Though Tefal now makes drawer model air fryers too, the model is thought for the Actifry, and its bulbous form is immediately recognisable as one of many authentic air fryers within the UK. There have been a number of generations of this air fryer, however what has all the time made the Actifry distinctive is its rotating paddle that always stirs meals through the air fry course of. The Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1 combines the principle cooking pot and paddle of the forebearer, with an upper-level tray for twin zone cooking.
With loads of auto programmes and two cooking ranges, in addition to the power to make meals like curry or stew, the Actifry guarantees to be extra versatile than most of the best air fryers you’ll discover available on the market in the present day. Moreover, with an accompanying app stuffed with recipe strategies, even air fryer newbies gained’t should look far for inspiration on learn how to get one of the best out of this new kitchen gadget.
I’ve reviewed a number of air fryers, however most of the time nowadays, they’re the drawer-style ones and I have to admit, I used to be eager to check out this mannequin to see if it may tempt me into switching.
Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1 specs
(Picture credit score: Tefal)
- Capability: 1.7kg
- Dimension: 47.6 x 32.8 x 26.3cm
- Settings: 9 auto programmes or handbook air frying
- Comes with: pan, tray, paddle, spoon
- Energy: 1,500 watts
- RRP: £284.99
Unboxing the Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
My coronary heart all the time sinks slightly once I open a field to find enormous chunks of polystyrene, which is precisely what I used to be confronted with once I opened up this Tefal Actifry. Hopefully Tefal will quickly meet up with different equipment producers who now use easy-to-recycle protecting cardboard inserts as a substitute.
The air fryer itself is large and hulking and though not as tall as drawer model air fryers, it’s deep, so you may’t push it very far again in your worktop.Â
It comes with a pan that has a stirring paddle, plus a tray that sits above it so you may cook dinner in each concurrently, or select both stage relying on what you’re cooking. The decrease pan has an in-built deal with for simple lifting, nevertheless it folds down for a extra streamlined look when not in use. Whereas the higher tray has a detachable deal with that clips onto the center as wanted. There’s additionally an anti-spill ring and a measuring spoon included within the field.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
All of the components slot collectively comparatively merely, however the identical can’t be stated for utilizing the management panel. I spent numerous time scouring the annoyingly small print within the instruction handbook to determine learn how to use it. And whereas it’s helpful to have the ability to cook dinner in both the underside pan, high tray, or each together, it took me a good whereas to determine learn how to programme it to cook dinner in every of those modes.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
There are 9 auto programmes, and the instruction handbook offers prompt makes use of for every one, however doesn’t present any element on cooking temperatures nor are you able to modify the temperature, so that you simply should go together with it, happily you may modify the time although.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
Air frying on the decrease stage
I began issues off with a straightforward air fried veg mixture of asparagus and broccoli. In contrast to some air fryers there’s no preheat mode so I popped the broccoli florets and asparagus spears straight into the principle pan and poured over a tablespoon of oil.Â
There’s no must coat the greens within the oil first because the stirring paddle will guarantee this occurs throughout cooking. I used the handbook settings, choosing quarter-hour at 200°C. And since this time and temperature combo was a little bit of a guess, I used to be grateful for the viewing window which meant I may control progress.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
Throughout cooking I observed a whole lot of steam was escaping out of the hole across the backside of the lid and the plastic a part of the lid itself grew to become fairly heat to the touch, reaching 65°C. It was additionally loud compared to different air fryers I’ve used and hit 66dB on my sound meter.
After 12 minutes a number of the broccoli items have been wanting effectively browned so I ended the cooking. The asparagus was properly cooked with an awesome texture, but when I’m being actually choosy, the broccoli was slightly too crisp in locations and a number of the stalks have been barely undercooked. So maybe subsequent time, I‘d scale back the temperature slightly and enhance the cooking time, total although I’d say it was fairly profitable for my first try.
Air frying on the highest tray
The highest tray is one of the best place to air fry meals that you simply wouldn’t need stirring, so that is the place I cooked bacon. The tray is formed a bit like a donut which is barely limiting by way of what you may slot in. To air fry simply 4 slices of bacon I needed to overlap them slightly, however figuring out that they’d shrink throughout cooking, I used to be positive this wouldn’t trigger any points.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
The cooking desk within the directions doesn’t give strategies for cooking bacon, so I used to be winging it once more. I opted for eight minutes at 200°C, nevertheless it took me some time to determine learn how to programme it to cook dinner within the higher tray solely. I’ve to say I’ve by no means referred to the instruction handbook a lot when utilizing some other air fryer.
After cooking for 4 minutes I opened it as much as separate out the bacon because it had shrunk sufficiently. While you shut the lid although, it doesn’t robotically stick with it cooking (a characteristic I’m used to on some rivals), so it’s a must to bear in mind to press begin once more. The bacon was cooked with properly crisp rendered fats after simply seven minutes and once more the viewing window proved helpful in figuring out this.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
Twin-zone cooking within the Tefal Actifry 2-in-1
It felt to me just like the true take a look at of this air fryer could be in its skill to efficiently air fry on each ranges without delay. So I opted for the last word Friday evening deal with, scampi and chips, however to actually put this machine by way of its paces, I used to be combining home-made chips with frozen scampi.
Additional prolonged scouring of the instruction handbook led me to the conclusion that I ought to mix auto programme 1 for the chips within the pan with auto programme 2 for the scampi within the higher tray. And as soon as once more it took me a short while to determine learn how to set it to cook dinner in each concurrently.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
The directions simply suggested rinsing the chips fairly than soaking them as prompt by different air fryer producers. So I did simply that and loaded them into the pan with one tablespoon of oil, hitting begin for the 29 minute auto programme. I later realised that I’d added extra oil than prompt for the amount of chips I used to be cooking and this was once I additionally realised that on this air fryer, not like others, extra oil doesn’t drain away, it stays within the cooking pan together with your meals, so it’s value paying explicit consideration to grease portions should you’re on the lookout for the healthiest outcomes.
I assumed that 21 minutes into the chip cooking programme, the timer would alert me so as to add the scampi for its eight minute cook dinner and they’d then each be cooked inside the 29 minutes. However that was not the case, the primary programme runs by way of the total time and solely then do you add the meals to the highest tray and press begin once more which prompts the second programme. This meant a complete cook dinner time of 37 minutes, which really ended up being 40 minutes as a result of the scampi wanted slightly additional time.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
The completed meal was good – crisp juicy scampi and flavoursome chips, though they weren’t fairly as crisp as I’d hoped. However the cooking time was for much longer than different twin zone air fryers that may be programmed to cook dinner each meals concurrently.
Making chilli within the Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1 air fryer
Initially I needed to make spaghetti bolognese, however the one recipe I may discover within the app didn’t match the invoice. It was cut up into a number of steps of frying elements, including extra and frying some extra, and to me this doesn’t actually supply any advantages over cooking in a pan on the hob, it’s simply as labour intensive.
So I discovered a recipe for chilli that allowed me to place all of the elements within the pan and depart it to do its factor. I barely tailored the recipe to my style, however in any other case adopted the instructions. The recipe instructs you so as to add the elements to the pan in a selected order, which I diligently did. However upon switching on the 23 minute auto programme for world meals, I observed that the paddle wasn’t turning.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
I left it for 5 minutes however was anxious that my elements could be ruined if not stirred, so ended up tipping all the pieces out to examine the paddle was appropriately arrange. Nonetheless, it nonetheless didn’t work, so I switched it over to handbook mode and set the timer for quarter-hour. And it was throughout this time that I finally learn within the directions that the paddle doesn’t flip firstly of this explicit programme.
The entire thing was very irritating. I’d been utilizing the app for the recipe, not scouring the instruction handbook. And by tipping all of the elements out and re-loading them, I’d scuppered the entire course of and the purpose of including all the pieces in a selected order. However I carried on, as a result of I made a decision that had I not been utilizing a recipe within the app, I’d have most likely added all of it in a random order anyway, so I figured it was nonetheless a real-life situation.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
After the handbook cooking time elapsed, the chilli wasn’t cooked correctly so I switched the world meals programme again on and let it cook dinner for an additional 12 minutes, giving a complete cook dinner time of just below 35 minutes. After this, the chilli regarded interesting and I believed I’d rescued the meal. Sadly although, on tasting it, the meat was powerful and the onions have been nonetheless crunchy, it was a disappointing outcome.
I feel if you wish to make meals like chilli, curry and stew on this air fryer, you’ll should be ready for some trial and error. Sure, there are many recipes within the app, however lots of them are a tad uncommon – curry risotto or spicy rabbit anybody? Anyway, I feel you’ll have the ability to create profitable meals should you’re prepared to persist, however as as to whether you’ll get a lot profit over cooking on the hob or in a slow cooker, I’m but to be satisfied.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
Cleansing the Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1 air fryer
There are fairly just a few separate components to clean, however they’ll go within the dishwasher for simple cleansing. In the event you don’t have a dishwasher although, all the pieces is non-stick so neither the tray nor the pan is hard to clean by hand. That stated, there are just a few areas it’s a must to pay explicit consideration to, to verify they don’t change into encrusted with meals residues. Particularly across the handles and contained in the central a part of the tray. The paddle generally is a bit fiddly too should you enable meals to change into dried on.
How does the Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1 air fryer evaluate to different air fryers?
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
Though this mannequin has a flip-up lid as a substitute of the extra widespread pull-out drawer, the principle cooking pan with an connected deal with signifies that in use, it doesn’t really feel too totally different. Not many different air fryers have a viewing window, however even in comparison with those that do, this window on high of the lid offers the proper view inside so you may examine on the browning of your meals with out opening it up. That’s until you’re cooking on each ranges in fact, through which case you’ll must open it up and take away the tray to see the decrease stage.
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
The distinctive stirring paddle means you may pop your chips in and overlook about them till the timer goes off, making it a handy hands-off air fryer. Whereas for finest outcomes and even browning in different air fryers you’ll want to offer the pan a shake as soon as, if not a number of occasions throughout cooking. The ultimate characteristic that units this aside from the remaining is the choice to cook dinner different dishes equivalent to curries, chilli, stew or stir fry, which can be made attainable by the stirring paddle design.
Must you purchase the Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2-in-1
(Picture credit score: Future / Helen McCue)
Personally, I don’t suppose I’ll be giving up my drawer model air fryer for this one. However, should you’re the kind of one that’ll overlook to shake your chips mid-cook and need an air fryer that can cook dinner and stir meals whilst you overlook about it and do different issues, this one is certainly value contemplating.
It does take some time to determine all of the settings, however should you’re prepared to place the time in initially, when you’ve mastered it, you’ll take pleasure in profiting from twin stage air frying to provide full meals with minimal effort. It’s value noting although, that you simply gained’t have the ability to match massive items of fish or steak within the high tray, it’s higher suited to smaller meals like nuggets, regardless of being described as XL within the product identify.
In the event you’ve acquired a very garbage hob, then the power to cook dinner curries and stews will turn out to be useful, simply be ready to have slightly persistence and put the time in to excellent cooking this kind of recipe.
As a substitute for this air fryer, I might suggest wanting on the Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill, which is much more versatile and way more user-friendly.Â
About this assessment, and our reviewer
Helen McCue is a contract contributor who skilled as a house economist. After beginning her profession within the meals trade, she moved into dwelling equipment evaluations, utilising her cooking abilities and expertise to place all types of merchandise to the take a look at, and over time has reviewed a whole lot of dwelling and kitchen home equipment for a wide range of publications.
Having utterly renovated her present home, Helen evaluations kitchen home equipment from her open-plan kitchen at dwelling in a fantastic Berkshire village. When she’s not working, Helen might be discovered having fun with the native countryside or dreaming about her subsequent home renovation mission.
