Christmas Gift Idea - An Air Fryer?

It is both all of that AND a pleasant convenience that takes up counter space.  It cooks things faster.  In my opinion does a better job of crisping things up than the oven. Mine goes from 0 to 450 in less than a minute.  I have the Ninja 8 in 1.  Got a nice Black Friday deal at Costco last year.  Love it and use it almost every day.

I have 1 , it’s a 10-1 air fryer, rotisserie dehydrator etc…. The wife uses it more than me

Family of 6 here, size matters. I use ours a lot for reheating pizza or other things that need to be crisp 

They make great chicken drumsticks

Easy also for a side dish like veggies without dirtying a bunch of dishes 

But they take up a lot of space and you need to make sure the oven size is adequate if you have a big family. Ours has 2 smaller compartments and I kinda wish it has one big one 

I was thrilled to take my air fryer and set it by the curb for trash pickup.  Takes up too much space and doesn't do anything special that your oven can't do.  

The New York Times consumer guide, Wirecutter, compares kinds of air fryers and convection ovens. It's extensive, and includes—yes!—a CHART.

However, it may be paywalled. In case not, here's the site:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/air-fryer-vs-convection-toaster-oven/

I finally got one a year ago and have used it less than I thought I would, though more lately.  It’s a chonk and takes up counter space - if you have room it will get used, if it gets “stored” on a shelf or in a cupboard between uses it won’t get used.  At least that’s my experience.

I have one. For me the space isn’t really an issue as we have spacious cupboards and a large unfinished basement.

I find that it’s exceptional for “deep-frying” hyper-processed trash foods like chicken nuggets or french fries in air instead of oil. Since I don’t eat that stuff, I almost never use it. My wife’s family is Filipino and once a year I might drag it out to fry lumpia, otherwise I probably haven’t used it since my daughter was small and wanted chicken tenders all the time.

As others have said, you could probably use it in place of a skillet for simple things you would pan-fry. I personally wouldn’t find that worthwhile because cleaning out the air fryer is more work than washing a skillet, not to mention whatever effort in retrieving it from storage and returning it afterward. I definitely wouldn’t attempt any kind of dish that involves aromatics or broth in an air fryer. 

We have one and use it somewhat regularly (maybe 2-3x/month); our 18 yo son likes to use it to make fried chicken and it is pretty good at what it does.  We've had it for maybe a year and it is still getting regular use.

It’s convenient for quick meals. It does take up a decent amount of counter space. Maybe, try a cheaper or mid range one and if you like it /use it you can always upgrade later. If not you are not out a ton of money. 

I hate single-purpose space hoggers so I was prepared to hate our air fryer when the wife bought one on a whim

I love it. It's fantastic for french fries, reheating stuff, anything you want crisped/browned it does a better and quicker job than the oven. We eat a lot of meatballs and it's amazing for cooking them

Downsides are it's small so can't do large projects, and cleaning is annoying, along with taking up counter space

We're already on our second one.  I don't know what went wrong with the first one.  I'm not exactly sure what it is for.  I've never used it and I don't know how to use it.  I'm not into cooking.  My wife though thinks it's essential.

If you have the counter space, it's a good addition.  We use ours a couple of times a week.  We bought a smaller one to start.  I like that one as you can put the entire drawer thing in the dishwasher.  Then we got a larger one.  I'd rather cook chicken in an air frier than deep fried and all the mess that comes with that.

My mom uses hers all the time. She gave me one and I never use it. It’s up on the high shelf in the pantry collecting dust.

I don’t see a meaningful difference over using the oven. We don’t do French fries and such though.

It is 100% worth it! 

Comments on air fryers aside, XM, if you don’t mind, I’ll offer one piece of totally unsolicited input.  A wise woman once told me never to gift my wife anything that plugs in.  Get an air fryer for the house and some perfume for the lady of the house.  

I have the Breville toaster oven/air fryer pictured here.  I use the broil function pretty much every day for bagels, garlic bread, etc; and the bake and air fryer functions get used several times/week.  The AF basket is a large wire tray, so cleanup is simple (dishwasher).  It's noisy (they all are), but it doesn't affect conversation - though you might have to turn up the TV volume when watching a game while cooking.  It's really big, you can fit two whole chickens on the baking trays, and I've actually air fried a chuck roast once (it was awesome).  While it might not be big enough to replace your oven with a large family, I rarely have to heat up my oven unless I have too many things going at once.  Takes up some counter space, but I love it - one of the best kitchen gadgets I've ever bought.

Our family is huge on cooking.  From the 7 yr old up to the 13 yr old.  
We have the convection oven with air fryer setting and that thing gets used multiple times a day.  Kids snacks like nuggets, pizza rolls, etc are a breeze and easy to get done in no time at all.  Not saying I suggest eating those but they come through when we are in a pinch or have to get someone to sports.

However, the counter space is definitely something to consider as it’s bulky.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who does a fair amount of cooking.  Small example -  I have smoked wings on the smoker and finished them off in the air fryer and they turned out amazing.  I like to finish lots of stuff off in there.  It heats up super fast and blasts it with high temp air creating a nice crust on most anything. I could go on but you get the gist of it. 
Have had it for 3 years and It has been the best small appliance purchase for our family. 
 

Edit: I see VAblue’s post now and I second that. 

Family size does matter.  We have one that we use almost daily, however, it's one of the small basket types, and it's only my wife and I so it works great.  We use it to crisp up veggies to go with our meals most days.
The basket types are pretty easy to clean as well.  Fill about 1/3 with water and add a few drops of dish soap. run it on the highest temp for a few minutes and then rinse everything out.  very little scrubbing that way.  The one we have wouldn't be great for a large family though.  It's capacity just isn't large enough.

The problem with them is you need one big enough that you can spread the food out so it doesn't touch. If it touches it all sticks together and when you break it apart it's not cooked where it was touching. In that case you need one that is the size of an oven. As previously mentioned the clean up is a pain just like the Foreman grill.

We had one, and found it didn't do anything my oven couldn't do but with less food, so we got rid of it.

But I do know people who like them, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We have a 2-drawer one for a family of 6. It’s been used mainly for vegetables when the standard ovens are full, but recently it’s taken on a new life as my kids have reached the age where they’re eating again an hour after a meal. No preheating, and they can have nuggets/taquitos/mini tacos/other processed crap in minutes. 

We have a Ninja that does a bunch of other things that we haven’t used (dehydrates, air broils, roasts, bakes, reheats). Each drawer is about 6 x 9 x 5, so the space goes quickly. And cooking directions often indicate you really only want one layer of food when air frying, although we often ignore this and just shake the drawer’s contents a few times during cooking. 

If you don’t already have an air fryer, what are you doing with your life?

I love ours. We just upgraded to the one that more looks like an oven rather than the basket. I think it's the Ninja brand at Costco. We still have the basket one for other things. I love it. I probably use it just as much if not more than my oven or stove. I've made chicken wings, salmon, egg fritatas, chicken tenders/fries, steak bites, etc. It's a lot healthier in terms of cooking and I think it just tastes better. For example, boneless/skinless chicken breast tastes like it was grilled. I hate the taste of it in the oven. You don't need to stand over and watch it and clean up is a breeze.

Easily the best household appliance purchase I've made in years. Next time we're in the market for a stove, I'm going to look for one that has a built in air-fryer.

I have one for my family of 5 (me and 4 kids). I resisted for years as I thought the concept was dumb, but it's basically just a countertop convection oven. Maybe ours is small because I don't get all the complaints about it taking up too much counter space. Then again, I don't mind a couple things being on the counters, I have it in the spot between the fridge and oven - which is too small for anything else really. 

I find we use it just about every day to reheat leftovers or make the kids nuggets. I think it's more convenient than the oven and it doesn't dry food out like the microwave does. 

Not a must have but it was only like $80 on sale so it was well worth the investment, IMO.

1.  Do not give your wife any kitchen utensils or appliances for the holidays.  Unless she is a gourmet cook she will not appreciate that you think of her as a personal chef and/or cleaning lady.  Vacuums are really bad ideas. 

2. We have an airfryer and love it.  It is basically a small convection oven which is somehow more convenient.  Amazon has one that is alexa enabled which for some reason sounds fun.

You've got this wrong, XM. You need to buy Mrs. Claus an iron so that she keeps your shirts neatly pressed all year.

And a helmet for yourself to wear. 😏

They're pretty much like Iphones... you love them or hate them....

some consider them the healthier option to a deep frier....   Deep fried food without being submerged in oil..   probably a fair comparison... they are a bit to clean up, but then again so is a deep frier..    we use ours to reheat leftovers, cook chicken wings, frozen fries...ect.   since the new kitchen has been completed, our oven has the air frier function, so the small countertop unit gets used less.

all in all, we'd buy another if the current unit died, we use it enough.

kitchen appliances as gifts are a risky manuver XM.... the practical Mrs. appreciates them, but not all see things that way.   I'm sure your thumb is on the pulse well enough to know if it'll be an appreciated gesture, or if it'll have you rooming with the sheep and chickens for a couple nights.  Best of luck brother!   and Merry Christmas to you and your family!  If I haven't already, please give the State Champions a high 5 from me!!

This Ninja Foodi is what we use almost every day.

Air fryer and pressure cooker with the additional lid. As some others have said, if you have the counter space for it, would be a lot more convenient. If you like soups and stews, it's a no brainer.

And air fryers don't require pre-heating, so take off 25% of time for the convection aspect & no pre-heating. To reheat pizza, fried chicken, french fries, use microwave for 30 seconds and then into air crisper for 3 minutes. That way it gets hot enough initially that you don't dry out the food in the air crisper trying to get it hot enough.

And if you like steaks (don't we all), the sous vide function is not a time saver, but it is a precision piece that cooks your steaks to whatever you decide is the perfect temperature, before you sear them for approx. 1 minute on each side.

Yes