Air Fryer Vs. Deep Fryer: Can You Taste the Difference?

We all want to eat healthier. Am I right?

One of the ways that we can accomplish this is by replacing the foods that we commonly eat with healthier choices. Instead of fries replace them with a nice garden salad, or maybe replace cookies and cake with fresh fruit. These are all good choices and are good steps to a healthier lifestyle.

Related: A Freeze Dryer Vs. Dehydrator

What if we want a treat? Can we have the flavor of fried food without regret?

Well, sort of.

Changing out your deep fryer for a new air fryer is a good place to start.

According to Healthline, cooking with an air fryer is a good choice because:

They’re lower in fat, calories, and even some potentially harmful compounds that are found in traditionally fried foods. If you’re looking to lose weight or lower your fat intake, switching to an air fryer may be a good choice instead of deep-frying.

For those who are considering taking the plunge and trading in that ol’ deep fryer, you merely want to know if the taste is comparable.

I mean, there are those who say that you can’t even notice the difference between air-fried food and deep-fried, others will tell you that air-fried food tastes better than food cooked in a deep fryer, but that can’t be true – can it?

I decided to purchase an air fryer and a deep fryer and do the test for myself.

You can find the deep fryer that I purchased from Amazon using the provided link. The deep fryer that I purchased was a Hamilton Beach professional-grade deep fryer. The air fryer I purchased was a Go Wise USA air fryer which I also purchased from Amazon.

I also purchased a big bag of fries, and some burgers, and got both the deep fryer and the air fryer ready to go.

Deep-Fried Vs. Air-Fried

Before we go any further with this article, I want us to look at some nutritional information about air frying your food.

There is no doubt about it, air-fried food is better for you.

• It has 80% fewer calories
• It cuts out a lot of fat content
• You only need one tablespoon of oil
• It can reduce acrylamides by 90%

Overall, an air fryer is a pretty healthy choice compared to a deep fryer. It’s not going to be the same kind of healthy as oven-cooked or steamed, but those who choose to air fry are trying to get the best of both worlds – they want the taste of a deep-fried meal but a healthier option.

That’s what I tried to figure out, does air-fried food taste comparable to deep-fried food? The results are coming up.

Preparation

I got both the air fryer and the deep fryer ready for the mission.

I added only one tablespoon of oil to the air fryer compared to the 12 cups of oil to the deep fryer. Wow!

The air fryer was ready to go with just a few button presses. I just selected the setting for fries, filled the large 7-quart basket with fries, and then hit start. The timer read 18 minutes and we were off to the races.

Now let’s turn our attention to the deep fryer.

I had to wait for 15 minutes for the oil to heat up, and then I was able to fill the basket with fries and drop them into the oil.

Once the oil was hot, it didn’t take long for the fries to cook. It probably took around 12-15 minutes for the fries to get nice and crispy. This really depends on how well you like your fries cooked.

The air fryer was definitely slower. I had to pull out the basket every 5-8 minutes and give them a good shake. If fries were buried, then they were not going to be crispy, so you have to be constantly flipping and rearranging the fries. It’s the trade-off of not having them submerged in the oil.

You also want to be careful you don’t throw fries and oil over your kitchen as you’re tossing the fries in the air fryer basket. I also had to run the cycle a couple of times to get all of the fries crispy (or at least the best that I could). Of course, the consistency of the cook wasn’t as nice as the deep-fried fries, but a few times around they were looking really good.

When it came to the deep fryer, one basket of fries was not enough.

Actually, the air fryer produced as many fries as two baskets full in the deep fryer.

As far as the mess was concerned, the deep fryer wasn’t innocent. It dripped oil when I was shaking the fries, and there was a lot of steam from the condensation dripping from the lid. The air fryer is less messy that’s for sure.

Clean Up

It took a lot of work to clean the deep fryer.

You have to wash down all of the accessories, and get rid of the 12 cups of oil. I found that the deep fryer splattered oil all over the table. I used dawn dishwashing soap to break down the oil and clean it up.

The air fryer was less messy. I washed the tray and basket in less than 5 minutes. Clean up for an air fryer is easier and faster.

The Results

I can honestly say that both the deep-fried and air-fried french fries looked similar. You couldn’t determine whether they were air-fired or deep-fried by how they looked.

For the most part, the air-fried and the deep-fried had a comparable crunch.

The problem with the air-fried fries was that they were not consistently cooked. Some of the fries had a crispy texture and the others were soft, it’s really hard to get all of the fries the same in an air fryer. I guess you could just keep tossing and shaking the fries until most of them are cooked the same, but then you’d probably burn some of them.

The deep fryer fries had a crispy skin and a soft, flakey center. The problem with deep-frying is you lose any spices or coating that you put on the fries or item you’re cooking. When you air fry, you’re not submerging them in oil so the coating and spices stay on what you’re cooking and are absorbed. This gives you a better flavor for sure.

With that being said, the texture of the fries were better with the deep fryer. The taste was very similar, though most of my family said that the deep-fried fries tasted better.

I took both the air-fried and deep-fried fries and asked several people if they could tell me which fries were deep-fried and which ones were air-fried, and most struggled to tell the difference. There were those that knew right away which ones were deep-fried.

I could barely tell, and my wife agreed with me.

Will I Air Fry or Deep Fry?

I’m going to air fry actually.

Though the taste of the deep-fried food was a little better, it wasn’t that much of a difference that I wouldn’t choose the healthier option. It’s not like the fries were bad in the air fryer, they just weren’t as good as the fries in the deep fryer.

Here’s the thing you have to remember!

Over time, as you learn more about air frying and tips and tricks along the way, maybe you’ll even pass the flavor of deep-fried food. You can add spices to the foods in an air fryer that would get washed away using the deep fryer – the sky is the limit when it comes to air frying.

Of course, with the GoWISE USA air fryer and steamer, you have a lot of options as well.

I found the GoWISE USA air fryer to be easy to operate, gives a nice portion (7 quarts), and produces foods that are healthier for you. It’s two thumbs up for me.

With the GoWISE USA air fryer, you get 8 cooking presets, steam and air fry modes, a detachable pan, a crisper tray, and a self-cleaning function. It’s really nice!

You can learn more about the GoWISE USA air here.

If you haven’t tried air-fried food, I recommend that you purchase an air fryer today and check it out. I really think you’ll be surprised with the flavors you can create.