Imagine not owning an air fryer. This is definitely one of my favorite kitchen gadgets and cooking tools and here’s why... I’m a guy. Guys are stubborn. This bad boy arrived on my doorstep and I spent a solid half an hour ignoring the instructions. The assembly was easy but trying to operate the sucker left me humbled, so I decided to swallow my pride and check out the manual. Everything was easy to follow and very detailed. So now I’ve got the system set up. Fast forward fifteen minutes and... Dinner is served. No jokes. I threw in a couple large chicken breasts that I coated with egg, crumbs, and seasoning, plopped them (no oil required), eleven minutes go by and we’ve got dinner. I ate, took out the cooking tray, cleaned everything up and couldn’t have been more pleased at how seamless the whole process was. The chicken was cooked to perfection! The fryer has a sleek look that would blend in most modern kitchens and comes with its own recipe book and there’s plenty of other recipes you can find online as well. The system is fleek and I’ve since made Brussels sprouts, cake, prime rib, and potatoes, every single time with ease and success. Treat yourself and be the chef you’ve always wanted to be

I love the air fryer, cooks well, but it was very confusing to use in the beginning! I can fit 4 chicken legs comfortably in the air fryer. Cooks well (when food is spaced out) I tried to do a Whole small chicken and the chicken legs and wings did not cook throughly, even though the rest of the chicken was, I took it out and put it in the oven because I did not want to over cook it. Other than that I would recommend this to a friend, do not over pack the fryer!!!

To avoid any confusion due to different models this review is for Phillips Avance model HD9650/96. I found it to be pretty intuitive to operate. The 1725 watts and twin turbostar technology allow it to provide very consistent cooking. I have been able to test 2 other air fryers from different manufactures and this one stands out due to its design and wattage – would definitely recommend but in this price range there are many alternatives. Base of unit is sturdy and has a control panel with separate touch buttons for temperature, timer, pre-set, keep warm, on/off. The central control dial is spun to set the time/temp/pre, using digital display, then press to start or pause. Presets are frozen fries, chicken, meat, fish, baking and manual (where you set temp and time). I am assuming all but baking preset is using air fryer function, as I couldn’t find anything that mentioned that specifically being the case.. One thing to be aware of on air fryers is the actual volume a unit can hold/cook is lessened due to the air fryer needing clearance top/bottom/sides for air to circulate Comes with; Removable non-stick basket – dish washer safe. It is square shaped not round like most other units so I found you get a little more usable area to arrange your food. Removable non-stick mesh bottom that goes inside basket – dish washer safe. Keeps your food from touching the bottom of pan. Removable non-stick fat reducer – dish washer safe Removable non-stick pan (that all the above fit into) – dish washer safe. Again square design User manual – with a very nice schematic of the unit on page 1 but for some reason the actual description of each part is described on page 8. Small detail but irritating to go back forth when learning the units functionality Also a nice starter cooking guide is included. Size is pretty much same as similar units – I measured 12.5 x 12.5 x 15 inches and weighs 19 lbs. 1-year warranty I was impressed that the packaging was pretty much all recyclable. Actual use; Pretty impressive unit with 1725 watts (do not need to preheat), well thought out and intuitive. It can bake/roast, reheat and of course fry. In the back there is a cubby hole where you can store the cord – a nice feature. Cord is just over 3 foot in length Also it has a 3 prong (grounded) plug I assume due to its 1725 wattage. As the son of an electrician I would highly recommend you only use on a 3 prong outlet and maybe make sure what else is being used at the same time on that circuit to avoid any possibility of blown fuses or tripped breakers. The basket fits inside the pan which slide easily into a track that is about 13 inches long. Initially this was a little awkward but I found it its very nice to be able to open the basket to check/turn food and not have to worry about the hot basket touching the counter. I cooked bacon using french fry preset temperature. Initial batch was a problem as the air circulating kept moving the bacon around requiring me to stop and try to straighten out slices so they cooked evenly. The 2nd batch I put a metal rack that fit inside basket to hold bacon flat and it came out crispy – but halfway thru white smoke (like fog) started coming out of the vent in the back of the unit. This occurred halfway thru the 3rd batch as well. This is very fatty/greasy food so assume I should have emptied the pan of the grease between batches. Frozen french fries were up next using preset temperature. I just stuck them in and about half way thru gave them a shake. Fries came out crispy and fluffy. It barely made any mess in basket or pan so I let it cool and wiped areas out with just a paper towel. Next up was frozen chicken nuggets (using frozen fry preset temperature) for my grandson with no oil added. Normally we cook them in the oven to reduce the oil – i.e. healthier. I had tried them from the oven in the past and let’s just say one was enough for me. They came out great in the fryer and I did not spray them with any oil. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. I had to stop myself at 3, so my grandson would have enough to eat. We cooked 2 thawed Cornish hens using chicken preset temperature. I did spray them with a little olive oil, salt/pepper. We had juicy, crisp hens in about 50 minutes. While in use outside and top of the unit stay very cool. Clean up is very easy since all items are dish washer safe. Have not baked anything yet and probably wont. It is a tad noisier than other air fryers I have used. Also vibrates a little. Doesn’t have dehydrator. My biggest issue/concern is that it seems to smoke when frying really fatty foods? It didn’t smoke when cooking anything other than the bacon. This does concern me a little and I may try adding water to the bottom. Smoking of unit is mentioned in the manual. Will update review as I use it more if issue persists. Smoking aside its seems to be a good unit providing quick healthier frying and roasting options. Looking forward to healthier eating with much less overall mess. Saves heating up the oil in a fryer and all of its associated mess. Or heating your oven if roasting. There are optional accessories that provide for more flexibility.

I love my air fryer but for some reason when I am using it smokes a lot, to the point that my smoke detector goes off. For the price I paid for this, that shouldn't happen. I look at the manual few times to see if I can avoid the smoke but I cant find anything that prevent the smoke. I will keep it but i will not buy another one again and I will not recommend the product because its expensive.

An air fryer is a wonderful addition to your kitchen. It circulates super-hot air around your food while browning/crisping it. Nowadays the models are so much more sophisticated and you can use them for more than just air frying, for example, roasting, grilling, baking, and re-heating. Simply put, you can use an air fryer for anything you would typically cook in the oven. As this model can accommodate 3 pounds of food, you can cook a whole chicken and a ton of fries versus having to cook in multiple batches. The Philips Avance Collection, XXL, HD 9650 series, offers the following features: -Digital controls and display (which makes it the premium of the Avance line of Philips air fryers) -Up to 60 min programming timer -Twin TurboStar technology for extra capacity -5 preset settings for food you typically will cook with a manual setting allowing you to override it. -Keep warm button -Cord storage (very handy) -Being dishwasher safe makes cleaning up the basket with mesh bottom, pan and fat reducer a snap. Just be sure to let them cool down before cleaning so you don’t burn yourself. Here is what I didn’t like about this air fryer: -I didn’t find the user manual an easy read. The gray print was small and light making the food table and directions difficult to see. -While I feel an air fryer is a must-have appliance, the XXL is not compact, so it will take up a fair amount of space on your kitchen countertop. If you decide to put it in another space, it is a bit heavy considering its larger capacity. -The accompanying recipe booklet includes 32 recipes. The print is too small to read! I dislike the booklet having the same recipe printed three times in multiple languages. Not helpful! -Accessories you might to use with recipes do not come with your $400 air fryer but must be purchased separately – double/multilayer rack, baking plate, baking accessory, grilling plate. -I don’t see a lot of features on this model that you can’t get with other air fryers (other than the extra-large capacity) so I can’t justify the high price. -I did a cook-off with the Philip XXL air fryer and another for hand cut French fries and 4 out of 4 people voted that they preferred the fries from the other model. While an air fryer is a must-have appliance in my opinion, I would price match and carefully compare basket capacity, cooking programs, and power (watts) so you know you have equivalent products.