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.

See Our: Best Microwave Ovens – Efficient, Reliable, and Multifunctional

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.

  • You can undoubtedly cook more dishes simultaneously. A convection oven is more extensive to cook food in a large quantity. 

  • Convection oven provides you with even and thorough cooking in every single use.

  • Cooking time is much shorter in convection ovens.

  • A convection oven doesn’t prove to be expensive compared to traditional appliances, even with all the benefits. It costs just as much as any other traditional kitchen appliance. 

  • You can put baking dishes anywhere you want if you’re cooking in a convection oven. Furthermore, you shouldn’t be concerned about the size of the baking trays or tins.

  • Convection ovens are easy to use.

  • The food tastes better and is cooked more nicely.

Cons of convection oven 

Following are the disadvantages of convection ovens.

  • Most recipes are for a specific adjustment for a convection oven. So it would be best to convert the recipe accordingly for making something.

  • Cakes don’t rise that perfectly as in traditional ovens when it comes to baking.

  • It would be best to buy specific baking tins and dishes for convection ovens as they require specific baking sheets.

  • A convection oven doesn’t come with an extended warranty, and it can break down more often than other baking appliances.

  • If you’re using a convection oven, you will need a ventilation system in your home.

Check out our: 6 Best Instant Pots – Reliable, Efficient, Quick, and Classy

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.

  • If you’re cooking in an air fryer, you need a tiny amount of oil than regular cooking, and if the fryer uses about 70 to 80% less cooking oil which allows you to discard a huge amount of fat from your meals and decrease the number of calories from your food. So if you are a person who’s very diet conscious, an air fryer is just the thing for you.

  • As an air fryer is smaller than a convection oven, the food is closer to the heat source, and hence, it cooks faster than usual.

  • An air fryer is a small countertop appliance, so it doesn’t make your home smell fried food whenever you’re cooking something.

  • Its size is tiny and compact than a convection oven so that it won’t take up much space on your countertop.

  • An air fryer is easy and safe to use than deep frying. It is because the chance of burning with hot oil is a lot more than air frying.

Cons of Air Fryer

Following are the disadvantages of an air fryer.

  • If you’re cooking with wet batter or you want to cook something covered with bread crumbs, there is a chance that deep bread crumbs or lose better might blow away because of the fans of the air fryer. We would suggest using deep oil frying in this scenario.

  • Compared to deep oil fryer, the taste of air-fried food is not as good. An air fryer provides many health benefits, but the flavor is not good after the food cools down. 

  • The food that is made in an air fryer dries out quickly.

  • If you’re using an air fryer, you need to be careful with the timing or while handling the air fryer. As the heat source is close to the food, there is a high risk that you might burn your food if you’re not paying much attention.

  • If you want to cook a large amount of food for a big family or if you’re about to have a family gathering, an air fryer may not be the best option to go with. It is because an air fryer is a tiny appliance, and you can cook only a tiny portion of food at a time in an air fryer.

  • Research proves that air-fried food may contain carcinogenic chemicals.

  • As an air fryer involves a high airflow fan, it may cause noise in your house when it’s in use.

Read Also: 10 Best Pressure Cookers – Cooking Becomes Smarter and Faster

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.

  • If you want quick results, an air fryer is the best option to go with as it beats a convection oven in this case. 

  • Cooking with an air fryer allows you to cook healthily and eat healthy meals as an air fryer requires very little oil than other cooking methods. It also comes with a drip pan, which means that any excess fat from your food will drip away into the drip sheet, and the food will be free of excess fat during cooking.

  • The air fryer makes the food much crispier and golden and reduces the calories in your food.

  • If you want to cook large portions of food or have a large family, an air fryer cannot help. You can’t cook a large amount of food in a single turn in an air fryer because most of the food needs to be cooked in a single layer for proper cooking in an air fryer. In this case, a convection oven is handy.

  • If you don’t like noise in your house, you may not like an air fryer as it produces noise because of the convection fan.

Read Also: 10 Best Toasters – Toast Bagel or Slice, The Way You Like It

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.

FAQ

Convection ovens take much more time than an air fryer, and an air fryer also doesn’t require preheating. You can cook oil-free meals in an air fryer. In this way, an air fryer can provide you with low-calorie and crispier food.

Some convection ovens feature an air fry application. All you need to do is press the air fry option and select the timing for how long you want to air fry your food. On the other hand, in a simple convection oven, you can place your food on a perforated rack to get perfectly air-fried food.

If a microwave oven features a convection option, you can quickly cook by convection or by combining the microwave and convection methods for quick results. You can also cook everything that an air fryer can bake, fry, cook, or roast in a convection oven!

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