delicious. reviews: the Instant Vortex Slim Air Fryer

What’s good about it?

There is a lot to like about the Instant Vortex Slim Air Fryer. The first thing is the size of its drawer – which is an impressive 5.7L and can therefore cook a whole chicken or 1kg of fries in one batch. It’s a particularly impressive size given its slim width which means it isn’t obtrusive on your counter top.

The multiple settings on this machine are useful, because they simplify your cooking and mean you don’t need to look up the correct temperatures for everything each time you cook. The machines ‘heating up’ function and ‘turn-food’ functions see it beep when it’s ready for you to add food and turn your food which makes for a more even cook than simpler models the delicious. team has tried.

Of the five modes, I was particularly keen on the air fry and reheat modes, and would use these the most. I like that you can pause to check the food and continue cooking at any time without much faff – just re-press the start button once you’ve closed the drawer.

This air fryer is particularly quiet which is not to be underestimated. Others can be incredibly noisy and although this doesn’t affect functionality it can be bothersome. Anyone who has felt the relief when you’ve turned your oven ventilation off after a batch of deep fat frying will know the importance of this.

It’s also a particularly good oven because the heat mechanism is on the top of the food so it cooks and browns food at a more even rate than more simple air fryers I’ve tried. The drawer is dishwasher safe, and the handle means it’s easy to remove food once cooked and easy to clean too. This was an efficient machine and we had particularly good results cooking sausages (perfectly browned outside, moist inside), potatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and quiches during testing.

What’s not so good about it?

As with any new kitchen gadget, it’s necessary to do a test run before use to remove that ‘just from the factory’ aroma. This machine actually requires a good, strong double cleanse with bicarb and vinegar before use, plus a soak, to ensure no plasticky/synthetic flavours are imparted on to food. It’s best to then run the machine a couple of times empty to rid it of any smells. This can feel like an effort when you just want to get cooking! You may notice the faint synthetic smell in the air which can be unpleasant. But rest assured, after cleaning and running the test cook mode the machine is worth the wait.

The slim nature of the drawer does mean that if you want to bake quiches and tarts in your oven you’ll need narrower dishes, but you can use any enamel or aluminium baking dishes with this machine, so this shouldn’t prove limiting.

Our favourite feature

The Instant Vortex Slim Air Fryer has lots of things going for it, but it’s the large capacity of the drawer along with the evenness of the cooking here that really mark this model out as superior.

Overall verdict

If you clean the machine according to our suggestions thoroughly before use, and give it its proper test runs, this is a hardworking, sturdy air fryer capable of cooking for a family of four. Its quietness shouldn’t be understated, it makes the machine incredibly appealing to use and the pre-set times and temperatures of the five cooking settings mean you barely need to use recipes with this model. The machine is currently available at Argos at a discounted price of £79.99.

Liked this review? Try our air fryer recipes.