San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Instant Pot or air fryer? Take this quiz
Black Friday is coming with killer deals on kitchen gadgets, and you can count on the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker and air fryers to be among the most popular appliances this year.
But should you buy one for yourself or as a gift? For some cooks, they’ll become beloved devices that get used daily. For others, they’ll be yet another bulky piece of kitchen equipment that gobbles up counter or cabinet space collecting dust.
This week, I’ve got a handy quiz to help you decide if an Instant Pot or air fryer is right for you or your loved ones.
Air fryer
An air fryer is essentially a small convection oven that cooks food by circulating hot air around the ingredients. They operate at fairly high temperatures and are capable of crisping ingredients at an incredibly fast rate compared with baking in a conventional oven. They’re also touted as a healthy alternative to deep frying foods as they require far less oil than deep frying.
If you answer “yes” to any three of the following questions, there’s a good chance an air fryer will find a good home in your kitchen.
1. Do you crave all things crispy and crunchy? Air fryers can prepare snappy french fries, crispy Brussels sprouts, crusty chicken tenders or nuggets and
more in minutes.
2. Are you trying to eat healthier? Air fryers require a fraction of the oil found in deepor pan-fried foods. You can even get respectable results without any oil, although a few drops of fat will help achieve crispier results.
3. Do you host regular football viewing parties? An air fryer is one of the fastest, easiest and neatest ways of sizzling chicken wings to a crisp.
4. Are you cooking for four people or fewer? Air fryers generally have a fairly small capacity and may not be the best option if you’re planning to cook multiple courses for a crowd. Most models are only large enough to prepare about two
servings of food at a time, although larger models do exist.
5. Can you give up cheese? Gooey ingredients like cheese have a tendency to ooze through air fryer baskets and create a sticky mess that takes plenty of elbow grease to clean. You can line the basket, but that changes the airflow inside the device and it won’t cook as well.
Instant Pot
While the Instant Pot isn’t the only multicooker on the market, it is by far the most popular, with a legion of followers who swear by it for every meal. It’s a versatile device that doubles as a slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker and more.
If three of the following questions get a “yes” from you, there’s a good chance you’re a prime candidate to join the Instant Pot army.
1. Do you love all things simmered and stewed?
The Instant Pot’s hallmark function is pressure cooking, which shaves hours off cooking pot roast, chili, braised ribs and more.
2. Do you enjoy preparing large cuts of meat like pork or beef roasts? Larger Instant Pot models have enough capacity for whole pork shoulders or large cuts of beef, meaning a mountain of pulled pork or brisket can be a weeknight meal.
3. Can you enjoy a meal that doesn’t have any crunch?
While Instant Pots do have a saute function that’s useful for browning ingredients, they aren’t suitable for any kind of frying where crispy skin or crunchy edges are desired.
4. Are beans a must-have at every meal? An Instant Pot is arguably the best way of transforming nearly any kind of dried bean or legume into a wholesome and hearty meal in a fraction of the time it takes to soak and simmer them in the traditional way. And that means no more opening preservative-laced cans of mushy pintos or black beans when you’re in a dinner pinch.
5. Do you have extra counter or cabinet space? While Instant Pots come in a range of sizes, the larger, 6-quart models offer the most flexibility when preparing big meals. That volume comes with bulk, though, as these models take up about the same space as a small microwave.