Before comparison you need to know what is air fryer and what is instant pot and how do they work. In this article we are here about Air fryer vs Instant pot everything that you need to know.
What is an Air Fryer
Air fryer can consider with a combination of air-frying and baking. Air fryer is significantly exhilarated countertop convection oven.
This kitchen appliance is a game changing product. It has surged popularity over the last few years. Near about 40% of U.S. families have at least one air fryer in their homes.
All kinds of foods whether it’s frozen or instant made you can air fry with a very minimal amount of oil. So, it sounds healthy also.
The better part of an air fryer is it consumes a very little amount of oil.
Now we’ll talk about how does air fryer work, it’s features and it’s specification.
Features of Air Fryer
Air fryer is not actually a deep fryer. Air fried foods are not chunky and oily. It’s frying method is like oven fry or baked.
Basically it has an air tight chamber which creates hot and pressure to the food to cook. It cooks faster and distributes the heat more evenly among the food.
How Does Air Fryer Work

If you want to know how does air fryer operate, first read the manual and using guide and follow the instructions given in them.
By following the instruction, have a trial. You’ll understand the function and cooking method of air fryer.
This is how the air fryer works.
- Take the air fryer tray or bucket and put your food in it. Depending on the size of air fryer, place adequate amount of food.
- Set timer and temperature. Do a short research about what food needs what temperature. Be careful in terms of setting time and temperature. The standard time is 5 to 25 minutes and standard temperature is 350° to 400°F.
- Start the air fryer and wait until the food cook. Sometimes, you might have to flip or turn the food halfway in the middle of the cooking time to make it evenly cooked, boiled and crisp.
Best air fryer
So many electronic brands are launching their own air fryer. You need to choose the best one according to budget, quality and features.
These are the three high quality and budget friendly air fryers we are suggesting you:
- Philips Advance Turbo-Star Air Fryer
- Black + Decker Purify Air Fryer
- PowerXL Vortex Air Fryer.
Till now, these three air fryers are hot selling in the market for it’s strong durability, high electric resonance and long term service.
What We Can Cook in Air Fryer
Air fryer has multi-purpose uses. There are numerous types of air fryer recipes. All of them are very delicious and quick cooking.
You can-
- Roast vegetables.
- Cook chicken, fish, meat of beef items.
- Cook frozen foods.
- Make cookies
- Roast nuts
- Reheat cooked items etc.
Is Air Fryer Cooking is Healthy
Undoubtedly, air fried food is healthier than deep fried food. Because, air fryer consumes a very little amount of oils. It has lower calories that deep fried food.
Where an air fryer avails 4 to 6 grams of calorie, the deep fried food avail minimum 17 calories in the same quantity of food.
Pros and Cons of Air Fryer
Pros:
Air fryer can consider as an instant cooker as it can cook frozen food without any hassle in a very short time. The best thing is air fried food is much healthier than deep fried as it consumes less amount of oils.
Because of air frying, it keeps your kitchen free home excessive hot and smoke.
Cons:
No matter how much big air fryer you buy, it has a minimal capacity. So, you’ll have to cook in batches. So, it can be a bit of time consuming when you’re cooking for a large member.
Some people consider it on expensive side. They consider cooking in mud make pan is way healthier and money saving from air fryer.
Now let’s talk about instant pot.
What is Instant Pot?
Instant pot can be considered with an electric pressure cooker.
A pressure cooker works by heating an area under a tight seal. With this method, the temperature is much higher than the boiling point of water. The steam gets stuck in the container and cooks the food.
Steam cooks food much more quickly and perfectly than the traditional stove or oven cooking.
Same thing goes for a steam cooker but converts into electric way.
Instant pot is preferable for steamed cook like steamed rice, vegetable, chicken etc.
Now we’ll know how the instant pot works and what are the feature they have and it’s specifications.
How Does an Instant Pot Work

To know how the instant pot work, you need to know how to use this.
Let’s know how to use air fryer. Using instant pot depends on what you are cooking. Suppose you’re cooking any meat item. See the procedure of it.
- Set the instant pot and plug it in. Add oil or other oil like ghee, butter, Penutt butter whatever you prefer. Add something aromatic like garlic or onion. Let it cook until it gets brown.
- Drop mutton, biff or chicken and let it be brown.
- Tap on the cancel button. Now tap manual and hit again to go to high pressure mode. The pressure depends on the food you are cooking.
- Use the plus and minus buttons to customize the timer.
- Place the lid or the upper part cover on the Instant Pot and lock properly.
- Be careful to put the valve built into the lid. It should be in the Sealing point.
- When the air tight area of the Instant Pot increase adequate pressure, the red button will pop up. Generally, the cooking time starts from here.
The above steps can take different times depends on the food inside the instant pot.
Pressure release: When you’re cooking is done, there remains one more step which is pressure release. There are two types of pressure release.
Natural pressure release: In natural pressure release, the valve on the lid stays in Sealing point and the pressure dispatch naturally by the time. This can take near about 20 minutes to an hour. It depends what you are cooking.
Meals with liquid form like soup or chili take much time to release natural pressure more than hardened meals.
Manual pressure release: Now, come to the manual pressure release. Depending on the venting position, the steam shoots out from the instant pot. It usually takes 15 minutes to release.
Don’t Make These Mistakes While Using Instant Pot
- Cook frozen food.
- Transform slow cooker recipes.
- Misconceptions about the “real” cooking times.
Pros and Cons of Instant Pot
Pros:
- It has versatile name like rice cooker, slow cooker, pressure cooker etc. etc.
- Saves time.
- Keeps your food warm for a long time after cooking.
- Useful for making big batches of food.
Cons:
- Bulky in size. Takes a specious corner of the kitchen.
- Some models are expensive.
- Difficult to clean.
- So many steps. Somebody can forget any step while hurry and overcook the food.
Air Fryer Vs Instant Pot? Which One You Should Go for?
Now let’s talk about which one should you take?
Well, the choice mostly depends on your eating habit.
- You should go for air fryer if you want crispy and fried food. If you want to have steamed or soft foods, you have to take instant pot.
- When we talk about health benefits, it depends what you are eating and what you’re using in your cooking. In this case, the air fryer will win. Because the air fried food is healthier than the instant pot made food. Because there is no chance to put extra oil in air fryer. If we want we can add extra oil in instant pot to cook foods.
- Instant pot and air fryer vary in price according to the model, brand and size. Both of their prices are considerably equal.
- In terms of function, using air fryer is easier than using instant pot. Instant pot takes more time than the air fryer and it goes through so many steps to cook.
See your requirements in them and choose the best one for you.