Unlike most pod-style air fryers, you don’t have to open the basket and let heat escape to check if your food is done. On the Instant Vortex Plus, you can just press the light button and look through the window. It combines the visibility of a toaster oven with the efficiency of a pod air fryer. To test the Instant Vortex, I considered factors like portability, versatility, and overall performance. To judge portability, I first assessed the size and weight of the air fryer and the length of the cord (a longer cord will give you more options for where to put a countertop appliance). I looked at how simple and straightforward the machine is to assemble without instructions, and also considered how easy the control panel was to read and use.
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.
The pressure cooker performed well with pork ribs, steamed cauliflower, and sautéed potatoes in tests, while air-fried egg rolls and fries were also a success. At just 2 quarts, the capacity of the Dash Compact is the smallest we’ve found among air fryers. It’s also the lowest-priced of all the models we tested, but everyone in the Lab was very impressed with the results. It might have taken four batches to cook 12 ounces of coconut shrimp, but they were browned and crisp outside, juicy and sweet within. And don’t worry about it being a one-trick pony, because this appliance roasts, bakes, and reheats meals, too. If there had been a helpful manual included with the XL Dual, with appropriate and accurate cooking instructions, this air fryer would have been a home run.
Resembling a tabletop model of the Death Star, this flip-top air fryer was too tall to open fully under our cabinets. Its heating element was contained under its heavy lid, which threatened to crash down and burn our hands if we weren’t careful to engage its locking mechanism when checking on the food. We’ve tested models that automatically preheat and ones that let you get cooking without any preheating. In our tests, we found foods cooked similarly whether we preheated or not. Some air frying guides recommend preheating for better results when air frying meat you want to get a nice sear on, like steak and chicken breasts.
With a large cooking basket and easy-to-understand controls, this is the perfect air fryer for busy families looking to streamline weeknight meals. The basket can fit up to two pounds of fries or even a 4-pound whole chicken. It’s always important not to overcrowd a fryer, so the added space helps keep foods separate, ensuring consistent air flow throughout. Another smaller, drawer-style air fryer that could fit easily under cabinets, this analog model had simple controls that were intuitive to set.
Both the handle and the controls don’t get much warmer than room temperature. We measured a noise level of 66.5dB during heating, which is the loudest of the air fryers we had on test. It’s worth mentioning that this is not so noisy that you won’t be able to have a conversation over the top of it while it’s running.
Timers with an audible alert or a fryer that can turn off automatically will add to the appliance’s ease of use. These days, there are so many air fryers on the market that the list of additional features can be overwhelming. Sometimes more features mean the device will be more complicated to use, so be sure to look at the interface and controls before making a decision, especially if you are a beginner. In all, this Ninja and the Cosori Pro SE we named our top pick would both be a welcome addition to your kitchen. The Cosori won for its slightly larger capacity and lower price, but the Ninja has extra cooking modes that the Cosori doesn’t. If you plan to use the machine for more than just air frying, the Ninja might well be worth the extra few bucks.
Consumer Reports has full test results for the Instant Vortex and dozens of other air fryers. The Instant Vortex sounds like three microwaves running all at once, as opposed to the more subtle fridgelike hum of other air fryers we’ve tried. All in all, I have very few complaints about the performance of the Instant Vortex Slim. It’s quiet, averaging just 50dB on my decibel reader (which is comparable to a refrigerator hum, and far quieter than my particularly raucous extractor fan). Plus, it cooks food perfectly every time, offering the right balance of features to make your cooking experience as low-maintenance as possible.
This model took up more counter space than its smaller, 3.7-quart counterpart, and its cooking basket was a bit deeper, but its cooking surface was only about ½ inch wider. Still, this model cooked single batches as well as the smaller version. Despite its 12 customizable presets—steak, chicken, shrimp, seafood, frozen foods, french fries, bacon, vegetables, toast, bake, preheat, and keep warm—we found the machine intuitive to use. It performed nearly as well as the Cosori Pro LE that was our No. 1 pick; it actually overcooked some items and probably could have gone for a minute or so shorter than the recipe called for. The pot holds up to 8 quarts, which is enough room to air fry a whole chicken, and is equipped with 11 cooking functions that are sorted by which lid they require. The pressure-cooking lid can also sauté, slow-cook, steam, and sous-vide, and the air-fryer lid can also warm, roast, bake, broil, and dehydrate.
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