Understanding Your Air Fryer: How Much Electricity Does An Air Fryer Use

Many of us can agree that Air fryers are, without a doubt, incredible kitchen appliances that significantly the need to deep fry, hence drastically reducing the amount of oil we use to cook in some cases. What we often forget, however, is that these magical devices require electricity to be used. Do you know how much electricity does an air fryer use? That is what this post will be exploring.

No two air fryer brands are created equal. So, the make and model of your air fryer plays a major part in determining how much electricity your air fryer will need. The capacity of the fryer, as well as the length of time it’s in use, will also play a role in the number of watts utilized. On average, however, an air fryer tends to utilize between 1,400 and 1,700 watts of electricity. This typically converts to anywhere between 1.4kwhph and 1.7kwhph in terms of use.

This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are still a lot of other factors to consider when determining the total amount of electricity an air fryer uses. All of which require, a deeper dive to properly explain how they affect your electricity usage.

How Much Electricity Does An Air Fryer Use?

To ensure you are making an informed decision when using your air fryer. Let’s take a deeper dive into a few more factors and how they affect your electricity usage levels.

Air Fryer’s Size

When it comes to electricity usage, larger appliances aren’t always better. Sure, a larger fryer is great for cooking more food in fewer batches. This is actually why many families opt for the bigger models. Their thought process is that a larger air fryer would require them to be in the kitchen less hence saving them time and money as they will be able to feed larger families in less time. What they don’t realize, however, is that by adding more food into the fryer at once, they are forcing it to use more electricity to get the food fully cooked through.

I’m sure that revelation threw you for a loop. So, I’ll take a minute to elaborate. For your air fryer to cook your food through correctly, it has to get the air that is circulating in your food capsule to a hot enough temperature to not only break down the bacteria present in raw food but also get it cooked. It has to get the air to fully surround each individual piece of food being cooked. So, if there is more food for the air to go around, it will need more power to do so. This equates to more electricity being used.

Your Air Fryer’s Settings

One of the main selling points of an air fryer is that most, if not all, come with a variety of cooking functions.  Many of which feature fancy digital panels that allow you to select the cooking function, select the specific food you will be cooking, set the time, cook preference, and a variety of other variables. All of these settings are incredible for ease of use but not so great for your electricity usage.

Top 5 Tips to Use Your Air Fryer Like A Pro

Now that you are a bit more about the electricity your air fryer uses, let’s explore a few tips, and tricks that will help you utilize the air fryer in hopes to get your food cooked properly on the first go. Hence utilizing less electricity.

Leave enough space in your basket to shake or flip!

As with a traditional deep fryer, your food will need space to be fully surrounded by the cooking source. A normal deep fryer cooks by having hot oil penetrate each particle of food. The same principle applies to the Air Fryer. In order to perfectly cook your food items, the air has to fully surround each particle.

To support this concept, it is recommended that you periodically shake the Air Fryer basket to avoid compression or getting the food stuck together.

Avoid overcrowding your Air Fryer basket!

An overloaded basket will not permit you to shake or flip so try to avoid overloading. Overloading your fryer can hinder the cooking process. So, instead of packing it all in at once and winding up with underdone food, consider cooking in batches.

Consider spraying your food with oil prior to cooking!

Though not a requirement in all cases, a splash of oil can in fact go a long way on the road to a crispy and delicious meal. An easy way to do this is to invest in an oil spritzer that will allow you to simply spray the food you are about to cook.

Take the steps required to keep your fryer clean and dry!

This comes into play from the moment you remove your new appliance from the box all the way through the cooking process. As such, if you find that the food you are preparing requires you to coat or bread the item before frying, be sure to shake off any excess breading or liquid before adding it to your air fryer basket. This excess coating material can drip or fall onto the bottom of your appliance and burn making it harder to clean.

The same can be said about high-fat foods that may melt onto the bottom of your fryer and create a smoky experience the next time it is used. To avoid this, consider cleaning your fryer as soon as it is cool enough to touch after each use.

Alternately, you can opt to line the bottom of your air fryer basket with high-heat parchment paper or foil before cooking. Doing this will aid in making your Air Fryer life significantly easier when it’s time to clean. Alternately you can opt to use parchment paper. Be sure to top your paper with the mesh basket as the air will blow it out of place, and the high circulating temperatures can cause it to become inflamed.

Utilize all your fryer’s functions to get the most from the appliance.

Your Air Fryer can be used for so much more than just frying. In fact, a typical Air Fryer will be able to carry just about dry cooking methods you can think of, including, but limited to, dehydrating, baking, roasting, frying, and grilling.

Bottom Line

Air fryers are, without a doubt, incredible kitchen appliances that aid in us using less oil to cook a variety of meals. Which, in turn, aids in us having a healthier population. Never forget however that, however, is that these magical appliances require electricity to be used.

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