The Ninja Foodi DZ401, which I believe is functionally the same device as their popular AF400 model from the UK, is an intelligent 10-quart air fryer with dual baskets (5 quarts each) that lets you cook two foods at once, with completely independent settings and times, and still have them finish together.

Basically, if you need to whip up a big family dinner in a flash, this is the gadget for you.

I know some readers will wonder why I didn’t write about the company’s new “DoubleStack XL” (model SL401) that just released a week ago. And yeah, that one does look interesting at first glance — until you realize both its heating elements are located at the backs of the drawers rather than above the food, which to my mind will undoubtedly result in slower and more uneven cooking. Not to mention the accompanying rear vents that would prevent any amount of liquid from sitting in either drawer when cooking or washing up. I’d be happy to be proven wrong though!

Each side can be set to one of six cooking modes: Air Fry, Air Broil, Roast, Bake, Reheat, and Dehydrate. From there you can choose the “Smart Finish” feature to achieve what I mentioned earlier — cooking two foods with different modes/temperatures/times and have them finish at the same time — or use the “Match Cook” feature to have them both cook exactly the same, essentially treating them as a single 10-quart drawer.

Both zones are self-contained, with separate heating elements and fans, so you don’t have to worry about cross-contamination. Feel free to cook fish on one side and veggies on the other without fear that the latter will take on fishy flavors.

The 5-quart capacity of each drawer makes them big enough to roast an entire chicken whole, which is crazy convenient. Just make sure you keep a big pair of tongs around to turn it halfway through and more easily remove it at the end.

Get the Ninja Foodi DZ401 air fryer for $230 on Amazon.

  + Another excellent option in this category, and of comparable price — although it’s only an 8-quart model — is the Instant Vortex Plus XL we featured a couple years ago.
  + Also worth mentioning is the upgraded Ninja Foodi DZ550 which has mostly the same features plus an included temperature probe for accurately cooking meats. However, as I write this on May 15th, 2024, Amazon seems to be out of brand-new ones and only has “used—like new” versions for sale.

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A couple months ago, COSORI released the TurboBlaze air fryer, their first model to have its hot air circulation fan be powered by a DC (direct current) motor rather than an AC (alternating current) one. The advantages of this type of motor are threefold:

1. It’s more versatile. This new model offers a wider temperature control range than previous models, opening up all-new functions like fermentation, dehydration, proofing, and more.
2. It’s more energy efficient. A DC motor allows for super precise fan speed/torque adjustments and can adapt its power consumption to match whatever cooking function you select, both of which help to minimize unnecessary power usage.
3. It’s more compact. Thanks to its small, lightweight nature, the DC motor allows the air fryer to be designed to fit into smaller kitchens without compromising its capabilities or cooking capacity whatsoever.

Those advantages, along with the redesigned crisper plate used in the air fryer drawer, allow the TurboBlaze to cook foods a good deal faster and more evenly than ever. They even made it operate more quietly by incorporating a snail shell reflector.

If you’re in the market for a new air fryer, the COSORI TurboBlaze should be very high on your list of models to look at. Get one for $120 on Amazon.

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Warning: DO NOT have one of these in your air fryer during its preheating process unless you want it to fly up into the heating element and catch fire. Use ONLY when cooking food that will weigh the paper down.

My wife and I make good use of our air fryer for all kinds of everyday cooking tasks. One thing we’ve taken to doing lately is baking cookies in it, which was kind of a mess until we discovered these parchment paper liners, which not only make it easy to extract the cookies after they’re done, but also allow the air fryer to do its heated-circulation thing without interference so they still cook well.

The sheets are coated with a non-toxic silicone coating so foods simply slide off after cooking, and their very nature as liners makes the post-bake cleanup process a breeze. You can use them for other kinds of cooking of course, but we find that we only really need them for baked goods that don’t involve baking cups.

You can get these air fryer parchment liners in square or round shapes to suit your specific cooking tray. If you need a different size than these two, there are also plenty of other companies on Amazon offering similar products so you can surely find something suitable.

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If you love your air fryer but often find yourself wishing you could have two batches of food cooking at once, then Instant’s Vortex Plus XL is the appliance for you. This thing is a beast, capable of handling up to 8 quarts of food at once across two side-by-side baskets, each with its own set of controls so you can adjust them for separate purposes (e.g. an entrée in one basket and a side dish in the other).

I really like the see-through windows on the front of each basket, allowing a clear video of the food as it’s cooking without having to stop the process. There are also smart programs built into the Vortex Plus XL that help synchronize cooking times between the two baskets, whether you’re preparing two different kinds of dishes or simply different proportions of the same thing.

Another nice touch is that, unlike so many air fryers out there, the handles for both baskets are attached at the top and bottom, which offers a greater feeling of control and stability when handling them.

The Instant Vortex Plus XL is $180 on Amazon, where you can read more about all the neat features it brings to the table countertop.

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I know, I know, I’ve been talking a lot about air fryers lately. I’m just excited about them! Having one in our home has made cooking fun and easy again, I feel like we’re eating healthier as a family overall, and I’ve found myself experimenting more often with the kinds of foods I make. (Our RV’s propane oven hasn’t seen much use at all since we got this thing, that’s for sure.)

As these experiments have gone on, I’ve started keeping a running note of “air fryer methods” that show specific time + temperature combos that have worked for certain foods. Which I don’t think is a bad way to go about things per se, but certainly not efficient.

These magnetic cheat sheets from Lotteli Kitchen are going to save me a LOT of trial and error — or let’s face it, scouring the web for other people’s methods. It lists over 100 foods of all kinds that you’d commonly cook in an air fryer — from veggies to seafood to chicken and beyond — each shown with a time/temp combo, and many with portion sizes listed as well.

The methods are spread across two magnets: a bigger one that’s 6.5″ x 10.5″ (16.5cm x 27cm) and a smaller one that’s 5″ x 5″ (13cm x 13cm). You can stick them on the fridge or even put one on the side of your air fryer for easy reference.

If your particular air fryer doesn’t have a magnetic surface, or you’d rather put them, say, on the inside of a cabinet door where they’re not always visible, the set includes some double-sided heat-resistant adhesive tape to make that easier.

Get this handy magnetic air fryer reference guide for $12 on Amazon.

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Seems like every cooking appliance company’s putting out an air fryer these days. Now even the Magic Bullet people have gotten in on the action.

Following in the footsteps of the personal-sized blender that made them so famous, the Magic Bullet Air Fryer is a relatively small model as these things go, though at 2.5 quarts, it’s still a tad more spacious than the Instant Pot-branded Vortex Mini I recently wrote about. As such, don’t expect fancy smart features here; this is one of those models where you load it up, set the time and temp on their respective dials, and wait ’til it dings at you.

That kind of simplicity is the whole idea of air fryers, IMO. I don’t need an overcomplicated gizmo on my counter.

One nice touch is that the top of this air fryer has cooking guidelines for six common foods: veggies, fries, chicken wings, frozen chicken wings, fish, and poultry.

Get the Magic Bullet Air Fryer for $50 on Amazon.

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Look, if you’re in the market for an air fryer, our top pick is still the NuWave Brio. But if you don’t need extra bells and whistles and you want to save yourself some money, the Vortex Mini, made by the same company behind the famed Instant Pot — and yeah, the accompanying Air Fryer Lid — is a solid choice.

I’ve been using one of these for the past month, and I can attest that while the 2-quart capacity seems like it’d be a real downgrade from the Brio, for my small family it’s been more than capable of cranking out awesome sweet potato fries, perfectly cooked biscuits, and more. Even when I’ve had to do multiple batches of things, the cook time on each of them is so short that it hasn’t been a big deal at all. Just don’t expect to roast an entire chicken in it at once (although, you can apparently do a quarter of one; I look forward to trying that soon).

Using it is real easy, too. On top you have touch buttons for functions like Air Fry, Bake, Roast, and Reheat — which, to my understanding, are really just time + temp presets that you can adjust at will. You can also simply set a cook time and temperature manually with those respective buttons. It’s all very straightforward. It even reminds you to flip/toss the food halfway through cooking.

Get the Vortex Mini air fryer for $50 on Amazon in your choice of red, black, white, or aqua.

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If you already own an Instant Pot and have been wondering what all the fuss is about air frying, you should really look into getting the official Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid, which instantly (heh) turns your existing 6-quart appliance into a powerful air fryer.

While it doesn’t do pressure cooking like the lid that comes with the Instant Pot, the Air Fryer Lid does unlock six other functions:

1. Air Fry (duh)
2. Broil
3. Bake
4. Roast
5. Reheat
6. Dehydrate

It also makes your Instant Pot look like a wizard — one of those lesser-touted features that’s just as important IMO:

I wanted to edit Wizard Stuff into this image but then I thought better of it so you’ll just have to settle for this: 🧙

One thing you’ll often hear about the Air Fryer Lid is that many people find it actually works better than some standalone air fryers! The inverse of that praise, however is that some people are bummed that they can’t somehow pressure cook and air fry at the same time.

But what’s this?? Apparently there’s a possible workaround that I haven’t verified or tested for myself, and even if I had, I couldn’t recommend or suggest in any official or legal capacity?

So we were bummed about that too, but we came up with our own little solution since we didn’t feel like buying an actual air fryer and having it sit out on our limited counter space-we put the air fryer lid on a regular bowl or pot! It works just the same! That way the air fryer and instant pot can be used at the same time. Kinda silly but works for us! 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, you can get the Air Fryer Lid for $79 on Amazon. It’s really great and you’ll probably find yourself using it at least a few times a week, maybe even in place of your old kitchen oven.

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I’m convinced no one has ever actually bought an air fryer for themselves; everyone just receives them as gifts.

—u/kurama_sensei (Reddit)

If you’ve never tried the gloriousness that is an air fryer, you’ve really been missing out. Just about every person I’ve met with one (or read reactions from online) says it’s the best thing they’ve ever had in their kitchen, which has been enough to convince me.

NuWave’s 6-quart “Brio” is a very highly rated model that I’d recommend. Like all air fryers, the Brio doesn’t actually fry foods at all, it simply circulates hot air at high speeds to not only cook foods perfectly evenly but also sear their outsides to a crispiness that tastes fried, without requiring a bunch of unhealthy oil.

Just about any frozen food comes out of this thing better than any oven-cooked version you’ve ever tried. It’s perfect for cranking out batches of amazing homemade fries (just a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt does wonders), quickly roasting veggies, cooking all kinds of meats (burgers, bacon, pork chops, chicken wings, and many more)…the sky’s the limit.

Heck, you can roast an entire chicken in this thing in an hour or less! And the results are way better than any pre-cooked rotisserie chicken you’ll ever buy at the store.

I could go on and on, but seriously, just get one and thank me later. It’ll change your whole cooking game.

The NuWave Brio 6-Quart is $90 on Amazon.

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