Salter EK5196 Dual Air Pro – 7.6 L Digital Air Fryer, Sync & Match Cook Function, Oil Free Fryer, Sensor Touch Display, 10 Cooking Functions, 60 Min Timer, Non-Stick Cooking, Stainless Steel, 1700 W

Product Information

We think the Salter air fryer is perfect if you are a solo household, family or have little one's that just can't wait. Good models will come with dishwasher-safe removable parts and a pull-out loading tray that slots into the machine. For easy cooking from the get-go, look out for models with preset functions for popular dishes too. These work out the timings and temperatures for you. One of the most popular foods to air fry is potatoes with different options for chips, potato wedges and roast potatoes.

Air fryers have surged in popularity in recent years as more and more people have opted for this healthier method to create delicious fried food. Aluminium foil can go in the air fryer basket as a base for certain foods but only use a small amount and only in the basket of the air fryer. Never wrap or cover the food or use an excessive amount of foil as the less foil you use, the more airflow you’ll have.

Cons

General air fryer foods (chips, hash browns, burgers and the like) were cooked exceptionally well, although we did have to add a bit of cooking time beyond the recommend to some food types. Using the grill, we found that its heat was slightly uneven, but moving food around manually when turning it was enough to overcome this problem. Everything from an air fryer to a slower cooker and pressure cooker, the Ninja Foodi Max OL750UK is an all-round brilliant multi-cooker. Thanks to its clever design, there’s no need to change lids for different modes, while the temperature probe adds a new level of precision cooking.

The best models will have a number of basics you should look out for. These include weight and temperature settings, so you can adjust the heat and cook time to suit your ingredients. Despite being a budget-friendly option, the T17023 was no slouch in testing, cooking oven classics such as spring rolls and hash browns to a commendable crispness and performing solidly when tasked with more delicate items like meat and vegetables. We decided to try air frying roast potato wedges; we simply sliced up our spuds before popping them in the fryer and pressing the correct setting. Using the included booklet for the times made it super easy.You can cook individually, use the same setting on both drawers or, cleverly, use different settings on each drawer but have them synchronise to finish at the same time. There are options to air fry, max crisp (a 240C turbo setting), roast, reheat, dehydrate or bake. Kitchen countertop space is a precious commodity, so if you’re considering the Salter Dual Air Fryer, be aware of how much space it takes up. It measures 40cm in length, 36.1cm in width, and 32cm in height – that is bigger than your average four-slice toaster. If you already have a microwave, kettle, toaster and perhaps a food blender, you may have to think about where your air fryer will go, or do you have cupboard space for it? We have to say that the manual controls are a little confusing with lots of buttons for dedicated cooking modes, such as seafood, chips, fish and meat. A simpler layout would help, although once you’re used to the T22, it’s often easier to set a temperature and time manually. All-in-all, this air fryer was easy to set up and use and provided crispy food with that fried, crunchy texture we all crave.

An air fryer is essentially a small convection oven, circulating hot air around the food to get that crispy outer layer and fluffy or moist inside. It is also more energy-efficient due to its size and power, compared to heating your kitchen oven. Upping the game ahead of Christmas dinner, I tested out Brussels sprouts cooked with bacon. This time, too long meant they'd reduced to barely the size of a pea and were very crispy. By Christmas Day, I’d figured out the perfect cooking time of 10 minutes and they were plenty flavourful. Bacon is also a great meat to cook in the air fryer if you like it crispy, but a beefburger dried out and didn’t retain its moisture, so it was almost inedible. Like the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone, the Dual Air offers a choice of combined or independent control of its two baskets. By default, you can programme a temperature and time for each, then both will start at the same time. In Sync mode, the longer programme gets a head start so that both sides finish cooking at the same time. Finally, Match Cook mode sets both sides to cook with the same settings, which is useful if you just want to cook lots of the same thing. PerformanceThe steps are easy to follow and include setting the time and temperature and pre-heating the air fryer before you cook. The price tag puts the Salter into the upper end of the market but as it does multiple ways of cooking this can be more beneficial than buying multiple cooking devices. We grilled a piece of cod with lemon and herbs which took just ten minutes and we only had to turn it once on the grill.