Of all the air fryers we tested, this is one of the most intuitive air fryers to program. The buttons are nicely sized, clearly marked, and quick to respond. To program the temperature and time, you turn and press a dial. The basket has a rack on which the food rests and is easy to pull out and reposition in the air fryer. The display is large and easy to read and the digital controls are intuitive to use. Like other instant pot duo nova models, you won’t require much oil when cooking in the Slim air fryer.
Check the owner’s manual of your air fryer for which parts, if any, are ok to run through the dishwasher. As a standard air fryer, the Instant Vortex was able to cook very evenly despite its large capacity, doing a fantastic job with everything we threw at it. The controls are quite user-friendly, but we noted a minor flaw in that the machine uses a tray rather than a basket to hold food. This makes it tougher to shake items while cooking and requires a hot pad to remove afterward. During cooking, no spot on the exterior of this air fryer gets hot enough to cause a burn. The highest temperature that we recorded was 126.6°F on the lower-front side of the machine.
Once pressed, you can adjust the latter two buttons using a silver roller dial. This model sported a powerful “Max Crisp” function that allowed it to reach 450 degrees and cook food quickly, if unevenly. But while its cooking basket was deep, holding a full 2 pounds of frozen fries, it was too narrow to fit four chicken cutlets in a single layer, limiting its usefulness for larger recipes. The unit was tall and heavy with a cooking tray with silicone bumpers that clung tightly to the walls of its cooking basket and was hard to extract.
It took about four minutes of pre-heating for the air fryer to reach temperature, and this is worth bearing in mind if you’re running a tight cooking schedule and juggling a range of foods. After four minutes, the air fryer beeped and its digital display told us to “add food”. The display is easy to navigate with pre-sets for air frying, roasting, baking, reheating, grilling and rehydrating. They’re conveniently positioned just above a central dial control, which lets you easily adjust the time and temperature too – from a very specific cooler 49°C to a powerful 205°C. Most removable parts (the cooking basket, tray, and any other cooking accessories) on most air fryers are dishwasher-safe.
Food easily wipes away (though the basket is also dishwasher-safe). This air fryer also has a few extra bells and whistles that helped it stand moosoo air fryer out from the rest. It has built-in safety features like overheat protection and an auto-off sensor that powers the oven down when not in use.
One of the biggest downsides to many air fryers is the size of the basket. Most only have room for two chicken breasts or a couple of servings of fries (or instant pot duo nova the teeniest amount of zucchini chips). We were able to air fry a whole pound of chicken, as opposed to the usual half-pound other fryers can handle.