delicious. reviews: Salter Digital Air Fryer

Choosing the right air fryer is important. There’s size to consider, of course, and also the number of people you regularly cook for, as well as the types of things you’re going to use it for.

The new Digital Air Fryer from Salter is unique in the air fryer world for offering multi-level cooking, exactly like a real oven. The benefit of this is that you can cook different foods at once, which marks it out from many other models on the market. It also means you can cook meals twice as quickly as in an air fryer with a smaller capacity.

What’s good about it?

The Digital Air Fryer has a 12 litre capacity – that’s three times the size of most standard air fryers, which usually hold around 4-5 litres. Cooking an entire meal in it is easy, meaning there’s no need to batch air-fry. You can cook a large amount of food and comfortably cook protein, carb and a veggie side dish at the same time – something that isn’t possible in single-storey ovens.

There are three cooking racks included, which give lots of space to spread food out and get an even cook on it, whether you’re making chips, prawns or roasting broccoli. It’s large enough to cook an oven-ready pizza, too, unlike most air fryers.

All the space means there’s also the option of dehydrating fruit or vegetables easily (Christmas tree orange slices or pineapple flowers, we’re thinking of you). The benefit of being able to cook on three racks at the same time shouldn’t be overlooked, as it’s something most models, even those with two drawers, can’t achieve.

The worktop nature of the gadget means everything is at an easy height to take in and out, unlike many standard ovens which require lots of bending to turn and toss food. There’s also a viewing window, which helps you judge whether food needs turning or checking.

The machine has a touch-display with 12 built-in cooking presets, including settings for cooking chicken, vegetables, prawns, steak and more, so this model makes cooking incredibly easy. The second equally impressive feature is that, unlike many models, there’s no preheating required with the Digital Air Fryer, which saves on energy.

If you love roast chicken, you’re going to be excited by the rotisserie function offered by the Digital Air Fryer. Included is a rotisserie fork, tong and drip tray, which make it easy to insert the chicken. You can then select the rotisserie chicken cooking preset and watch your bird become more golden and succulent as it turns mesmerisingly.

There’s something undeniably fun about this process and something delicious about cooking potatoes in the drip tray underneath the chicken as it cooks, releasing all its juices and flavour.

With so much managed by the machine itself, only minimal prep and turning of food is required by the user. The racks and rotisserie tools are all dishwasher safe, so it’s easy to keep the machine clean, too.

What’s not so good about it?

Like many air fryers, a test-run or three are needed to remove the straight-out-of-the-factory smell and ensure your food doesn’t take on any chemical flavours from the gadget. This might sound off-putting but it’s no different from many other gadgets that need test-runs before use, such as new conventional ovens. And the Digital Air Fryer Oven’s stainless steel interior loses its factory scent quicker than other models we’ve used.

Another thing to note is that like a normal oven, food on different levels of the gadget can cook at different rates. The top rack, where the air fryer fan is, cooks faster than the bottom racks, which means you sometimes need to rotate things. But we struggle to see how this is any different to using a normal oven, and the machine still easily beats a standard oven in terms of speed.

Lovers of baking and roasting might not find the gadget offers enough room to make a full roast dinner or sizeable cakes. It requires worktop space (near a plug), but when it comes to midweek meals and family cooking, the Digital Air Fry Oven makes things very simple indeed.

Overall verdict

This multi-purpose machine’s price-point is reasonable considering its size and versatility. It’s the first air fryer we’ve used that enables all elements of a meal to be cooked at the same time in the same gadget, which is invaluable. The rotisserie and grill functions are added bonuses, and the 12 litre capacity makes all sorts of impressive recipes achievable, as well as weeknight dinners and easy lunches.

There are few achievements that will make you feel as chuffed as bringing your home-cooked rotisserie chicken with chicken-fat potatoes to the table and declaring “I cooked it in the air fryer!”

Available from Salter or Curry’s (£84.99) in black.