Love love love that I don’t have to mess around cleaning the bottom of the actual unit. This is not one of those kitchen appliances you pull in and out of a cupboard. Unlike small appliances, it is one that stays on the countertop.
Both the insert and the basket are coated with non-stick, which means they mostly wipe clean and then need a little scrubbing with some dish soap and water. With this air fryer you get a removable air fryer insert grid which can be lifted and removed using a hook in the center of the grid. The drawer is not quite square, and we found it a little confusing to fit this inside the air fryer on the first use. Once we realised it needed to be turned 90 degrees, this was easy enough.
The controls couldn’t be simpler, and we definitely didn’t need to consult the manual before getting started. Brussels sprouts, frozen French fries and breaded chicken cutlets came out just about perfect; all were browned, crisped, moist and tender. Homemade French fries came out reasonably browned and crispy without becoming dry or cardboard-like in just 18 minutes. This air fryer didn’t perform quite so well on chicken wings though, as these were cooked to doneness, but could have been better browned and crisped. As the manufacturer claims you can cook 2 pounds of French fries, we cooked a whole bag at once.
In her free time, she is an avid home cook who is in the process of mastering the art of baking sour dough bread. The Vortex can accommodate a chicken larger than 4 pounds, if it is placed on the baking tray. We know consumers want appliances to be compact for counters, so it was more about keeping the overall footprint smaller.
It comes in different colors making it more attractive to different buyers and it’s also much cheaper. In addition to all the standard information you can read off the website or the box, here are some other observations and features to consider that we have learned after 2 years of regular usage. The good news is that you can easily turn the beeping sound of which is what we have done. Simply press the “Time” and “Temp” button at the same time for 3 seconds. We rarely have issue with food sticking – but as the tray gets older and with regular cleaning, the coating does start to breakdown on the metallic tray.
The Instant Vortex has a 1-year limited warranty and replacement parts can be purchased separately. This small model’s stature and footprint make it easy to store, but it’s large enough to cook small batches of frozen foods and our recipes evenly and quickly. Its nonstick interior was easy to clean, but its analog temperature and timer dials weren’t as precise as digital controls.
We enjoyed using this machine as a multicooker, achieving great pressure-cooked and slow-cooked beef stew and baked beans. This flip-top model had an interface with buttons that were intuitive to use. It had an exposed heating element on the inside of the lid, making us a little nervous we’d bump it and get burned. It had a small capacity, only fitting one 15-ounce bag of french fries or two chicken cutlets at a time.
In the other air fryers we tested the bacon was blown around the inside of the cooking area by the powerful convection fan inside the air fryer, but the Instant Vortex Plus did not do this. It left us with sizzling rashers that weren’t overcooked, and five minutes was the perfect amount of cooking time. As you’ll see in the full review below, we put the Instant Vortex Plus 6 Quart 6-in 1 Air Fryer to the test cooking fries, chicken strips, bacon, and roast vegetables. We put the Instant Vortex Plus 6 Quart 6-in 1 Air Fryer with ClearCook and OdorErase to the test to see how well it makes fries, cooks bacon and roasts vegetables. We carried out this testing alongside reviews of other air fryers to compare if there was a difference in the odors and the cooking quality of these machines.
The time and temperature are adjustable and the cooking time counts down on the digital display. A cooking progress bar from preheating to cooking is also a great addition. You don’t have to kiss fried foods goodbye entirely if you’re watching your waistline, though. Over the instant pot duo nova last few years, air fryers have boomed in popularity for lightening up deep-fried goodness for a more heart-friendly meal at home. Lining the bottom of an air fryer basket with foil may make cleanup easier and help you remove food from the basket when it’s done cooking.
A 10-quart capacity allows users to cook an entire family dinner in half the time of a conventional oven. This flip-top model had a completely exposed heating element in its heavy lid, which made us worry that we’d burn ourselves or smash a finger when shutting it. When we used just one bag of fries, they were evenly cooked and crispy throughout. It was a little frustrating to use There’s a slider on the lid that you have to shift to reveal all the settings under “Pressure,” “Steamcrisp,” or “Air Fry/Stovetop”; this takes a bit of time.