Best Air Fryers

Air fryers are circulating ovens in a small footprint; fast-moving hot air crisps food with a fraction of the oil you'd use in a pan or deep fryer. Since 2020, they've quietly become the most-used countertop appliance in American kitchens, and Amazon now lists hundreds of models that look nearly identical. The differences that actually matter are capacity, max temperature, wattage, and basket coating.

A 2 to 4 quart unit is plenty for one or two people; a 5 to 6 quart model is the sweet spot for couples and small families; 8 quarts or a dual-basket design is right for households of four-plus. Wattage drives preheat speed and how well the fryer recovers when you drop in cold food, and the top tier reaches 450°F; that extra 50 degrees over the common 400°F cap is where wings go from fine to actually crispy. Ceramic-coated baskets (Cosori, Bella) shrug off stuck cheese and breading better than standard PTFE nonstick and tend to last longer.

Every model below has been cooked in for at least three weeks in our kitchen using the same benchmark foods (frozen fries, bone-in wings, salmon, Brussels sprouts). Rankings weigh crispness, evenness, speed, noise, cleanup, build quality, and value. We buy every air fryer ourselves and never take placement money.