Your New Year’s Resolution may have been to eat better and want to use less cooking oil in your meals. Maybe you just need a more efficient way to cook food for a group of friends or your whole family. If you're trying to eat healthier, you don't have to say goodbye to your favorite fried foods. With an air fryer, you can enjoy your fried favorites with much less grease & fat. Air fryers use a high-powered fan to move heat quickly and evenly around food in a small space to recreate the effects of deep frying. Air frying typically uses a maximum of 1 tablespoon of oil to coat the food, making it a much healthier option compared to deep frying. Not only does it offer a healthier way to fry food, but it's also a great appliance for making quick & easy meals for the whole family.

If you're wondering which air fryer is the best, we've got you covered! We've put our top three models to the test to compare how they perform and take a look at all additional features offered to determine which is our top pick. 

Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven

Quick Specs: 1800-Watt | 0.6 Cubic Ft. Interior | 7 Functions | 15.5" x 16" x 14" | Weight: 21 lbs. | 3-Year Warranty

Best For: Multitaskers in the kitchen. Not only does it air fry, but it’s also a spacious toaster oven. It can toast, convection bake, and broil while being a fun-size oven that you can leave on the counter. Perfect for small apartments where space is important or as a secondary oven for cooking small meals or dishes during the holidays.

Pros:

• Air Frying & Countertop Oven: The Cuisinart is more than just an air fryer. It has multiple trays and carries the major functions of a toaster oven as well.
• Beautiful & Quality Build: The brushed stainless steel, 6 heating elements, glass door, and heavy-duty controls make this a quality kitchen appliance that looks good enough to keep on the counter.
• 7 Functions: Air Fry, Convection Bake, Convection Broil, Broil, Warm, and Toast.
• Viewing Light: Just like an oven, there is a dedicated light to view the progress of your food so you don't have to open the door while cooking.

Cons: 

• Top Rack Air Frying Only: Since you can only air fry on the top rack, the amount of space you have to work with is very small. You couldn't fit bone-in chicken thighs or legs on the top rack.
• No Room for Tossing: Air frying requires you to toss, rotate, or flip your food throughout cooking to ensure even cooking.
• Difficult to Clean: Difficult to clean the top and bottom of the inside of the oven because the heating elements get in the way. 

Chef Austin's Thoughts:

The Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven lives up to its name. It's a great toaster oven that's capable of air frying – but it can do so much more. With functions including bake, convection bake, broil, toast, and air fry, this multi-tasking model will ensure you're getting your money's worth.

Cuisinart is more than just an air fryer. You can do all a traditional toaster oven can do - bake, toast, and broil!

The Cuisinart’s build quality is exceptional. The stainless steel construction and spring-loaded glass oven door make it feel hefty, unlike other plastic air fryers. There are two tray positions in the oven: the top rack and the bottom rack. The oven is big enough to roast a whole chicken when using the bottom rack, but to air fry, the directions say you must use the top rack only since the heating elements are exposed and larger foods may come into contact with them and burn.

You only have an inch or so of clearance while air frying. This is fine for french fries and chicken strips, but bone-in chicken pieces will not fit and hit the top heating elements. 

Since you can only use the top rack for air frying, the biggest drawback is that there isn't much room to air fry large foods like bone-in chicken. Another drawback is that the heating elements are non-removable which makes cleaning more difficult.

Other than that, the Cuisinart did a decent job air frying. As far as speed goes, the Cuisinart Air Fryer was the fastest, finishing in 15 minutes from start to finish. The fries were crispy and evenly browned on top, but unevenly browned underneath and on the sides. The inside was light and fluffy and not dry. We were able to comfortably fit 1lb 2 oz, or around 3 medium potatoes, across the air frying rack. We were able to fit about 18 chicken wings on the air frying rack. They tasted fine, but they did get a little darker than we liked because they were so close to the top heating elements. To avoid this, you may want to turn the temperature down 25°F from what the instructions recommend. 

Top Selling Cuisinart Air Fryers

Breville Smart Oven Air

Quick Specs: 1800 Watt | 1 Cubic Ft. Interior | 13 Functions | 21.4" x 17.2" x 12.8" | Weight: 43 lbs. | 2-Year Warranty

Best For: The do-it-all superhero in the kitchen. If you love to cook, the Breville Smart Oven Air will have a function for you, whether you use it for dehydrating, air frying, proofing bread, toasting, and more — all in the same smart oven. 

Pros:

• Air Fry Four Times as Much Food: Purchase extra cooking racks to air fry up to 4 baskets of food at once.
• Biggest Cooking Space: The Breville has 1 cubic foot of space to cook in. That’s big enough to fit a 5-Quart Dutch oven or a 14 lb. turkey.
• Easy to Use: Breville's signature LCD touchscreen makes it easy to select time, temperature, and function. The glass door also has suggested oven rack positioning for each function.
• Super Convection: The two-speed convection fan quickly and evenly cooks food. Perfectly air fry sweet potato fries or evenly dehydrate apple slices.
• Multicooking: The Breville not only air fries but has 13 built-in presets to dehydrate, proof, broil, toast, slow cook, and more.

Cons:

• Extremely Large and Heavy:  This unit would benefit from a permanent spot on the counter.
• High-priced: The price is higher than other air fryers and countertop oven combos

Chef Austin's Thoughts:

If you're going to spend the money on an air fryer, you can spend a little more and get a lot more functionality with the Breville Smart Oven Air. Yes, the Breville does a great job air frying. However, it can do so much more! Out of the box, the Breville Smart Oven Air has 13 different functions you can choose from. These functions turn the Breville Smart Oven Air into a multi-appliance. It has a proofing function to proof bread dough. It has a dehydrate function (with temperatures as low as 83°F) to make treats like jerky or banana chips. You can also toast up to 9 slices of bread, slow cook an entire meal in a 5-Qt. Dutch oven, and bake pizzas.

Breville's user interface is a major benefit over the other air fryers. You can clearly see all 13 functions it offers on its large LCD touchscreen and easily navigate through the menu and select time and temperature with the large stainless steel dials. Breville also makes it easy to cook without a manual by printing suggested oven rack positions right on the glass oven door, making it convenient when you bake a pizza or dehydrate banana chips. The Breville Air Fryer also has a dedicated oven light button so you can observe the progress without opening the oven door. 

One cubic foot of space is large enough to fit a 5qt Dutch oven (slow cook on a low or high setting just like in a slow cooker).

The Breville Smart Oven Air also has the largest cooking space at one cubic foot. That makes the Breville almost twice as large as the Cuisinart Air Fryer. To put that into perspective, the Breville Smart Oven Air can roast a 14 lb. turkey or fit a standard 9" x 13" baking pan, 12-cup muffin tray, or a 5-Qt. Dutch oven easily inside. All the generous space this Breville Air Fryer offers means you won't have to compromise on the amount of food you wish to make.

As far as air-frying goes, the Breville did a great job on the french fries and chicken wings we tested. It did take a bit longer to cook (approximately 10 minutes longer compared to the other air fryers). I think this is mainly because the Breville Smart Oven Air has more space to heat up. Along with its larger space, the air-frying basket is huge — it holds almost two and a half pounds of french fries. However, fatty foods like chicken wings have to be air-fried on the included roasting pan since the air frying basket does not come with a drip tray like Cuisinart’s air fryer. We were able to air fry 22 chicken wings at once. 

Air fry four times as much! You can buy extra air frying and roasting racks to fit up to four racks in the Breville Smart Oven Air. Because the high-powered convection fan is mounted on the side of the oven (as opposed to the top of the oven like in the other air fryers), you can load up to four racks of fries in the Breville and air fry multiple pounds of food at once. No other air fryer can do this: Breville's air fryer is the king of space. 

Top Selling Breville Air Fryer

Philips Avance XL Air Fryer

Quick Specs: 1800 Watt | 3.5qt / 0.12 Cubic ft Capacity | Single Function - Smart Phone App | 12.4" x 16.65" x 12" | Weight: 15.7 lbs. | 1-Year Warranty

Best For: People wanting a straightforward and compact air fryer that you can use with an app that offers recipes for your Philips Air Fryer.

Pros:

• Crispiest Results: The fry basket helps evenly circulate hot air around the food and makes evenly crisp food better than the competition.
• Smart Phone App: The Philips Kitchen+ smartphone app offers plenty of recipes to get you started on using the air fryer.
• Lightweight and Compact: Being a dedicated air fryer, the size and weight of the Philips are much smaller than Cuisinart & Breville, making it easy to move and store.

Cons:

• Limited Functionality: Does not have as many features as the Breville and Cuisinart.
• Limited Space: Not as much space as the Cuisinart or Breville air fryers for cooking larger food like whole chickens or food in baking dishes.

Chef Austin's Thoughts:

The Philips Air Fryer is simple to operate. You can select a temperature, set the timer, and let the air fryer do the rest. The control panel is a touch-sensitive interface that's easy to understand and use. You'll see the 'star' button here as well — this is a programmable favorite button. With a single press, the Philips air fryer will adjust the time and temperature to whatever you want it to remember. This is perfect if you're always making french fries or chicken wings — no digging out the manual or memorizing the recipe: you can quickly get cooking with one touch.

The Philips air fryer has a food guide printed on the unit and has the Philips Kitchen+ app capability: The app is full of digital recipes right at your fingertips – no cookbook needed. so you’ll never need to buy or pull out a cookbook to use. It features hundreds of recipes from ratatouille to brownies right at your fingertips, as well as a shopping list app, tips & tricks, and even instructional videos on using your Philips air fryer. This makes it easy so anyone can learn to use their new air fryer to cook healthy meals at home with low amounts of oil.

The Philips air fryer reminds me of a traditional fry basket. There is lots of space here!

Though the Philips Air Fryer is the smallest air fryer in our test, its capacity for wings and fries exceeds the larger-sized Cuisinart and almost matches the massive Breville. The Avance XL Air Fryer can fit around 26 chicken wings in the basket. You could fill the bottom with 43 oz of french fries, perfect for 3 – 4 servings. You are going to have to toss them around halfway through cooking for an even air fry. The machine is egg-shaped yet more narrow and tall compared to both the Cuisinart and Breville air fryer. Philips' Air Fryer is much more compact in size and lighter in weight compared to the competition, making it easy to move and store away when you're done with it.

The Philips Avance XL also has a nifty cord storage spot in the back of the unit making it easy to store.

Crispiest Results: We tested chicken wings in all of our air fryers. Surprisingly, the Philips had the best-tasting wings! The Philips Avance XL was designed to be strictly an air fryer and not just a toaster oven with air fryer functionality added. Philips’ purposeful design makes crispier wings. They actually puffed and crisped up like a deep-fried chicken wing. A satisfying crunch accompanied our chicken wing which the Breville and Cuisinart didn't have. The french fries we tested also turned out crispy for the most part, although some of the fries that cooked in the middle of the basket were a bit soft for our liking.

Above is over 2 lbs of frozen french fries and 3 lbs of chicken wings (the maximum capacity for the Philips Avance XL Air Fryer).

If you need even more space to air fry, Philips also offers their Avance XXL air fryer which has a 3-lb/4-Qt. capacity and can fry up to six portions at once. This spacious fryer can easily handle a whole chicken or two bags of fries.