12 best air fryers in 2024 UK – we've tested over 30 air fryers to find the very best on the market

The best air fryers make cooking easier than before, and more efficient. We've tried over 30 of these appliances under test conditions to curate this list of the top 12 air fryers worthy of your investment. 

Air fryers are small countertop ovens, but there's plenty of variation between models, with some able to perform up to 15 functions. You'll find in-depth reviews next to each air fryer in this guide so you can learn more before you invest.

We've been ahead of the curve reviewing a host of air fryers according to our rigorous testing protocol for over two years now, aiming to highlight models that provide truly great value for money. 

Plus we have dedicated guides for the best dual-zone air fryers and the best air fryers for a family of four if you already know you need more cooking space.

Below you'll find our standout favourites along with a breakdown of how we tested each one, our findings on their performances and answers to any questions about these super helpful appliances. 

Best air fryers 2024

Best air fryer - the quick list

Not much time to spare on your hunt for the best air fryer? Welcome to our quick guide which allows you to see a choice of sizes, types and prices at a glance.

Best air fryer overall

The concept of the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer Air Fryer is simple, but the execution is nothing less than perfect. Instead of choosing between a dual-drawer or single-drawer model, you get both thanks to this new generation of multi-zone air fryers. 

While your old air fryer might have required you to still turn on your oven, you can leave your old built-in appliance behind for good with this kind of flexible capacity. 

We found several other reasons to love this excellent air fryer during our review process. Our expert reviewer Helen mastered everything from a leg of lamb to a toastie during tests, with a perfect cook every time. And seeing as this is a Ninja air fryer, it goes without saying that it’s simple to use, with well-thought-out settings and controls.

It might be too big for single-person households unless you host a lot. And if you have a teeny kitchen, you’ll need to be prepared to find space for it, since it’s quite wide and tall. Furthermore, it’s one of the most expensive Ninja air fryers - a fact that can’t be ignored in your decision about whether to buy.

Having said that, if you’re looking to limit how often you need to turn on your big, power-guzzling oven then look no further than the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer - it's answered every air fryer conundrum out there. 

Our Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer Air Fryer review has the full details.

Best air fryer under £100

The Instant Vortex 4-in-1 Air Fryer takes the crown as the best air fryer for under £100 for good reason, thanks to its five-star performance in our tests. 

Though the price tag is low, the capabilities of this air fryer are high-end, with the option to preheat and the ability to control it on a swish touch screen. The capacity is decent on this air fryer too, packing in 5.7 litres of space. 

If you’re on a budget and looking for a medium-sized air fryer under £100, we think this one is a great choice. It might not have as many cooking functions or the viewing window that you’ll get if you buy one of the pricier Instant air fryers, but that’s to be expected given the price. 

Instead, it performs well and our expert reviewer Helen had no complaints about the cooking speed or performance, and with four cooking functions, it’s versatile too. There’s very little not to like. The negatives that we've pointed out are only minor niggles. In our opinion, it’s a cracking budget air fryer that beats the majority of similarly priced models from other brands.

Our Instant Vortex 4-in-1 Air Fryer review has the full details.

Best medium capacity air fryer

The Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer with ClearCook got a rare five-star from Helen McCue, one of our expert appliance reviewers, and from the Ideal Home team during independent testing too.

Helen loved its generous capacity and found that it browned food evenly and quickly. When making chips she was able to get an even crisp in just 25 minutes, and even with the tray full of vegetables, it was able to roast in just 20 minutes. Most impressive of all, frozen chicken goujons took just 8 minutes to cook as opposed to the suggested 20 - yes, we used a temperature probe to check!

This air fryer has a touch screen with a dial to adjust timings and temperatures. The control panel has a bar that shows the cooking progress, and we like that this air fryer pre-heats. Because the touch-screen panel slopes towards you this is a great air fryer to place under kitchen cabinets. 

An innovative touch is the see-through air fryer drawer, which allows you to simply turn on the internal light to check on your food as it cooks. It has a dishwasher-safe basket and a non-stick insert that lifts away easily. Our only real gripes are the control panel and grill tray, the former of which has shiny plastic that can mark easily if you're cooking with greasy fingerprints, whilst the latter has rubber feet that can attract grease very easily, and be a bit tiresome to clean.

Our Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 air fryer review has the full details.

Best cheap air fryer

The COSORI Lite is small, super sleek and has a lovely contrasting colour control panel, as well as being available in several great colours. And for under £100, the control panel itself holds many jewels, including access to preheat, shake and keep warm functions. 

Everything we cooked in this air fryer emerged perfectly done, which was probably helped by the range of different presets that we experimented with. If you're a newbie to air frying, these programs can help you to get to grips with frying up different foods, and COSORI has more up its sleeve too - with a comprehensive recipe book and access to an app also included. 

Our main drawback with this model? It can hold fingerprint marks on the control panel, and its size isn't optimal for everyone. If you're looking for a standout middle-of-the-road sized air fryer on a budget, however, we couldn't be more complimentary. 

Our COSORI Lite Air Fryer review has more information.

Best dual zone air fryer

What's better than one air fryer? Two, in one. The Ninja AF300UK Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer, which is infamous by now as one of the best air fryers, comes with two distinct air frying zones that allow you to air fry your fish and chips individually, or bake a side dish such as mac and cheese while you air fry chicken. 

You can match or sync these two drawers to make sure all elements of your meal are complete at the same time. With all that going on, it's no wonder that this air fryer is the best Ninja appliance on the market right now.

Its Max Crisp setting gave us crispy chips and wedges every time and always cooked our meat through completely. We even used it to make cauliflower wings, which was an unexpected triumph. The trays can be a little deep to reach into, so make sure you use non-stick utensils to take your food out when it's done. 

The exterior stays cool even when it's cooking at 240 degrees. It is on the large side at 35 x 37.5 x 31.5cm, but if you can spare the space, it's a total game-changer. And if you're not keen on the black colourway, then good news, as you can now pick this uber-popular air fryer in a different colour, as covered in our piece on the exclusive white Ninja air fryer from Currys. 

Our Ninja Foodi Max Dual Zone air fryer review has more information.

Best small air fryer

Our favourite small air fryer used to be the Ninja AF100UK and while we still think that one is pretty good, the new Ninja MAX PRO AF180UK has cleanly knocked it off its perch. 

Whilst being more compact (and easier to fit under countertops when storing) than the AF100UK, it's got so much more space for cooking - 6.2. litres compared to 3.8 litres. It retains everything that we love about Ninja air fryers in bigger forms, including an intuitive control panel, fast warm-up times and superior cooking ability, but it's also got the added benefit of a more spacious drawer. Our expert reviewer struggled to find any downsides with this air fryer at all.  

You can choose to air fry, roast, reheat and dehydrate in this air fryer, and because the basket insert can be removed, you can also reheat or cook food that has a bit more sauce or moisture without having to worry about it dripping through the grates. 

Cooking times with this air fryer were brilliant, with some of the speediest chips our reviewer has made. It's more expensive than the AF100UK with an RRP of £169.99 compared to £129.99, but if you can make use of Ninja Kitchen discount codes than you can get hold of it for cheaper. 

Our Ninja AF180UK PRO air fryer review has the full details.

Best oven style air fryer

Countertop-oven-style air fryers are very common across the pond in the US, where space in kitchens (or even pantries) is more ample. For that reason and others, this type of top-rated air fryer hasn't had its heyday in the UK just yet. 

The Sage Smart Oven Air Fryer might just be the thing to change that, with the functionality needed to convince you to ditch your normal oven for it instead.

We first spied this air fryer at home in Stanley Tucci's kitchen and as our cooking king, we just knew we had to try it out. During testing, though we found this oven to be very large and very expensive, its convenience for everyday cooking tasks was unparalleled. 

Instead of having to wait for your oven to heat up, or to have to bend down to reach it, you can just use the Sage Smart Oven Air Fryer instead. It gets to the temperature you need quickly, has plentiful space inside and is brimming with functionality. It excelled in cooking bacon, chips, veggies and more in our tests and can slow cook, toast and reheat. 

This air fryer makes it easy to see why Americans are so attached to their countertop ovens. If you have the cash and the space, you can't go wrong with this mega-oven.

Our Sage the Smart Oven Air Fryer review has the full details.

Best air fryer for 2 people

The Dualit Air Fryer impressed us during testing, with a design that makes the most of the space available. With a 5.5 litre capacity, there was plenty of space during our test for portions for up to four people, and certainly for hearty portions for two.

It was able to air fry our chips evenly, and it browned our chicken nuggets without drying them out, which it's safe to say is an air fryer essential.

We think this air fryer is perfect for small kitchens. The parts to every element of it feel very high quality, and the controls are really easy to use. The one thing we struggled with was working out how to access the other functions advertised (such as dehydrate mode), but came to realise that you'll just have to program to a temperature to carry out those functions yourself.

The display itself is very intuitive and can be controlled with touchscreen settings. The only con? We found the basket was quite difficult to remove throughout our testing process.

Our Dualit Air Fryer review has the full details.

Best Ninja alternative

This pick is a real contender to the Ninja Dual Zone for the crowning glory of being the best air fryer out there, with a design that is understated, clever and maybe even better looking than the Ninja (or so we think).

The front of both baskets has those magic see-through windows that allow you to check on the progress of whatever is inside without losing any heat, a feature that the Ninja doesn't have. The interface is a dream to work with - and during testing, we've loved how easy it is to set up.

Like the Ninja, this air fryer has five other functions, and all of them are perfect for everyday cooking. The bake function is ideal for bread, the reheat function works for leftovers and you can even dehydrate fruit or veg inside with the ability to set the temperature low for a long period (up to 12 hours). 

This is the air fryer that our Ecommerce Editor Molly now uses every single day, saying that it is a miracle for midweek meals. User reviews agree that this air fryer is a genius buy too, with many saying that they are impressed with the high quality of the appliance, as well as the range of different foods they can experiment with cooking inside.

Our Instant Vortex Dual Zone air fryer review has the full details.

Best affordable dual zone air fryer

This air fryer offers plenty of bang for your buck. It’s a great price, especially given that it includes features like the viewing windows in the doors. Admittedly, it took our reviewer Helen slightly longer to cook some foods in it compared to her usual air fryer, but otherwise, she had only a few complaints.

Her main issue after testing was that the control panel was less intuitive than others on the market. But that being said, after she'd tried it out for over a week, she started to get used to it and felt it was a minor negative that was outweighed by the value for money this air fryer offers.

It’s worth remembering that it lacks any cooking modes other than air fry and the baskets can’t go in your dishwasher. But if that doesn’t bother you, it’s a great dual-basket air fryer.

Our Lakeland Dual Basket with Easy View Air Fryer review has the full details. 

Best versatile air fryer

Feeling inspired after watching Jamie Oliver's Air Fryer Meals? As we covered in our explainer on the exact model he uses, this one from Tefal with two unevenly sized drawers is the one if you want to copy his recipes. The large drawer, as tested by our expert reviewer Helen, can fit a whole chicken while the smaller one is absolutely perfect for cooking for one. 

Our reviewer found the capacity to be great for family cooking when you need the extra space too, and air-fried sausages, sprouts, tomatoes, fishcakes and more to great success. In the show, Jamie uses it to spruce up frozen fish fillets and even magic up a curry. 

According to our reviewer, it's got a great amount of power and did a good job across the board. It is pretty pricey at £199.99, but the versatility of the uneven drawers is definitely worthwhile if you want a dual zone air fryer but also occasionally want to save some pennies by just using the small drawer. 

Our Tefal Easy Fry Dual Air Fryer & Grill review has the full details. 

Best for the health conscious

If you want a large air fryer and you’re more likely to use the steam and grill functions than the components that can help you make fried chicken and chips, this will be the one for you.

The USP of the Speedi is that it can do two of those functions at once, in the same unit. While on the top you can air fry salmon, or any other protein, to perfection, on the bottom you can perfectly steam rice, veggies or anything else you'd like. During testing, we found it to be just about the most useful multi-functional addition to a kitchen you could imagine, with good results across the board.

If however, you don’t think you’ll get much use from the steam and grill functions then it may be unnecessarily bulky. It's also not a very pretty appliance, unfortunately. 

What you will get from this appliance is an appliance that can whip up healthy meals for the whole family in just 15 minutes and a great air fryer function to boot.

Our Ninja Speedi review has the full details.

How we test air fryers

Every air fryer in our roundup has been tested hands-on by the Ideal Home team for a minimum of two weeks in line with our testing protocol. Our explainer on how we test air fryers has all of the details if you want to learn more. 

We've written full, in-depth reviews of 32 air fryers over the last two years to narrow this list down to the very best 12 models, with plenty more that we've taken for a spin at our test centre. 

This allows us to compare air fryers directly when compiling our top 12 list, and it also helps us when deciding which air fryers will be the right pick for different living situations. 

Because all air fryers claim to do very similar things, it's important to us that we put them through their paces before recommending any air fryer to our readers. We used a standard recipe for air-fried chips, bacon, broccoli and asparagus across all air fryers, recording the cooking timings and considering how evenly the foods come out, as well as how well cooked they are.

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Bacon cooks brilliantly in air fryers, allowing fat to drip away and leaving crispy rashers in the basket. We used the speed and evenness of cooking as a way of measuring how well an air fryer distributed heat and how fast it circulated hot air. 

Based on our findings, we gave every air fryer a rating out of five and then sorted them into this list (while excluding those that didn't make the cut!) to recommend to our readers. 

Below you can find out more about exactly which members of the team tested the air fryers within this round-up, as well as an insight into the air fryers we are currently testing out for you. 

Molly Cleary

Molly is the Ecommerce Editor for Ideal Home and knows everything there is to know by now about kitchen appliances, after writing about them for two years.

She's a certified Customer Advisor when it comes to air fryers, having completed a five-step process to become a true expert in these exceptionally useful buys.

She regularly visits the Future Test Facility in Reading to put products through their paces. She's always up to date with the newest releases from brands such as Ninja, Instant, COSORI, Tower and more.

Is there an air fryer you're thinking about buying and would like to see a review of? Send her an email (molly.cleary@futurenet.com) to see if she can test it before you buy.

Millie Fender

Millie was previously Head of Reviews for Ideal Home and spent years testing air fryers for us, meaning she was well ahead of the curve when it came to product recommendations. 

Now working at woman&home, she's familiar with absolutely every air fryer out there, having tested the majority of them at Future's dedicated facility, and always has one eye on new releases.

Helen McCue

Helen is a freelance contributor who trained as a Home Economist and another of Ideal Home's air fryer experts. After starting her career in the food industry, she moved into home appliance reviews, utilising her cooking skills and experience to put all kinds of products to the test, and over the years has reviewed hundreds of home and kitchen appliances for a variety of publications.

FAQs

When's the best time to buy an air fryer?

In the last two years, the popularity and status of air fryers has skyrocketed. 

During that period, the best time to buy an air fryer has undoubtedly been Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which fall each year near the end of November. If you missed out on those events this year, there's still a chance to secure a bargain, this time in the Boxing Day sales, which we're covering on our air fryer deals page.

How do air fryers work?

Air fryers work like a convection oven to circulate air around your food and cook it evenly from every angle. That means any fat you add to the air fryer will circulate your fries, chicken or fish as it cooks, making it crisp and crunchy. 

Air fryers typically come with an in-built basket that has space for air to get underneath your food, as well as cook it from above and the side. In the Ninja Dual Zone for example, you can remove this and use the tray like a regular oven tray to add a crisp cheesy top to a pasta bake or roast vegetables and potatoes for convenient mealtimes. 

How to buy the best air fryer for you

Look for easy-to-use controls for both temperature and time, as these are the most important features of any air fryer. Auto-stop and keep warm functions can be useful but chips, if left for any amount of time will soon lose their crispness. More expensive machines will feature touch screens rather than dial controls, which will help with accuracy.

The bigger the basket capacity, the more people you’ll be able to cook for. So if you’ve got a family, then a 5-litre machine (which usually provides a chip capacity of around 800g to 1kg) is probably a must.

A loud beep to signal the end of cooking time is a good idea if you’re using the time to wander off and do something else. Most air-fryers will only cook one food group at a time (ie meat or veg) but some will cook a whole meal in one go if you’re after a one-pot solution.

Why is everyone buying air fryers?

The convenience and fast results that air fryers can produce in a kitchen mean that they've taken over the home cooking scene in the past few years. 

'Meals are completed in a much shorter amount of time and the cooking process is far easier than traditional methods. Consumers are reaping all these benefits without having to compromise the quality of cooking results,' explains Lilie Nguyen, the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Vesync, the parent company of one of our favourite air fryer brands COSORI.

The exact timing of the air fryer boom seems to have had an effect too, according to Lilie Nguyen. 

'The pandemic is a major factor in the rise of the popularity of air fryers. It left consumers without the option to freely dine out and led to more people cooking at home. Social media is a major factor; content creators, both small and large, are sharing their recipes and meals. It also helps promote the benefits of cooking with an air fryer in very creative ways.'

How much oil do I need to use in my air fryer?

While most recipes call for a teaspoon or half a teaspoon of oil. We found we got a more even coating on some foods by decanting our choice of oil into a small spray bottle and using that. Never use one-calorie oil spray, which is a step too far in the diet stakes we found, producing nasty, chewy fries.

Most of the machines we tested couldn’t be used with fattier meats such as sausages, chicken or duck with the skin on. This sometimes results in meats being drier on the outside. This was where a spray oil came in handy and improved results if not making them as good as if they’d been fried.

What can you cook in an air fryer?

Whether you're a meat eater, a vegetarian or even a vegan, there's an air fryer recipe out there that's bound to become your new favourite. Homemade chips come into their own in an air fryer, taking far less time and emerging crisp with far less oil applied in the cooking process. You can achieve succulent results with meat too, like chicken, which ordinarily takes much longer in an oven.

If you love cooking up quick breakfasts and lunches with freezer foods, then an air fryer will make an ideal match for you. Breaded foods (think fish fingers, goujons, mozzarella sticks) are a guaranteed win with an air fryer, as well as frozen staples like hash browns and veggie sausages. Grilled cheese sandwiches in an air fryer are a total revolution too, as well as halloumi.

Looking for healthy air fryer ideas? Once you've tried cooking up Mediterranean veg, carrots, broccoli and even sprouts in an air fryer, you won't look back, with the speed of cooking times for quick veg to add to a midweek meal completely unmatched compared to your oven. 

Vegetarian and vegan recipes are a triumph with an air fryer, especially if you love getting a good crisp on your tofu, or if you want to make mock chicken wings with coated oyster mushrooms. Often, veggie cooking requires you to get inventive, and an air fryer is the perfect tool for that. 

Wondering which foods to avoid with your new air fryer? Anything that cooks in a sauce may be a little disappointing, as the grill design means that liquid tends to end up lost on the bottom of your fryer. Things that need hot oil to get super crispy might also fall a little flat, such as roast potatoes. While you can make delicious, low-fat roasties in an air fryer, it's worth noting they won't have that same sought-after crisp.

Are air fryers economical?

Air fryers can be an economical way to cook depending on the voltage of any model. That's partly thanks to the fact that they usually cook food 60% of the time your oven takes, meaning that your electricity is in use for less time. 

To get into the specifics, basket air fryers tend to be smaller and therefore may be a little more economical than countertop oven models, but it really depends on voltage and how long you'll be using your air fryer, so bear that in mind. 

Which brand of air fryer is the best?

When it comes to air fryers, there's one brand that takes the top spot time and time again during our testing process: Ninja. 

The new for this year Ninja FlexDrawer tops this list as our all-time favourite after reviewing it, while the people's favourite tends to be the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer, which comes in at #5 on this list and tops our estimations when it comes to solely dual-zone air fryers.

Why is Ninja so good? Not only is the product range reliable, with innovative features, but the brand goes above and beyond to serve the needs of customers at home. You can see that in the design of the new FlexDrawer air fryer, which means that customers no longer need to turn to their oven for larger foods, like a leg of lamb. 

Another brand that we rank very highly here at Ideal Home after testing is Instant. It's a name that has had much success across the pond with its popular line of Instant Pots and constantly emerges after testing as a great Ninja alternative. We delve into more detail in our Ninja vs Instant piece where we put these two successful brands head to head. 

Which brand of air fryer is the best?

When it comes to air fryers, there's one brand that takes the top spot time and time again during our testing process: Ninja. 

The new for this year Ninja FlexDrawer tops this list as our all-time favourite after reviewing it, while the people's favourite tends to be the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer, which comes in at #5 on this list and tops our estimations when it comes to solely dual-zone air fryers.

Why is Ninja so good? Not only is the product range reliable, with innovative features, but the brand goes above and beyond to serve the needs of customers at home. You can see that in the design of the new FlexDrawer air fryer, which means that customers no longer need to turn to their oven for larger foods, like a leg of lamb.

Another brand that we rank very highly here at Ideal Home after testing is Instant. It's a name that has had much success across the pond with its popular line of Instant Pots and constantly emerges after testing as a great Ninja alternative. We delve into more detail in our Ninja vs Instant piece where we put these two successful brands head to head. 

What's the first thing I should try in my new air fryer?

During our in-house testing process, the first thing we always try in an air fryer is chips, usually of the homemade variety. And that's not just because it's a great air fryer go-to thanks to how fast they cook, but it also allows you to see all of the benefits of using one of these appliances.

While the outside of the chips crisp up to perfection, the inside stays fluffy. We've also found under test conditions that chips cook up to 60% faster in an air fryer, meaning that this is a great first recipe if you want to test the economical value of your new buy. 

We've covered other air fryer classics in our guides on how to cook a jacket potato in an air fryer and how to make a toastie in the air fryer, both of which also make perfect contenders for your air fryer's first run out! 

Which accessories do I need for my air fryer?

If your budget is tight, then there's not necessarily a need to bulk out your air fryer purchase with lots of add-ons. But if you are in the market to pick up extras to make your air frying experience easier, then there are a few recommendations we can make, after testing out dozens of air fryers. 

The first would be a tool to help you flip food inside your air fryer to ensure even coverage. Our article dedicated to using silicone tongs in your air fryer can help on that front. Another top tip to help you properly prepare food inside your air fryer is covered in our advice on picking up a spray bottle, which you can fill with oil. 

Plus you can read about another secret weapon, this time to help you avoid scratching your work surfaces with your new fryer, in our piece on a clever, inexpensive Amazon castor wheel appliance hack. 

Can an air fryer be used as an oven?

Yep, your air fryer can achieve everything that a standard oven can. If it helps, just think of an air fryer like an oven that sits on top of your work surface. 

These clever appliances can achieve the same as an in-built oven can, though they do tend to be smaller in capacity. Our dedicated feature on air fryers vs ovens has all of the details you need on the main differences and similarities. 

Hopefully, your journey to elevating your mealtimes has now started thanks to this round-up of the very best air fryers on the market. We'll be updating this list constantly to keep you up to speed with all of the air fryer newness you need to know about.