Using lockdown to eat healthier - Cosori Smart Air Fryer review - Android

This smart kitchen appliance prepares food with 85% less fat and can be controlled directly from your smartphone.

As a desk-bound work-from-home slob, diet and exercise are my two greatest enemies. If you read my recent standing desk review, it’s probably obvious that I’m trying to use my time in lockdown to form better habits. While the standing desk helps me be less sedentary throughout the day, the Cosori Smart Air Fryer is helping improve my diet. This is my review of the number one best-selling air fryer on Amazon.

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What is an air fryer?

A good question. An air fryer is basically a small countertop convection oven. While an air fryer is certainly a healthier alternative to a deep fryer, it can also cook regular stuff. This includes foods you’d never put in a deep fryer like steaks, roast chicken, salmon, vegetables, muffins, and more.

Air frying is faster than roasting and is more energy-efficient too. The Cosori Air Fryer’s temperature range is from 170-400 degrees Fahrenheit (77-205 degrees Celsius). Runtime is up to an hour (double the duration of some air fryers). As a bonus, the Cosori Smart Air Fryer is internet-connected so it can be controlled via Amazon Alexa or the VeSync app on Android or iOS.

How does an air fryer work?

A heating element sits in front of a fan so hot air circulates around your food, cooking it via the Maillard effect. The Maillard effect is the chemical reaction that gives browned foods “that” amazing flavor. In normal frying, this happens via boiling oil, a lot of which can be absorbed by the food.

An air fryer cooks food with 85% less fat than traditionally fried foods.

An air fryer only uses a thin coating of oil — either from a can of cooking spray or applied with a brush — producing the same awesome flavor without excessive fat. Cosori says an air fryer cooks food with 85% less fat than traditionally fried foods. This sounds just fine to me. As with any other cooking style, some foods are better suited to air frying than others, but you might be surprised by just how much you can cook in one.

What functions does it have?

Cooking in an air fryer is a straightforward process. Load the basket up and either choose from one of the 11 presets or set a desired heat and duration using the LED touchscreen. Depending on what you’re cooking you might need to turn your food at at some point, which is why the Cosori Air Fryer has a convenient shake alert.

The shake alert comes in particularly handy for foods like french fries, which only take 20 minutes to cook. You can also receive shake alerts on your phone and get a push notification when your food is ready. The Cosori Smart Air Fryer shuts off automatically so you don’t ever have to worry about “leaving the oven on” if that’s something that keeps you awake at night.

I love getting a push notification when dinner is ready.

The Cosori Smart Air Fryer has a preheat function and only takes about five minutes to heat up. This is handy, as not all air fryers offer preheating and many don’t maintain a consistent cooking heat. There’s also a keep warm function if you’re waiting on someone to join you.

A cooking delay option lets you preload the air fryer for cooking at a scheduled time up to four hours in the future. This can be very convenient if you’ve got something else cooking and you don’t want to get up later to put the veggies on. You can also schedule dessert to start cooking while you’re in the middle of eating dinner.

How big is it?

The Cosori Smart Air Fryer comes in two sizes, 3.7 and 5.8 quarts (3.5-5.5 liters). I went for the bigger one because I like a big roast chicken. The footprint difference between the two is not huge. To me, the larger one made more sense because it provides more flexibility. The basket is big enough for a meal for two, but any more than that and you’ll need to cook in batches.

The larger air fryer I got takes up a square foot of countertop (30 x 30cms). It’s 13 inches (33cms) high, so measure your cupboards first if you plan to keep it out of sight when you’re not using it. It comprises a non-stick basket that sits inside a container for catching any drippings. The two are separated with a button and are dishwasher safe.

Setup is a breeze: unpack everything; remove some labels; give the trays a quick wash; slot them in; pair the app; and you’re good to go.

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What does the app do?

The VeSync app for Android and iOS provides several bonus features, including remote cooking. If I was an Amazon Alexa user I’d also be able to voice control my smart air fryer. If that was a thing I needed (or wanted) to do.

The app has four main areas, including a recipe section with 100+ step-by-step recipes (you also get a paperback recipe book in the box). The app lets you save your favorite recipes, create your own, and see a log of your cooking history. The settings area lets you control notifications, switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius, share the device, and even rename it or swap out its icon. You can even preheat the air fryer from the app and let a recipe set the cooking time and temperature for you.

I wouldn't have guessed I could make french toast, soufflé, fish tacos, macaroons, or a scotch egg in an air fryer.

My initial forays into cooking with the air fryer were classics like fish, chicken, fries, roast vegetables, and the like. The recipe book, however, really opened my eyes to the kinds of meals that are possible with an air fryer. For example, I wouldn’t have guessed I could make french toast, soufflé, fish tacos, macaroons, or a scotch egg in an air fryer.