Compared to deep fat fryers, air fryers are a healthier way to fry different foods. They use hot air and less cooking oil – or sometimes even no oil at all – to cook.

An air fryer could help you cook delicious chips without having to put much effort in – if you get the right one.

We’ve found big differences between the best and worst air fryers – some turn out delicious golden chips, while others leave you with a half-raw, half-burned mess. So, it’s worth doing your research to avoid getting lumbered with an expensive gadget that does nothing but takes up space in your cupboard.

The model you pick also affects how much space you must cook with – and how much effort you must put in. Use our tips below to choose the best type of air fryer for you. To see which models we recommend, head to our round-up of the best air fryers.

How much do you need to spend to get a good air fryer?

The cheapest models will usually have a smaller capacity. You will also find some pricier models that gave disappointing results – including soggy, limp or tasteless chips.

Air fryers vs deep fat fryers

Despite both having ‘fryers’ in their name, air fryers and deep fat fryers work quite differently. Air fryers are often referred to by manufacturers as healthy or low-fat fryers, as they use hot air and a small amount of oil to cook the chips. The results are more akin to oven chips than traditional chip-shop chips. Deep fat fryers submerge chips in hot oil to cook them, giving a crispier, but more fat-laden, result.

We’ve broken down the differences between the two, including how they work, what their chips taste like and how to choose, in our air fryers vs deep fat fryers guide.

What size air fryer do you need?

It depends on how many people you’re cooking for and how much space you have. The smallest air fryers we’ve tested can hold up to 800g of food – that’s about four portions of chips. It’s roughly equivalent to what you can fit on two baking trays in the oven.

Most air fryers can cook at least four portions in one go

If you typically only cook for four people or less, any of the air fryers should be big enough. But if you want the option of using the air fryer to cook for more people – or you just have a particularly hungry family – air fryers such as the PureMate 5.5L Digital Air-Fryer, Low Fat Oil Free can fit almost twice as much 4 Litters.

Air fryer features to look out for

Air fryers all work in roughly the same way. Air is heated and blasted around the inside of the appliance in a way that’s like a fan oven. As such, they can also be used to cook a range of other foods, from scampi to cakes.

We love to talk about how much healthier our air fryers are than deep fat fryers, due to the small amount of oil used when cooking. But what sets one air fryer apart from another?

Stirring Paddle

Some air fryers come with a paddle that automatically moves the food around as it cooks. This should save you from having to stir and turn it over yourself and ensure that your food cooks evenly – provided it works as it’s supposed to. We’ve found that some air fryers that stir your food for you don’t do a very good job of it, so while a stirring paddle does make it more likely that your food will be evenly cooked, it’s not guaranteed.

Air fryers with a stirring paddle can usually also be used without the paddle in, so you can cook more delicate foods in the air fryer without the paddle breaking them up into pieces.

Digital vs manual timers

All air fryers have timers that allow you to set how long you want your food to cook for and show you how much cooking time is left. Some, like the PureMate Air Fryers, have manual dials that you turn to set the time, but most other air fryers have digital timers instead. A digital timer can make it easier to see at a glance how much time is left on the clock.

Temperature Control

With the PureMate Air Fryer, and a few other air fryers, you can set the temperature you want the food to cook at. Typically, you can choose anything from 80°C to 200°C.

This could be handy if you want more control over your cooking. However, we’ve found that temperature controls don’t necessarily mean your food will cook better – some air fryers without temperature controls did much better in our tests than some of those that had them.

Dishwasher-safe parts

You need to wash your air fryer every time you use it, so you might appreciate being able to put the various parts in the dishwasher and let it do the work. Ideally, the basket/bowl, lid and stirring paddle should all be dishwasher safe, although this isn’t always the case.