Is Using Air Fryer Healthy?: Everything You Need To Know

Air fryers have become a popular kitchen device, marketed as a healthy, guilt-free way to enjoy your favourite fried dishes. They can help reduce the fat content of popular items such as french fries, chicken wings, empanadas, and fish sticks. Air fryers have been in the market for over ten years but are more popular now. 

Most people are drawn to crisp, golden french fries without grease, so they turn to an air fryer. Air fryers are much better for a healthcare diet as they do not require grease or oil.

Do this relatively inexpensive kitchen equipment, but prepare healthier food than traditional deep frying? What makes an air fryer a good choice?

Table Of Contents

1. What Is Air Fryer?

2. How Does It Work?

3. Health Benefits Of Air-Fryer

4. Are Air-Fried Foods Healthier? 

5. Adverse Effects Of Air Frier

6. Dietitian’s Recommendation

7. The Final Say

8. FAQs

What Is Air Fryer?

An air fryer is a kitchen device that cooks food by blowing hot air around it. Convection heating generates a crunchy, crispy exterior with minimum fat, making it a convenient and low-fat technique for cooking dishes. An air fryer is a cross between a deep fryer and a convection oven. The air fryer has a fry basket that suspends food and allows it to be heated from all sides—perfect for getting items nice and crispy. However, instead of being immersed in hot oil, the food is exposed to hot, rotating air like a convection oven.

How Does It Work?

Air fryers achieve this by eliminating high-fat, high-calorie oils from the cooking process. A person can achieve the same outcomes as a deep fryer with a fraction of the fat and calories by using only 1 tablespoon of cooking oil rather than numerous cups.

According to the researchers, air fryers employ heated air containing fine oil droplets to remove food moisture. As a result, the product has similar properties to fried dishes but substantially lower fat levels.

Air fryers are square or egg-shaped gadgets on your counter, about the size of a coffee maker. First, you place the food to be fried (chopped potatoes, chicken nuggets, zucchini slices) in a slide-out basket. Then, you can cover it lightly with oil if you desire.

A fan circulates hot air (up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit) over the food. It is similar to a convection oven.

The flowing air cooks the outside of the meals first, creating a crispy brown coating while keeping the inside soft, similar to deep-fried delicacies. Next, a container beneath the basket collects grease that falls as the food cooks.

Health Benefits Of Air Fryer

When used appropriately, air fryers provide numerous health benefits and can prevent medical conditions related to the heart, including:

1. A Low-Fat Cooking Method

Air fryers use far less oil than deep-fat fryers, and a 2015 study found that food cooked in an air fryer was significantly lower in fat. In an air fryer, the meal is heated in hot air that contains fine oil droplets.

2. Could Aid In Weight Loss

Deep-fried meals are high in fat and calories; thus, swapping them for those cooked in an air fryer may assist in weight loss; however, this depends on how frequently frying is used as a cooking method in the diet.

3. Lower Acrylamide Levels

Compared to deep fat frying, there is some evidence that using an air fryer reduces acrylamide by up to 90%. Acrylamide is a chemical compound generated when foods like potatoes, which are starchy, are cooked at high temperatures (above 120 °C). Acrylamide has been linked to cancer.

4. Air Fryers Are Safe In The Kitchen

Heat a large deep pan of oil to a high temperature to deep fry. This could be dangerous in the kitchen since heated oil could spill, spatter, or catch fire. However, when used properly, air fryers do not pose the same safety issues as conventional fryers.

5. Nutrients May Be Preserved

Convection heat, such as that employed in an air fryer, may help maintain some nutrients during the cooking process, such as vitamin C and various beneficial plant chemicals known as polyphenols.

Are Air-Fried Foods Healthier?

Air frying is generally healthier than oil frying. It reduces calories by 70% to 80% and contains significantly less fat.

This cooking method may help reduce some of the other negative impacts of oil frying. For example, when you cook potatoes or other starchy meals, the chemical acrylamide is formed, which studies have linked to an increased risk of cancer. However, according to one study, air frying reduces acrylamide in fried potatoes by 90%.

Adverse Effects Of Air Fryer

Although air-fried foods are healthier than deep-fried dishes, there are some disadvantages to be aware of.

For one thing, air-frying takes longer to cook dishes than traditional deep-frying.

In one study comparing the features of deep-fried french fries with those cooked in an air fryer, air-frying the french fries took 21 minutes against only 9 minutes for deep-frying.

Aside from requiring longer cooking times, air-frying has a somewhat different flavour and a less crunchy quality than deep-frying.

And, while air-frying minimises the generation of hazardous compounds like acrylamide and advanced glycation end products compared to deep-frying, air-fried meals include these chemicals, which should be minimised in your diet.

Dietitian’s Recommendation

Air fryers are a better alternative to deep-fat frying in general. However, food cooked in an air fryer is still considered fried food. Fried foods have been linked to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some malignancies; therefore, use an air fryer as an occasional cooking method rather than every day.

-Dietitian Lavina Chauhan

The Final Say

An air fryer is a better alternative to deep frying foods. It may cook meats, potatoes, and other nutritious things like broccoli, yams, tofu, or eggs. Using an air fryer instead of a deep fryer can lower the amount of fat, calories, and potentially hazardous substances in your food.

FAQs

1. Is air fryer harmful to health?

No, an air fryer is a healthier option than deep frying. It can be an inventive way to fry meats, potatoes, and other nutritious foods such as broccoli, yams, tofu, or eggs. Also, compared with deep-frying, using an air fryer can reduce the amount of calories, fat, and potentially harmful compounds in your food.

2. What is the disadvantage of an air fryer?

Air-frying also produces high temperatures at a very rapid rate, thus making it extremely easy to burn food. And charred food may be carcinogenic. In addition, because most devices cook 1 to 3 pounds of food at a time, it can be challenging to air-fry meals for a large family.

3. Why is the air fryer so popular?

Air fryers are popular around the world because they are affordable, do not use as much oil as traditional fryers, and heat food evenly and quickly. In addition, these appliances are much healthier than deep fryers and work more rapidly than a standard convection oven.

4. Is the air fryer healthier than the oven?

Air frying and baking both work by exposing food to higher temperatures. Air fryers blow hot air around the food, while ovens direct heat at the food from at least one direction, sometimes two. So in terms of healthfulness, both methods are about the same.

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