Over the past few years one appliance category that seems to vastly improve over time is the one of air fryers. But with so many of them on the market you definitely have to do something that stands out from the pack. Dreo’s ChefMaker Combi Fryer looks to carve out its own niche giving you the ability to cook about anything and at a culinary style level. Equipped with various modes, tools, and options, can it replace everything in your kitchen?
Style
ChefMaker is crafted like air fryers you see on the market. It is tall at about 15” but also about 14” wide. Its color combination is mostly metallic silver with black for the glass display, basket, and interior. It weighs a good amount coming in at a little over 15lbs. While it is tall, it fits fine on my kitchen counter and under my cabinets and does not take up too much space when pushed back. On top of the ChefMaker is a water tank which can be filled up. I will talk more about that later.
Included with the Dreo ChefMaker is a Cooking Probe, Cooking Tray, and Grilling Rack.
Starting your CombiCook Journey
As usual you want to clean all your cooking equipment beforehand. I then loaded up the Dreo app which I am already signed up for since their other appliances such as their air purifier and fans are conveniently on the same app. Once I connected the ChefMaker to the Wi-Fi a firmware update was pushed out.
After that is out the way you can go head and familiarize yourself with the ChefMaker via its colorful LED display and on the app. The ChefMaker has a 4.3” touch panel for navigating as well as a power button and light button. The light can be activated anytime to see through the glass of the basket.
The ChefMaker has three Modes which are Chef Mode, Classic Cook, and Probe Cook. Classic Cook is what you may be accustomed to on air fryers as it will take you to the typical menu of Air Fry, Roast, Toast, Reheat, etc. Now the other two modes are quite intriguing.
Probe Cook allows you to use the included probe and allows you to set two temperatures. One is the target for your meat while the other is what you want it to cook at. Once you hit that target you will be alerted.
Chef Mode is realistically the selling point of ChefMaker. It uses CombiCook which is tech that figures out exactly how to cook your food to perfection. It will adjust temperature, do pre-sear, browning, etc. Depending on what you are cooking it will also use that previously mentioned cooking probe but also may include water. Water will be sprayed at times to keep your food moist. It is interesting to see and hear.
If you go into the app or on the display, there is a nice section of meats and some produce that takes advantage of the technology. I wish they had some more options but hopefully they regularly update the listing.
There is a recipe section that has some video tutorials breaking down every single step and allows you to rewind it asap which I did a lot. But if you would rather read the play by play you can do that too. Dreo really thought of everything with this one. I wish the app/display did have more options like “fries” which folks use air fryers a lot for. Also, they gave alternative ways to cook, say for instance Steak. Like I shouldn’t have to only the CombiCook way which can take upwards of 20mins at times.
Can It Cook?
So, the time I been using the ChefMaker I been quite impressed with how well food goes out. I have used it to cook a steak which required using the probe and the water tank. The steak had a nice sear, charred exterior and was rather juicy in the middle. It did take longer though than just air frying a steak which I tried as well. I had made wings which came out crispy and so moist and piping hot in the middle which used the same probe / water method. I also created a bourbon maple glaze based on a recipe within the Dreo app.
Other things like making broccoli, toasting bread, hot dogs, etc. like I would regularly do with air fryers came out simply fine as expected. ChefMaker uses a 6qt basket that looks bigger than you expect as it goes deep and has a nice amount of width too.
When you are done cooking something that requires water you can empty out the tank via the app/display and it will spray all the remaining water out within two mins into the basket. Thanks to the nonstick coating of the basket, rack, and tray cleaning everything off only takes a matter of minutes via hand wash unless you decide to throw in the dishwasher. I have noticed though some moisture does get in between the glass on the basket though.
Worth the Price?
Dreo has been making great products as of late and the ChefMaker is right up there. It has features which will enable you to cook food in an array of styles and up your culinary cooking game without getting too messy with it doing most of the legwork. Its app is user-friendly, offering videos and step by step as well as similar functionality on the ChefMaker built-in display. Its price tag at $360 does make it a costly cooking investment and one of the more expensive air fryers available but I have seen it higher.
Dreo ChefMaker is available for $359 but I have seen it on sale for $259 via Amazon and Dreo.
You can see an unboxing / cooking with the Dreo ChefMaker on Instagram / TikTok
