Do you like fried food? Who doesn’t? There are a lot of delicious dishes that you probably want to prepare but might be put off by the amount of oil used in the preparation. However, with the health benefits of air fryers, you can still have the delicious crunchy taste while offering your family a healthy meal.
In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about air fryers and how they work. You’ll also understand the various health benefits of these helpful appliances and why you should get one.
What is an Air Fryer?
An air fryer is a useful home appliance that allows you to enjoy the pleasant taste of deep-frying using a small amount of oil. It works using the power of hot air that cooks your food with the help of a fan.
This fan pushes the hot air to circulate around the food which is put in a fryer-basket. There will be a small amount of oil that the mechanism of the fan pushes to coat your food from all directions.
The fast movement of the air adds the extra crispy feeling that we all love when we deep-fry food. Moreover, the outer layer of the food becomes brown due to the caramelisation and Maillard reaction that gives food its distinctive flavour.
Air fryers allow you to cook food that otherwise has to be submerged in large amounts of oil. These appliances have temperature and time adjustment controls so you can prepare different kinds of food to perfection. If you’d like more information, check out our comperhensive article on how air fryers work.
What Can You Do with an Air Fryer?
Deep-frying adds more fats to your food than any other cooking method. However, it’s one of the most favoured cooking techniques because the food turns out tasty and crunchy.
Air fryers can help you cook almost any kind of food without using a lot of oil. A single spoon of oil or a couple of sprays of cooking oil will be enough to give your food the favourable deep-fried taste without using an excessive amount of fat.
In traditional deep-frying, you’ll need about 750 ml of oil to have your food perfectly cooked. This amount is reduced by about 75% without affecting the taste of the food you’re cooking.
You can cook frozen food that would typically be cooked in a large amount of oil. This includes French fries, frozen chicken, mozzarella sticks, dumplings, and other types of food like fish, beef, and vegetables. There are also come exclusive recipes that you can find online to cook using your air fryer.
Some types of air fryers also give you the ability to bake, grill, and roast various types of food as you adjust the settings. Due to the compact size of the air fryer, you can easily keep it on your kitchen countertop until it’s needed.
What are the Health Benefits of Air Fryers?
Finding a healthy way to prepare delicious food is an excellent choice. Here are some of the health benefits of air fryers.
Lower Cholesterol
An air fryer allows you to prepare tasty food with a small amount of oil. Deep-fried food tastes excellent but is not healthy due to the large amount of oil used. If you’re trying to manage your weight, then you need to stay away from deep-fried food and use less oil with the air fryer.
If you suffer from a health problem like a high cholesterol level, you can have your levels in check by using air fryers that use less oil to lower cholesterol levels. Conscious eating becomes easy for the whole family, so you can take better care of the health of everyone.
Your food doesn’t absorb oil, so the overall fat content is reduced to keep your heart healthy. It’s also useful if you have stomach problems or suffer from heartburn that can get worse if you eat oily food.
Using an Air Fryer Will Help You Manage Your Weight
Oil is rich in calories, so you can manage your calories intake by using an air fryer. As a result, you can still have tasty food on the table that doesn’t contain a lot of oil or fats.
An air fryer will allow you to stick to a healthy diet that can help you overcome a lot of health issues.
An Air Fryer Helps You Avoid the Problems Associated with Deep-Frying
Deep-frying heats the oil to a very high temperature which leads to the formation of harmful compounds. Acrylamide is a compound formed in carbohydrate-rich foods and high temperatures and has been linked to several types of cancer. An air fryer eliminates the formation of this dangerous compound.
Air Fryers are Eco-Friendly
Cleaning the air fryer is very easy. Some people are worried about getting rid of oil because it tends to clog the drains.
However, with an air fryer, you won’t worry about the excess oil as the appliance uses a minimal amount. You will also use fewer cleaning detergents to keep your air fryer clean.
If you’re in a hurry, the air fryer will help you save a lot of time. The fast movement of the hot air cooks your food perfectly from all the sides in a fraction of the time.
Air fryers offer a green cooking option. You don’t use a lot of energy to have your crispy food ready, unlike traditional cooking methods.
Your kitchen won’t get hot when you’re using the air fryer. When you’re deep-frying food or using an oven, the temperature is likely to rise in your kitchen and later on in the whole house.
An air fryer doesn’t emit all this amount of hot air that should be later cooled off using a fan or an air conditioner. The hot air is kept inside the air fryer to cook your food.
Using an Air Fryer is a Safer Option
Deep-frying involves heating oil to very high temperatures, increasing the risk of burning in case of an accident. If you live in a busy household or have kids around the house, your air fryer will be a safe option. A kid can easily use it because you press a button, and the appliance will do all the work on your behalf.
Do You Have to Use Oil in the Air Fryer?
You don’t have to, but most people prefer to add only a small spoon of oil to give their food a pleasant taste. If you’re not a big fan of oil, you can use oil spray or use a brush to coat your food with a thin layer of oil.
The good thing about air fryers is that they give you total control over the food you’re preparing in the house. You can choose any oil or oil spray to cook your food to perfection. You should check your user’s manual to understand how to use your air fryer properly.
Conclusion
An air fryer is an excellent appliance that can help you manage your diet. If you like deep-fried food, you can still enjoy its taste without having to ingest high quantities of oil.
Using a tiny amount of oil, you’ll enjoy crunchy and tasty food that tastes just like deep-fried food without the added adverse risk. Moreover, the appliance is easy and safe to use. All you have to do is to pick the right ingredients, and your family will have healthy food on the table.
If you are interested in checking out the best air fryers on the market, look no further than our buyer’s guide of the best air fryers.
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