Most people are familiar with air fryers, which are marketed as a device that promotes healthy eating, even when it comes to French fries. I tried out a new option in the market — the Xiaomi Air Fryer 6L. Yes, it’s from the company that mostly delivers smartphones, tablets and TVs. The questions are: Is this air fryer any good and do you need it at all?

Clearing out misconceptions

Air frying is not a new technology. It is just convection baking that has been smartly rebranded. A convection oven works the same way as an air fryer, that is, a fan circulates hot air around the food, crisping the outside of chicken nuggets and potatoes in a way that mirrors deep-frying but the output when it comes to taste is slightly different.

You may say it is a shrunken countertop convection oven with a footprint that mimics a coffee maker. Where air fryers are different is that they blow air more forcefully and at hotter temperatures than regular convection. It is this aspect of the technology that makes possible the browning of deep-frying and you use teaspoons of oil rather than cups.

As a product category, it has continued to grow ever since they were introduced in Europe in 2010.

Why does Xiaomi offer?

The Xiaomi Air Fryer has a capacity of six litres, which is quite large in this product category. Like with any air fryer, this one keeps countertop footprint low. What does Xiaomi do differently? The fryer can be adjusted from six litres to three litres when you are cooking a small quantity of food.

The fryer brings together a powerful 1500W motor and a nine-blade fan to work together for rapid and even heat distribution. The few days I had with the fryer didn’t show any problem as far as temperature control is concerned.

Before putting the fries into the air fryer, drizzle some oil

Further, there are six pre-set cooking modes to make usage easy. There are options like grill, fry, bake, defrost, roast and reheat. You can even dehydrate fruits and vegetables for healthy snacks with ease.

How did the cooking process go?

Among the major usages of the machine in most households involve making French fries. It’s not the easiest of things to prepare because children like it done to perfection before they dip it in sauce and mustard.

My 13-year-old can happily devour a plate of extra-crisp, darkly browned fries in 15 minutes. Deep-frying French fries in the standard way is messy because you need to fry them at least twice for maximum crispness.

The Xiaomi air fryer asked me to cook for 18 minutes. Nine minutes into the process, there was a message that I should take out the tray and give it a good old shake-a-shake before continuing the process for another nine minutes.

I drizzled some oil over the fries and mixed it up well before starting the process. The amount of oil used? A couple of tablespoons. The fries came out well, mostly crispy and some were on the verge of crisping up. Did I like it? It was good but to achieve a better version, I tweaked things a bit. I found that cooking them in stages at two different temperatures yields a better batch of fries. First at 160 degrees and then at 200 degrees.

If you are wondering how it compares to deep-frying, well, the answer is simple: The latter is definitely better than air frying but it’s not a very healthy process.

Why not use a convection oven?

The fries turned out better in an air fryer than my oven-baked fries because the latter is big and size cannot be adjusted. If I have to thaw chicken nuggets, an air fryer helps and the same goes for fries. What if I am going to roast a full chicken? I would definitely prefer a convection oven.

Air fryers tend to take away excess moisture, so the pieces get dried and crunchy on the outside. Roasting a chicken is something different and a tabletop oven does it better with slow cooking. The air fryer comes in handy when you have to cook small amounts of food, like boneless chicken thighs, which look and taste as though you’d roasted them but you get to the end of the cooking process quicker than in a regular oven. For many households, this speediness is more important than being able to cook favourite foods with far less fat. Here’s a warning: At times eating French fries made in the air fryer may make you crave the deep-fried version.

Should you buy it?

Many people approach air fryers thinking they’re going to do fried chicken, chicken wings and French fries all the time. It’s mostly for snacks and maybe small meals. The Xiaomi air fryer has good touch controls and looks well-designed but how does it hold up in the long-term, we are not sure because such reviews are usually based on using a device over 15-odd days. But if you are in the market for a speedy countertop air fryer, Xiaomi Air Fryer 6L delivers crispy goodies.

Xiaomi Air Fryer 6L delivers the goodies but consider how often you will use the device

At a glance

Device: Xiaomi Air Fryer 6L

Price: Rs 5,999

High notes

Well-designed and the touch panel works well

The fryer can hold enough content

Easy to clean

Muffled note

Air-fried French fries can make you crave the real thing