Air Frying Vs. Deep Drying: What’s the Difference

Air frying is all the fashion proper now, and for good motive. This ingenious methodology is accessible to residence cooks and produces the type of mouthwateringly crispy and evenly browned outcomes that might as soon as solely be achieved by a deep fryer. However on the subject of air frying vs deep frying, what’s the distinction precisely? Right here’s how the 2 cooking strategies stack up (and why you would possibly need to scoop up an air fryer, stat).

You’ve in all probability already heard that air frying is a novel cooking methodology that permits meals to get golden brown and crispy with out the usage of excess oil—and that’s, certainly, the principle distinction between air frying and deep frying. What sort of sorcery is that this, you ask? Effectively, air fryers are geared up with a heating ingredient and a strong fan that work collectively to quickly flow into scorching air, thus reaching the same outcome as a deep fryer with out a vat of grease (and a ton of additional energy, however extra on that later). In reality, the oldsters at Whirlpool say that deep frying requires as much as two quarts of oil…and that’s 100 instances greater than most air fryer recipes, which usually name for only a tablespoon of oil, if any in any respect.

In relation to cooking time, deep fryers are the sooner option to go. It’s no secret that quick meals joints depend on this cooking methodology to supply completely fried meals gadgets in minutes. On common, the specialists say that air frying takes between 10 to fifteen minutes longer than deep frying. Nonetheless, cooking time isn’t all the pieces. When it comes to total time dedication, deep frying doesn’t essentially have an edge on air frying, particularly as a result of deep frying will depart you with an oily mess that takes a substantial period of time—and elbow grease—to wash. (Cleaning an air fryer, alternatively, is considerably much less messy.) It’s additionally price noting that much less time is spent on setup and meals prep whenever you go together with air frying, since deep frying recipes usually require that meals be dipped in a batter previous to cooking, and that requires further time and (you guessed it) much more clear up. The deep frying method additionally calls for extra oversight from the chef all through the cooking course of, whereas air fryers boast a set-it-and-forget-it benefit many residence cooks want.

Earlier than you spend money on a brand new kitchen equipment, you could think about value. As such, you may be to know that air fryers are usually dearer than deep fryers. (An entry-level air fryer will set you again roughly $100, whereas cheap deep fryers will be discovered for as little as $25.) Nonetheless, the steeper worth of an air fryer can be rapidly offset by the cash saved on oil. Certainly, the massive quantities of oil required for deep frying can value you a reasonably penny in the long term. Plus, air fryers boast extra superior options than the typical deep fryer and, very like an oven, have a wider vary of cooking purposes, together with frying, roasting, baking and reheating.

We’d be remiss to not point out that air fried meals, although corresponding to their deep fried counterparts in some ways, do not need precisely the identical style and texture. Usually, deep fried meals may have a thicker crust on them, whereas air fried meals have a texture that’s mild, crisp and, effectively, ethereal by comparability. The flavour of deep fried meals can also be closely influenced by the oil it’s submerged in. In reality, cooking oil is usually the dominant taste of a deep fried dish; it’s that greasy goodness that makes it laborious to differentiate a mozzarella stick from a hen tender. For that reason, the culinary professionals at Cook’s Illustrated advise both beginning with recent oil each time, or straining beforehand used cooking oil earlier than heating it up once more, lest the brand new batch of fried meals tackle a not-so-fresh (or in excessive instances, downright rancid) style. Evidently, this isn’t a priority with air frying—and followers of the strategy want that it permits the pure flavors of the elements to shine.

Given what you recognize in regards to the quantity of oil required for deep frying vs. air frying, it ought to come as no shock that air frying is, by far, the more healthy methodology.  Deep frying requires that the meals be utterly submerged in oil, and a substantial quantity of that oil is absorbed by the meals through the cooking course of. (You’ll be able to reduce this to an extent by making certain that your cooking oil is satisfactorily heated to not less than 325°F since something decrease than that and your meals will prepare dinner too slowly, soak up much more oil and sure emerge a greasy mess.)

And it’s not simply in regards to the sheer calorie depend of deep fried meals, which is clearly a lot larger than that of the air fried selection: Research (like this one revealed in Meals Chemistry in 2016) have proven that trans fats content material will increase when cooking oil is heated to excessive temperatures for frying, and when it’s reused for a similar function. That is significantly problematic, on condition that the American Heart Association confirms that the consumption of trans fat raises unhealthy (LDL) levels of cholesterol, lowers good (HDL) levels of cholesterol, and will increase the danger of creating coronary heart illness, stroke and sort II diabetes. In different phrases, the much less oil you utilize to get that desired crispy impact, the less trans fat you’ll eat and the more healthy you’ll be.