Both air fryers and convection ovens use convection cooking, or heated air, to evenly cook your food, but they differ in size, appearance, and frying capability. Learn more about Air Fryers Vs. Convection Ovens.
An air fryer is just a smaller convection oven with a catchy namer. An air fryer uses convection baking to cook food instead of actually frying it, as the name implies. So air fryers are, in essence, convection ovens.
But that does not imply that they are identical. Let’s discuss these differences in more detail.
What is An Air Fryer?
In a similar manner to how a convection oven works, an air fryer is used to cook food. To heat your food, convection cooking employs a fan, an airflow-regulating exhaust system, and a heating element. A countertop air fryer is a compact, cylindrical kitchen appliance with a vented heating basket that distributes hot air. The device is about the same size as a coffee maker.
Convection heating applies lots of heat to the surface of your food, making it crispy, which is why air frying appears to “air fry” your food. Contrary to its name, an air fryer bakes food instead of frying it by using convection heating. Air fryers are excellent for cooking foods like french fries and chicken wings because they mimic the crispiness of fried food well. When you air fry food, you use a tiny fraction of the oil that you would if you were deep frying it.
What is a Convection Oven?
Like a typical toaster oven, a countertop convection oven is rectangular in shape with a front door that opens on a hinge at the bottom. Because a convection oven has a fan to circulate hot air, it differs from a typical toaster oven in that way.
When compared to a regular oven, the convection effect, which refers to the movement of the air inside the oven, speeds up cooking by transferring higher temperatures to the food’s surface. So it both accelerates cooking as well as enhances the browning and crisping of the surface of your food.
A convection oven is similar to a toaster oven in that it has an interior rack that can accommodate a sheet pan, preferably one with perforations for the best airflow. Because it’s wide, it allows for the food to be spread out on the rack rather than stacked in layers.
The flow of hot air is impeded when food is stacked or layered, so this is essential. The food can be cooked evenly all around if it is arranged in a single layer.
Air Fryers Vs Convection Ovens: How Are They Different?
Convection heating is used by both convection ovens and air fryers to quickly and evenly cook food. But there are some definite differences between them. The main distinctions between an air fryer and a convection oven are listed below.
Size
Air fryers are countertop appliances while convection settings are built into full-sized ovens and toaster ovens, hence the introduction of air fryer toaster ovens. Convection toaster ovens and air fryers can heat up quickly due to their countertop size. Additionally, it places the food nearer the heating elements, promoting faster cooking. There is now a setting for air frying in some toaster ovens, pressure cookers, and microwaves.
Heating
In an air fryer, the heat comes from the top, whereas in a convection oven, it comes from the top and bottom. The top-down method style concentrates it and cooks food more quickly.
Fan Placement
The fan is located on the top of an air fryer, directly below the heating element. It can be found in the center or on a side in the back of a convection oven.
Fan Size and Speed
Air fryer fans are large and operate faster than convection fans. One manufacturer confirmed that the fan on their air fryer setting is 30% faster than the fan on convection.
Accessories
With the help of numerous perforated accessories, air fryers can cook food quickly and evenly with little flipping or tossing. They consist of trays, racks, spits for rotisseries, skewers for kebabs, and baskets for air fryers. On the racks, you could also put tiny baking pans or tin cans.
Cleaning
Air fryers are relatively easy to clean — most are dishwasher safe, but their parts can be bulky and they require cleaning every time you use them. Convection ovens don’t require cleaning after every use, but the accessories you use do.
What is Convection Baking?
Convection baking introduces a fan to the interior of an oven, allowing hot air to be blown around and onto the food. As a result, the food becomes more crisp than it would in a regular oven (though still much less so than in a deep fryer), thanks to the force of the air’s increased heat transfer to the food’s surface.
It should be noted that even though many oven ranges have a convection setting, we’re only contrasting countertop convection ovens with air fryers in this discussion.
Can I Use My Convection Oven as An Air Fryer?
While you can use your convection oven as an air fryer, the results might not be as good. The best way to cook food in an oven like an air fryer is to buy an air fryer basket accessory and increase the airflow around your food. You might also give using a baking sheet on top of a cooling rack set to withstand high temperatures a try. Try a slight temperature increase but be cautious of burning if you’re still having trouble getting the desired crispy results.
Is An Air Fryer a Convection Oven?
Although most convection ovens can air-fry, not all air fryers can perform all the functions of a convection oven. The main difference between an air fryer and convection oven lies in the size, with a convection oven generally having more space for cooking larger amounts of food at one time (e.g., the difference between cooking eight mini scones or 16 full-size scones). The fan in an air fryer is located at the top of the appliance, which cooks food a little faster than the back-of-the-oven fan in a convection oven, but a convection oven doesn’t require any specialty equipment or accessories like an air fryer does.
FAQs
Is An Air Fryer a Healthier Cooking Method Than a Convection Oven?
Convection ovens and air fryers both move air around your food, so what you put inside of them makes more of a difference than the equipment itself. With a convection oven, you must coat your food with oil to ensure even distribution, but with an air fryer, you are working with a much smaller area, and you only ever need about 2 tablespoons (or less) of oil in the basket. Therefore, if you trust the process and allow the air to do the bulk of the work, the final products from an air fryer may be healthier.
Does a Convection Oven Make Food Crisp?
A convection oven will produce food that is significantly crispier than a conventional oven, particularly if you cook it on a perforated tray or an oven-safe cooling rack so that the air can circulate all over the food’s surface.
Which is Healthier Air Fryer Or Convection Oven?
Air fryers don’t even need oil because of how effectively they generate and distribute heat. Your food can be made crispier by them just by raising the interior temperature. However, with little to no oil being added to your dish or meal, it can be just as healthy as being baked in a convection oven.
What’s the Difference Between An Air Fryer and An Air Fryer Oven?
In terms of size, an air fryer oven is merely a full-size oven with an air fry setting. An air fryer oven’s larger capacity, which enables you to cook larger batches of food at once, is its greatest advantage over a countertop air fryer.
Air Fryers Vs. Convection Ovens: Are Air Fryers Or Convection Ovens Better?
Air fryers cook quicker than convection ovens and don’t require heating a large appliance, like your full-sized oven. Their perforated racks also allow fat to drip onto the drip pan so your food doesn’t absorb excess oil, which minimizes calories and becomes crispier since it is more dry.
An air fryer’s drawback is that it can’t cook as much food at once as an oven. In a single layer, food cooks more efficiently in an air fryer. While certain foods, like French fries, can be stacked, they should at least be tossed once. Although many manufacturers take this into account when developing new models, air fryers can also be quite loud.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment. My Prime Home tries to give you the best home improvement information. Don’t forget to share the post. Thank you for reading.
You may also be interested:
