Last month I received an invitation to try out an air fryer. We’ve all seen them and they’re quite expensive but this one was one of the less expensive versions that people like me can afford. I wasn’t too sure about trying it because when someone sends you something to try out, you want to be able to say something nice, or at least I do. I was raised that if you didn’t have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut.

So I was a bit anxious about it but I agreed to test the Avancer air fryer. The one I have is a 1500w machine and sells for $89 in Australia.  They also have a 2000w machine that’s a lot bigger for $109 and I think that would be a better purchase. The one I have is fine for me but if I had guests it wouldn’t do the job.  Avancer has a whole line of affordable kitchen appliances and they offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

Do you have an air fryer or have you tried one out?  We don’t eat a lot of fried food but we like it so fried food without all the oil (and guilt) sounded good.

When the air fryer arrived, the question was, “What are you going to cook?”

First I tried frozen spring rolls.”  It was a quick test and I didn’t have to mess up the kitchen.

“If the machine could cook those satisfactorily, it might be okay”, I thought. After the fryer pre-heated, I sprayed the spring rolls with oil and then popped them in. Honestly and I’m not kidding about this, in 6 minutes, I was saying, “Wow, these are SO hot!!”  They were perfectly crispy on the outside, and hot on the inside – from frozen!

When you’re not used to a new gadget it takes a bit of time to get comfortable with it so my first attempt at real food was potatoes with rosemary and I topped them with Parmesan cheese and a fried egg. It’s my kind of breakfast but I don’t have it often because of the oil.

I peeled the potato and cut it up and drizzled the pieces with oil, tossed in some rosemary and kosher salt and stirred it all together. When the fryer was hot, I poured the potatoes into the little drawer and then I went to make coffee. The potatoes took a little longer than the spring rolls, about 18 minutes or so and at the 14 minute mark, I fried the egg.

When you buy new appliances, would you consider a brand that you weren’t familiar with? I’ll be honest and admit that I probably would have gone for the big brand with the big price tag but now that I’ve tried this one, I’m happy with it.

Thanks for sending the air fryer to test.