Do air fryers live up to the hype?
Look at these and think again. The $79 Anko air fryer is the darling of home cooks and comfort food lovers. The benchtop appliance has been lauded as a healthy alternative to deep-frying fatty freezer-aisle-favourites. Time poor parents call it life-changing in fan groups online. But consumer advocates have dubbed the bulky gadget a waste of space and money, while nutritionists say such fryers are a passing fad and whether they are healthy really depends on how you use them. 123rf Air fryers circulate hot, dry air to produce crispy, golden food without the extra kilojoules added by cooking oils. READ MORE:  * The cult Kmart products outperforming luxury brands to earn a place in your home  * Kmart's coffee machine, pie maker get the thumbs up in new consumer report, air fryer doesn't make the cut  * Kmart shopper's urgent air fryer warning    What the hell is an air fryer and why are rich people obsessed with them? asked comedian James Mustapic in a Seven Sharp segment earlier this year. Like a mini-oven, air fryers circulate hot, dry air to produce crispy, golden food  without the extra kilojoules added by lots of cooking oil. An Australasian recipe sharing group dedicated to the Kmart air fryer on Facebook has 459,000 members and counting. People have shared air fryer methods for everything from hot chips to a full roast pork and vege dinner, and even fried icecream. Sharon Sandkuhl/Supplied Potato skins air fried in a 3.2L Anko model. Added as a garnish to a hearty onion soup. The Anko 3.2L model is temporarily out of stock in New Zealand (which is why it is no longer showing on the Kmart website) but will be back in two to three weeks. The slightly larger and pricier 5.3L model ($99) is still available. And it is not just the Kmart one. A spokesperson for Noel Leeming said customers were increasingly choosing air fryers as a convenient cooking option: We have seen a significant increase in demand over the past year.  Price comparison website PriceSpy called air fryer popularity a global movement. When we look at our popularity data, across the entire shopping category of fryers (which includes air fryers), consumer buying interest has risen 13 per cent year-on-year, said Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy. What is more, 80 per cent of the top 10 most-popular fryers are air fryers. And according to our global data, it is not just Kiwis that are jumping on the air frying movement.  Andie Vanderlist/Supplied No pan, no mess. Finland's fryer-love jumped by 201 per cent, followed by Norway (106 per cent); Denmark (30 per cent); France (20 per cent), and Sweden (14 per cent). Following the global outbreak of Covid-19, we are certainly seeing a bit of shift in consumer shopping behaviours, with more looking to buy products that help them take care of themselves and live a healthier lifestyle, such as air fryers, Matinvesi-Bassett added. It really depends what you are cooking and what that replaces. Senior lecturer and dietitian at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Caryn Zinn believes the air fryer is another passing kitchen fad. These things come and go, she said. But the novelty of using another means of cooking  as with sous vide, George Foreman grills, pressure cookers, or slow cookers  can encourage home cooking. This in itself is a win because it is bound to be healthier than many junk-type takeaway options. Try bacon and egg boats in a 3.2L fryer. Crack an egg into each taco shell boat and top with diced bacon and cheese. Cook for 10 minutes on 170 degrees. Cameron Mitchell/Supplied Dont let extra veges go to waste. These are stuffed capsicums and mushrooms, filled with a mince mix, ham, pineapple, and pizza sauce. Cook for 15 minutes and leftover night is good to go. She would definitely make the switch from deep frying to air frying, which can be oil-free  not so much because of the fat content of her food but because of the types of fats involved. Seed oils or highly processed factory fats like canola, sunflower, and soybean rice bran oil are inflammatory if consumed in large quantities and can also hold trans fats (unarguably detrimental to health), which can also increase in small amounts during the cooking process itself, Zinnsaid. But just about anything can be cooked in an air fryer. So whether they are a healthy' way to cook depends upon what you put in them. If more stodgy heavy carbohydrate-laden foods are your go-to, then perhaps it is much of a muchness. But if it encourages you to cook more healthy meals, with the occasionally crunchy chips for a treat, then there is nothing wrong with that. For those that just want it to have crispy chips all the time, well, they will likely find out the consequences of that.  Nina Bailey/Supplied Roast pork comes out perfectly every time, says Nina Bailey. Dr Elaine Rush, AUT nutrition lecturer, said the gadgets could be a good option for cooking for one, or for children's snacks, due to their size. There is nothing wrong with snacking  it is the overall intake of the day that is important. Children need to snack as they burn a lot of energy.  Vegetables that you would usually roast would be good options. Consumer NZ/Supplied The $494 Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer BOV860 received the same performance score as the $79 Anko model from Kmart in a comparative Consumer NZ test of 19 different air fryers. Top end air fryers cost about $400-$500, while cheaper models are $100 or less. Price does not always correlate with quality, Consumer NZ warns. The watchdog tested how the air fryers handled thick-cut fries, home-made french fries and crumbed chicken. Sarah Lawrence/Supplied Add garlic butter and thin slices of cheese to a fresh loaf of bread. Put it in the 3.2L fryer for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Absolute perfection, says Sarah Lawrence. Product test manager Paul Smith said of the 19 air fryers they tested, there was a broad range in quality  the $494 Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer received the same performance score as the $79 Anko model. Some models of air fryer use more energy than an oven, even if cooking takes about the same time. At the extreme end of the scale, one air fryer in the test would cost $30 a year if you used it for half an hour, three times a week  about the same as using an oven three times a week for an hour. Joanne Palmer/Supplied Definitely the kids new favourite dessert, says Joanne Palmer, tasted delicious and the chocolate melted really nice inside. Wrap a Freddo in pastry and cook at 190 degrees for 9 minutes. Consumer's review also criticised the 800-gram capacity of cheaper air fryers that would necessitate cooking in shifts for a family and how much bench space they take up. If you already have an oven, cooktop and grill, you probably dont need an air fryer. You can do as good a job in your oven using little or no oil, said Smith.