Over the past year I have found myself veering the “smart” era of air fryers, but Fritaire is offering something others just don’t have. Some astonishing colors and quite simply fun. This vibrant viral air fryer has been making the rounds but is it worth the hype?
Style
Fritaire comes in looking like something from the sixties with its retro-esque design. It’s a 5-Qt air fryer that comes in four colors such as Sage, Midnight Black, Lily White, and Orange. It is compact with it being about over 12” tall and 14” wide. It’s a two piece with the bottom portion being a glass bowl that can be seen from all angles and then placed on top is the heating mechanism. This is also being touted as a self-cleaning air fryer thanks to the simple steps that can be taken. It also states it is BFA and Teflon free.
It comes equipped with a Rotisserie, Motor, Tumbler, Air Stand, and Grabber.
Setup
It doesn’t take much getting this assembled which just consists of you placing the heating mechanism on top of the glass bowl. There are handles for the top portion which funny enough double as ventilation spots as well. On top of the Fritaire is a digital touch panel with assorted options such as temperature, timer and preset food choices like Fries, Fish, Fruits, etc.
The included motor attaches to the side and is meant to be used with the Tumbler and Rotisserie. I was surprised to find out the motor needs to be utilized with (4) AAA batteries.
Cooking
The Fritaire offers several ways to cook your food thanks to its accessories. I tried to cook in many ways to get use out of each function. For the Air Stand I used it to air fry chicken which came out exactly right. It was nice being able to see everything. I did Fries and Cauliflower/Broccoli in the Tumbler. Using this helped achieve not burning the veggies which can happen from not moving them around enough. Fries came out nice and crispy as well. For the Rotisserie I put on some shrimp. I had to stab each piece and luckily, they were large shrimp. They came out simply perfect though constantly rotating.
While I found this to be great for cooking, I had some gripes with it. The tumbler and motor can be quite noisy but using it with the rotisserie stick wasn’t too bad. Since its glass you can constantly see the food and not have to pull the basket out the time. But if you want to add things such as seasoning you must lift the top lid which can get hot, and you might need gloves.
Cleaning
The biggest feature its pushing is the self-cleaning. This is consistent of you adding water and soap and it will swirl it all around for 10mins at 400 degrees. It does work but sometimes you must clean it a bit more after. The air stand has space, but it also isn’t stable as if you put too much on one side it can tip over. You can see this in action in the videos I have on TikTok / Instagram.
Verdict
Fritaire definitely brings some fun to cooking with its air fryer. It is easy to setup and great as you dont have to constantly pull your food out to check it. The included accessories give this air fryer an edge over others. The self cleaning techique is cool but you still need to finish up behind it.
For $199 it does put it in a higher price range of air fryers and you will have to decide if this is more usable than just a viral novelty.
