We did find it browned frozen French fries and chicken nuggets well, but the limited capacity of the inner pot made it difficult to air fry large batches of food. The Instant Vortex has four pre-programmed settings to air fry, bake, roast and reheat similar to the Instant Pot’s seven settings. The caveat here is the Vortex only has eight buttons, four of which are those programs, plus Start, Cancel, Time and Temp.
Other items that cook up well in the air fryer include vegetables, like brussels sprouts and broccoli; light fish dishes, such as salmon or trout; and Italian favorites, like lasagna or personal pizzas. Air fryers are far more versatile than countertop oil fryers or toaster ovens, so they’re worth a second look even if you’re not a huge fan of standard fried fare. Another bonus of air fryers is that you can open them at any time to check on your food’s progress without losing heat or affecting the cooking time. This helps you get your food to your own perfect level of “fried” for a more personalized meal. Since the air fryer uses such a small amount of oil, you’ll want to stop and shake your air fryer’s basket throughout the cooking process to make sure that nothing gets stuck to the sides.
And the basket liner rarely came loose when we inverted it, another improvement over the winner. Just like the earlier generations of air fryers I don’t think these are great products for large families (5+). While the basket and crisper plate are dishwasher-safe, I preferred to wash the basket by hand.
There are no preset cooking programs on this air fryer; instead you need to set the temperature and time manually as well as the overall setting, such as air fry, roast or reheat. There’s also little guidance in terms of cooking charts supplied — you will need to go online to find these. Like most air fryers, it excels at delivering crispy food in a fraction of the time. Small but thoughtful design features dramatically simplify the cooking process. This air fryer is perfect for cooking any fried foods that would otherwise go in the deep fryer.
You also shouldn’t take the leap with this product if its main appeal to you is the OdorErase filter, since that feature doesn’t perform as well as we anticipated. When it came to testing the XL Dual model, we experienced similar results to the singular Vortex Plus model—with some disappointing differences. We were satisfied with the crispy, tender results that this machine delivered. The Plus includes a rotisserie spit and two forks to secure each end of the food.
However, the air fryer struggled to cook the broccoli evenly, performing in the middle of the pack during testing. It could have been more even, but my family still gobbled the batch up. It’s 20% smaller than some of Instant Pot’s other models, but doesn’t sacrifice capacity, offering 6 quarts / 5.7 liters. Given that many older air fryers of this size offer a reduced capacity of 2 quarts / 2 liters, this is a huge win for the Instant Vortex Slim. On the front of the air fryer is a handle that’s used to pull out the basket, which requires minimal fuss or force. Inside is a lift-out tray whose metal handle tucks in flush to the tray, meaning you don’t lose precious space in the center of the fryer as we’ve seen with some other models.
However, if you’re up for the challenge of researching and experimenting with air frying recipes—and love the idea of peeking at your food while it’s cooking—the instant vortex Plus is a great choice. It performed well in crisping some of our favorite air fried foods (after some trial and error) and has a navigation touch screen that’s fun and easy to use. One of the key elements of this model is that it features a replaceable OdorErase filter, which is designed to reduce lingering cooking smells in the kitchen.
My previous air fryer was a bit of a strange roundish shape, and I find the nice square shape nicer aesthetically, and less awkward to carry, move, and put things beside. Sharon Franke is a journalist who specializes in testing and writing about kitchen equipment. A thirty-year veteran of the Good Housekeeping Institute, Sharon also worked as a professional chef in New York City restaurants for seven years.
Both the handle and the controls don’t get much warmer than room temperature. We measured a noise level of 66.5dB during heating, which is the loudest of the air instant vortex fryers we had on test. It’s worth mentioning that this is not so noisy that you won’t be able to have a conversation over the top of it while it’s running.
It’s air fried evenly since day one and has never given us mechanical issues with the electronics, internal burner, basket integrity (even after an accidental drop), etc. Along with our in-house experts, our team analyzes thousands of product reviews from the most trusted websites. These parts are also easily cleaned by hand with warm, soapy water and a non-abrasive sponge. If there’s any particularly difficult to remove grease or stuck-on food, let the parts soak in hot, soapy water first. The basket is on the smaller side, but it’s dishwasher-safe for simple cleanup. If you’re a beginner, this couldn’t be simpler to use, and if you’re more experienced, it’s well-built for daily use.