Air Fryer Vs. Convection Oven: Are They Same Or Different?
Kitchen brands have provided home cooks with restaurant-quality cooking equipment. This equipment not only cooks meals quickly but is also compatible with any professional kitchen.
With this machinery, people can have evenly cooked meals. So what’s better if we compare air fryer vs. convection oven?
Air fryer and convection ovens made by premium KitchenAid Brands have effectively increased the efficiency of home cooking and baking. With this good equipment, you can prepare meals in the shortest time possible.

At first, air fryers were used by people traveling on airplanes to reheat food during their journey. But now they’re also commonly used in homes because they are super easy to use. Air fryers can cook food with crispy and golden brown on the outside but still tender and well-cooked on the inside without being deep-fried in oil.
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So you can enjoy crispy food without worrying about calories. Advanced air fryers come with different cooking applications such as roasting, baking, broiling, frying, and dehydrating. We can say that air fryers are a jack of all trades.
Air fryers and convection ovens can cook food much quicker than traditional ovens as they are much more advanced than traditional ovens. However, an air fryer can cook food much quicker than a convection oven because of its size and the adjustment of fans.
Convection Oven
A convection oven features a fan, allowing hot air regulation inside the oven. This feature enables professional chefs to make food that is consistent in quality and has equal browning throughout. Convection ovens were first used in professional kitchens only. But now, they are adjusted to use them at home easily.

People have multiple convection oven options ranging from $2,300 to $280,000. Convection ovens are best for roasting different types of eats, baking cakes or pizzas, cooking vegetables, baking cookies and scones, making casseroles, and other pastries.
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Pros of convection oven
Following are the advantages of convection ovens.
Cons of convection oven
Following are the disadvantages of convection ovens.
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Air fryer
Air frying is a healthier option than deep frying. It is because air fryers use no oil as in deep frying. Deep-fried food can cause many diseases because of the massive amount of oil to fry it. However, air frying is a healthier way to cook food because it involves the least fat possible.

Air fryer ovens feature convection fans to regulate scorching air, resulting in thoroughly cooked food with a crispy and golden brown exterior. Generally, air fryers feature a button with which you can start them. Most of the air fryers don’t require preheating.
All you need to do is place your food onto the rack of the air fryer oven and push the air fry button that can be seen on the oven’s control panel. After that, set the temperature between 250 and 500 degrees and then press the start button.
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Pros of air fryer
Following are the advantages of an air fryer.
Cons of Air Fryer
Following are the disadvantages of an air fryer.
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The difference among air fryer and convection oven
Following are the key differences between an air fryer and a convection oven.
Heating system
In an air fryer, the heat only comes from the top of the air fryer. However, in a convection oven, the heat comes from both the top and bottom of the convection oven. A heat source on both sides of a convection oven makes the food cook faster.
Besides, the heat is more concentrated in an air fryer so that you can get the best results in a shorter amount of time.
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Size
Air fryers are usually small in size than convection ovens. Air fryers are designed so that they can be placed on the countertop. However, convection ovens are built into the kitchen. As the size of an air fryer is comparatively small, it enables the air fryer to heat up quickly, and thus the food is placed much nearer to the heat source, the food cooks earlier.
Nowadays, some toaster ovens or convection ovens also feature an air fry application. Airfryer setting is also included in the applications of some pressure cookers or microwave ovens.
Fan adjustment
In any convection oven, the fan is in the center of the back of the oven. However, you can adjust it on one side of the back in some ovens. In the air fryer, it is located right below the heat source, which makes the cooking process much quicker.
Fan extent and speed
The convection fans’ size is smaller than air fryers in a convection oven. The convection oven fans are also slower than the fans of air fryers. It is estimated that the fan of an air fryer is 30% faster than the fans of a convection oven.
Accessories
Air fryers come with many accessories that have perforations through which you can get perfect cooking on each side without much flipping. Such perforated accessories are trays, racks, claws, skewers, and spits for kebabs and roasting. You can easily place small baking tins or containers on these racks.
Which one is better? Air fryer vs. convection oven
Let’s explore which one is the most suitable option for you to buy.
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Which is more healthy? Air fryer vs. convection oven
An air fryer doesn’t require more than one tablespoon of oil. You can even cook food without adding any oil because the heat source is so vital that the food crisps up in such a short time without needing any oil at all. You cannot attain this effect through a convection oven. If you’re cooking something that doesn’t require any oil, the end product tastes as delicious as a convection oven, and there is not much difference.
Conclusion
Researching Air Fryer Vs. Convection Oven, we can say that both the convection oven and air fryer provide excellent results, and if you have a convection oven with an air fry application, that is the best option. Unlike your full-sized oven, air fryers don’t require preheating as their size is tiny, and the heat source quickly heats the whole appliance.
In an air fryer, you can even bake your food. However, in a convection oven, you can cook multiple sheets of food simultaneously, and they will cook evenly every single time because of the size of the convection oven. So you can quickly cook your family’s meal.
As mentioned above, the air fry also comes with a drip pan, so all the excess fat from your food like zucchini fries, chicken wings, french fries, and nuggets will drip down from the perforated racks of the air fryer. That way, you’ll get super crispy food. It will draw out all the moisture of the food and reduce the calories of your meal.
However, you can not cook a large amount of food at the same time in an air fryer. The surface area inside an air fryer is tiny, and most of the foods are required to be cooked in a single layer. So cooking for a big family in an air fryer can prove to be time taking. However, there are some foods like French fries that you can stack on one another, but still, they should be tossed and flipped at least once during the cook.
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