The best air fryers of 2024

To date, we have tested well over a dozen air fryers to curate this list. Each air fryer is rated for its power, consistency, ease of use, design, features and overall performance. In total, we logged more than 75 hours of air frying.

There are hundreds of recipes that can be made with an air fryer, but we stuck to the basics and focused on the most popular foods that people associate with air fryers. Chicken wings top that list, but French fries, frozen snacks and dense vegetables—in this case, Brussels sprouts—are air fryer staples. Before starting, we consulted the manual of each model for the relevant cooking directions. If the manual did not provide specific instructions, we applied uniform procedures to each air fryer according to the type of food we prepared.

For the chicken wings, we followed a basic air fryer recipe. First, we preheated the air fryer to 400 Fahrenheit and cooked them for 25 minutes in the basket with the table included, then check on them and turn them every 8 minutes. Most of the air fryers we tested had a solid showing in the wing test, although some, including the powerful Ninja and Cosori Lite models, had slightly crispier wings in that time

For the Brussels sprouts, we preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit and cook for 15 minutes. Before cooking, wash and cut the sprouts in half and beat them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. In this test, some ovens struggled to brown the outside of the sprouts, but most got there eventually.

For the french fry test, we opted for Alexia’s frozen French fries and cooked 1 cup, according to the air fryer directions on the bag. Quick note: Be careful when cooking fries in an air fryer, because some types, especially thinner cut fries, can dry out easily when hit with super-convection. We recommend heavier waffle fries, tater tots, crinkle cut or potato wedges over the shoe variety.

At the end of each test, we looked at how well the items were cooked, whether they were cooked and whether they had a sufficient level of crispy, crunchy, deep-fried goodness comparable to deep-frying or pan-frying.

Ease of use

Beyond the cooking performance, how easy an air fryer is to operate and how intuitive the buttons and controls were something we observed closely during the test. Overly complicated settings, controls and presets did not generally result in high marks, but certain features were appreciated. All air fryers have basic temperature and cooking time controls, although some are digitally controlled while others require simple manual dial cranks. From there, you’ll find preset programs for different foods like wings, fries, fish, vegetables, and even baked goods.

How well I cook

To get a sense of how each air fryer handles in this group of tests, we ran a battery of three tests on each model. Each test focused on one food: chicken wings, Brussels sprouts, and frozen French fries.