A Healthier Way to Fry your Food
Air fryers are all the rage in an attempt to keep healthy, all the while being able to enjoy fried foods still. But why would one use an air fryer over an oven or traditional deep frying? What are the benefits of an air fryer? We’ll answer all of these below.
5 of the Best Reasons to Use an Air Fryer
1. Health Benefits of Air-Fried Foods
Since air fryers use significantly less oil, they’re a healthier alternative to deep frying. Compared to deep frying, air frying only requires a tablespoon of oil; this reduces the chances of obesity, heart disease, and inflammation, all of which are linked to using not just animal fat but vegetable oil as well.
Air frying or “frying healthy" can also be used if you’re on a diet and are calorie-counting. According to WebMD, air frying reduces calories by 70-80%. Whether you’re watching your weight, getting your body beach-ready, or just trying to be healthy, air fryer cooking is the way for you.
One of the more significant factors was Acrylamide; a chemical substance produced when starch-high foods, such as potatoes, are cooked at high temperatures. Acrylamide is quite harmful as it’s a well-known carcinogen. A study was conducted to see whether air frying does live up to its health benefits while keeping deep frying as the reference method of cooking. Air frying reduced Acrylamide production by 90%, making it the healthier option in more than one way.
2. Time-saving with an Air Fryer
One of the main benefits of an air fryer is that it reduces cooking time by 25-30%. Cooking with an air fryer takes less time despite being at a lower temperature than baking in the oven because of its air-circulating technology and smaller size.
Large traditional ovens require a thorough clean-up after each use and can take a lot of time. It isn’t the case with air fryers, as their small size ensures a quick clean-up and easy storage.
3. Saving on Utility Bills
In the current economy, it’s wise to save every penny you can. One of the benefits of using an air fryer over the traditional gas or electric stove/oven is that you don’t have to pre-heat them, which takes a lot of time and resources that eventually add up at the end of the month.
Moreover, several features will also contribute to saving on bills, such as the timer. The air fryer automatically shuts down once the timer runs out, saving on bills.
The food you cook with an air fryer is just as delicious and crispy as if you had baked or fried it but healthier. So you can’t tell the difference in taste, but you will feel the difference in your utility bill.
On top of that, you can find all the information online for different food cooking times, such as this.
4. Safe to Use at Home
If you have kids or pets, this is just another reason to use an air fryer. With any kind of frying, especially with deep frying, comes the danger of splatter or spillage. With air fryers, you don’t have to worry about that as the food is cooked in a closed compartment. Furthermore, unlike microwaves, air fryers do not emit radiation, making them the healthier option to keep at home.
5. Versatile
You can cook anything in an air fryer and reap the health benefits. Once you have an air fryer, the question you should ask yourself is: what can’t you cook in an air fryer? While it’s a green light for everything, one thing to note is that cooking fish in an air fryer increases the amount of cholesterol.
So if you’re someone who is trying to lose weight or counting calories, then it’ll be helpful to keep this in mind, or you can add in herbs like parsley which act as an antioxidant, which will counter that increase.
Conclusion
Air fryers live up to the reputation of being the healthy alternative. It’s cost-saving, time-saving, and life-changing, all for a device that can be found in our kitchens. At the end of the day, the benefits of an air fryer and air-fried foods are substantial. So why would you go back to deep-fried foods when meals are just as delicious and crispy with air frying?