Summary
Discussion of portable air fryers, like the Ninja Crispi glass air fryer.
Content
What I use
Air fryer itself
The glass containers are great, because they are 100% non-toxic
I ditch the OEM crisper racks in lieu of stainless steel racks (see below), because they have a nano-ceramic coating on them that can chip, and they also use silicone feet, whereas I prefer only glass and metal to be in areas directly exposed to heat. (Silicone is way better than plastic in terms of not leeching stuff, but can still hypothetically leech siloxanes at high temperatures. The wider idea for me is why even risk anything other than glass or metal if you don’t have to?)
- The OEM crisper racks are also not baskets, but flat. This allows stuff to fall off the sides, which I don’t like.
Bottom racks, to allow for full air circulation
Basket design, to prevent stuff from falling off sides.
Wire mesh, to allow for cooking a wider variety of foods, including smaller things. (Even though it is a bit more of a pain to clean).
Stacking racks, to allow for two levels of cooking with full air circulation
Basket design, to prevent stuff from falling off sides.
Wire mesh, to allow for cooking a wider variety of foods, including smaller things. (Even though it is a bit more of a pain to clean).
I bought a different product for stacking racks, because at the time I was buying racks, I could not buy a product that gave me a bottom mesh basket for the 6 cup container and two stacking mesh baskets for the 4 qt container. Since no mesh basket is sold standalone for the 6 cup container (at least not that I could find), that is why I bought the two products I did. In practice, I ended up with an extra mesh basket for the 4 qt container, but oh well. You might be able to find a standalone rack for the 4 qt container that would in practice fit on top of the bottom basket from the other product, but I wasn’t willing to gamble on things working together that weren’t intentionally designed to, especially when the cost delta/overall waste here is probably like $10 or something.
The 6 cup container is short enough that having two levels of stacking wouldn’t make much sense, in my opinion. (You don’t want stuff getting too close to heating element, past a certain point). And the 4 qt container is short enough that having three levels of stacking wouldn’t make much sense (even though there are in fact stacking stainless steel rack products that allow for three layers).
Silicone mat to place the air fryer top on
This is useful for a couple reasons:
- It lets you set down the top of the air fryer without worrying at all about the counter surface.
- You might truly not need it in practice (since the air fryer top is already designed to not directly expose the counter surface to heat), but clearly having it is even better.
- Because it is non-slip silicone, it holds the top in place more securely.
I got it in navy blue, to match the color of the air fryer I bought. The matching colors make the combo look sharp.
Why use a portable air fryer? Maximally easy cleanup, that’s why
The very small design makes it maximally easy to clean.
I like the general idea of this product a lot:
But for making meals for one person, you would end up getting a much bigger surface area dirty. Less surface area to clean = faster cleaning in practice, and smaller containers are also much less awkward to clean too (since they aren’t nearly as bulky or heavy, which makes them easier to maneuver, flip, etc. when washing).
To me, this is the killer feature. Especially when you use the small 6 cup container, you just don’t have very much to clean at all, so cleaning goes a lot faster than it would with any other type of air fryer or toaster oven product.
- Depending on your disposable income and how much your overtime rate is (assuming you can work overtime on demand), it might even be worth buying one of these portable air fryers just for the superior cleaning benefit alone. A few minutes here and there really adds up over time, given frequent usage.
Why use a portable air fryer? Other reasons
A portable air fryer can be taken to work (in a tote bag or whatever, alongside your lunch and snacks and whatnot), allowing for a wider variety of meals to be consumed there.
In practice I mostly don’t bother because I just preferentially cook meals needing the air fryer for my evening meal at home, but technically the portable design would allow you to do this, whereas non-portable air fryer designs wouldn’t give you this flexibility.
The portable air fryer also takes up much less space when being stored than other options. I have so much cabinet and counter space that I don’t care, but you might (especially if you are in a compact apartment or whatever).
The portable air fryer is a lot cheaper than bigger air fryers. If you don’t need a bigger volume (for cooking things like full-size pizzas), then cheaper is definitely better.
- If you ever decide you do want to cook pizzas and whatnot, having a bigger air fryer/toaster oven and the portable air fryer allows you to use two different temperatures/cook times when cooking two things simultaneously.
- Compared to a dual air fryer proper (which tend to have two small cooking areas), using a big air fryer/oven plus a portable air fryer gives you more flexibility, since it allows you to have one large cooking area plus one small cooking area, rather than only having two small cooking areas.
- In practice, when I use dual-oven cooking, when possible, I try to put the messy thing in the portable air fryer with the glass container, since cleanup is easier that way.
- You can technically buy a glassware air fryer that is big enough for pizzas and other large things, but those are way more expensive than an equivalent-volume plain metal toaster oven. So I personally use a regular metal toaster oven plus the portable glassware air fryer. YMMV.