With rotisserie feature for perfect self-basting dishes, this spit will be a hit. Its main panel is touchscreen, so when off, the unit is minimalistic on first appearance. Being equally as passionate about food as he is about technology.
Once started, the air fryer enters preheat mode for 3 to 4 minutes, at which point it beeps at you to add food. I found preheating unnecessary — I put the food in and started cooking right away, subtracting 3 minutes from my cooking time since the timer doesn’t count down until after the unit preheats. Emitting a cheerful jingle, the air fryer indicated a few minutes before the end of the cooking cycle that it was time to give the basked a shake, which I dutifully obeyed. Once the time had elapsed, the air fryer automatically switched off – and I was greeted with perfectly crisp and fluffy fries cooked just to my liking, alongside a moist, flavorful fillet of salmon. Having mostly tested larger air fryers, and as a single-person household, in particular, I was delighted to have the instant vortex Slim at my disposal.
As a result, it cooked chicken Parmesan and crisped up frozen fries about 2 to 3 minutes faster than our favorite air fryers, though fries from scratch took about the same amount of time. Its basket was a touch smaller than those of our favorites, so chicken cutlets were cramped, though they still cooked evenly. We liked its simple digital controls and thought its smart-home compatibility was usually helpful with the rare signal drop or misunderstanding of a voice command. We only disliked its bulk; it took up too much space under our cabinets. Its touch controls are housed on the angular edge, where the top and front of the unit meet. Once turned on, you’ll also see buttons for its five settings; air fry, bake, grill, reheat, and roast, as well as buttons for the temperature and time.
Truthfully, we’ve never contacted Instant™ support for this air fryer because it has not given us issues. There are a few things that we have found didn’t work out as well in the air fryer – or at least in this air fryer. We also made a frozen chicken breast and it turned out the same, just with slightly longer cooking time. Some – like this 8-quart Vortex® – have dual-zone, meaning you can cook two different things in different temperature zones for different times. With a larger capacity, this might be ideal for a larger family than ours (two people). This means that we might miss the commands of the air fryer but we are attentive people when we air fry so this has never been an issue.
A wider range of temperatures will give you more options for cooking different foods. Generally, fryers that can achieve higher temperatures can cook faster and brown foods more easily. Beyond temperature, take a look at the other functionalities of an air fryer.