that help us cook in a healthier way.
How Oil-Free Fryers Work
The idea of these fryers is simpler than it may seem. Despite being fryers actually they work like small ovens. What they do is combine the grill with hot air that circulates at high speed. It is this air that fries food.
In general, we will have to use a few drops of oil, to be able to fry the food, but the amount is very small. The time each food takes to cook will depend a bit, but they are around 10-15 minutes. In any case, the end result is healthier than if we fried normally. The result is different since some of the crunchiness is lost and the flavor of the oil is also lost, but it is tasty and we get rid of the oily result.
What to look for when it comes to getting an oil-free fryer
The capacity of the fryer
There are fryers of different capacities on the market. Depending on how many of us are at home or how many people we are going to feed with the fryer, we will need a different capacity. Currently we can find on the market fryers with a capacity of between one and five liters.
Aigostar Mini Cube – Oil Free Air Fryer, 3.5 Liter, 1500W, 7 Preset Functions, Manually Adjustable Time and Temperature. LED touch panel. BPA Free Hot Air Fryer
Among the small ones, we can find some like the Aigostar Mini Cube with a total capacity of 3.5 liters, which is priced at 59.99 euros on Amazon. But if we prefer to get a bigger one, we can find some like the Innsky oil-free fryer of 5.5 liters of capacity per 105.99 99.98 euros.
Innsky 5.5L Oil Free Fryer with Recipe Book, 8 Modes Touch Panel, Adjustable Time and Temperature, 1700W Hot Air Fryer with Pause and Restart Function, BPA PFOA Free, Ideal Gift
The different powers
The circulation of hot air that allows food to be cooked is given thanks to the motors that these fryers have. Depending on the model, the engines will have different power. In principle, the more power, the less time the fryer will take to cook. We can find engines with power from 600 watts to 2,000 watts. Either way, it will always take a little longer than if we fry normally.
Innsky 5.5L 1700W Oil Free Deep Fryer with 7 Programs + Delay Start Function, LED Panel, Adjustable Temperature and Time. Hot Air Fryer with Recipe Book BPA and PFOA Free, Ideal Gift
In Amazon we find fryers like the Cosori of 5.5 liters and 1,700W for 159.99 euros 104.99 euros or the Inssky 5.5 liters also with 1,700W for 159.99 euros 129.99 euros.
COSORI Oil-Free Fryer 5.5L, Hot Air Fryer with 11 Programs, Air Fryer with Keep Warm Function, LED Touch Screen, Timer, BPA and PFOA Free, 100 PDF Recipes, 1700W
The overall size of the oil-free fryer
Typically, these oil-free fryers are similar in size or slightly smaller than normal ones. In any case, they can vary a bit. Thus, know the measurements that these fryers haveBefore getting one, it will help us to get an idea of what it can occupy in the kitchen. The Tristar FR-6980 is one of the smallest and compact with measures of 25 x 25 x 30. We can find it for 69.90 euros.
Tristar FR-6989 Crispy XL – Oil-free air fryer, 3.5 l volume, 1500 W, non-stick basket, analog control panel, timer and adjustable temperature 80-200 ° C
How many functions does it have
Although most fryers have common functions, such as frying, roasting, cooking or baking, we can find some oilless fryers that meet other options. We may be interested in having a timer, temperature regulation, auto-off or other additional functions.
LLIVEKIT Hot Air Fryer 1400W 5L Oil-Free Fryer with LED Touch Screen 10 Cooking Modes Timer and Adjustable Temperature 80-200 ℃ Electric AirFryer Black + silver WAF0020DE
The LLIVEKIT fryer, for example, has a timer and adjustable temperature, so that we can automate the time we want depending on the food. We found it for 77.99 euros for 67.99 euros.
Note: some of the links posted here are from affiliates. Despite this, none of the articles mentioned have been proposed either by the brands or by the stores, their introduction being a unique decision of the team of editors.
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Images | Amazon, Unsplash