What kind of oven is underpowered? Most ovens for sale in the EU go upto 250C-300C. Sure, it takes 15 minutes to reach the max temperature, but that's to reduce energy use and the ovens I've seen have a setting for fast preheating.
I think it's less about being underpowered temperature wise and more in the results. You have to fiddle with a few more settings to get the results you want with an oven, especially when trying to make things crispy (or at least I do). Air fryer simplifies it down.
I know nothing of the technologies involved but I suspect the air fryer makes things easier because it's easier to get the desired effects in a small heating area (the basket) than the oven.
Yeah, to get things extra cripsy i put my food on a rack and use a pan on the bottom to catch the fat. That way the air hits the food on all sides and it doesn't get soggy because moisture is trapped underneath.
My impression is an air fryer is an otherwise ordinary convection oven with better splatter containment for use with a basket. It's interesting how little changes like that can lead to such huge benefits.
Both use convection. But the difference is the circulation. Convection oven pushes it over the food where as air fryers push it on the top of food. Later being much more effective. It does actually make a difference.
Yep, you got it. “Air fryer” is just a marketing term for a stronger convection oven. My “air fryer” has a toaster oven form factor and the splatter containment is awful, so the basket design really helps with that, from what I’ve seen.
> Sure, it takes 15 minutes to reach the max temperature
This means it’s under powered. On top of that, the temperature might be high but energy delivery is not. That means the temperature right around the items actually drops, like how being still in cold water creates a static layer of warm water that keeps you warmer than if you’re moving around in it. With fast moving air you get significantly more heat transfer.
This is what convection ovens do but those are under powered in both heat and air flow, for my use case. Enough that I don’t use them at all, while I use my air fryer multiple times daily. Mine actually has the form factor of a toaster oven, so it’s a very easy comparison.
It’s literally just a stronger version of a convection oven, with different marketing.
> reduce energy use
I’m not so sure. It takes my air fryer much less time to cook things, so without doing the numbers I can’t say which is more efficient. I’d say that’s more about cost.
> Sure, it takes 15 minutes to reach the max temperature, but that's to reduce energy use
An oven that takes longer to get to temperature is wasting energy, not using less, because of greater waste from losses to the surrounding environment.
