An air fryer works by rapidly circulating hot air and a small amount of oil to fry foods. The oil and air work in tandem, transferring heat via conduction (the direct contact of the hot oil) and convection (the heavy rotation of hot air). The air-fry function works the same way in a wall oven or the oven of a range with convection.
In our range lab, we tested the air-fry functions of two ranges and a wall oven. All produced golden, crispy french fries with just a few teaspoons of oil—and in record time, shaving 20 to 30 minutes off the total cook time using a regular bake setting. That’s largely because the ovens didn’t need to preheat on the air-fry setting; the heat ramped up almost immediately.
Our fries weren’t quite as beautiful as when we made frozen fries in a countertop air fryer. But a range is capable of holding more than twice as much food as a standard air fryer. For families, the larger capacity and shorter cooking time can be a real mealtime game changer.
If your convection oven doesn’t have an air-fry setting, you can still get similar results using a convection roast setting. Just know that darker bakeware absorbs more heat in the oven than a shiny, reflective pan, so darker bakeware will radiate more heat onto foods, helping them brown.
Below are three highly rated ovens that offer a convection feature suitable for air-frying.
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