There are some gadgets that you get and you immediately think they are awesome, but then get left in a drawer a few weeks later. Others you think are cool but might not be that practical and turn out to be fantastically useful. The T-fal AciFry falls into the later category and I have had a while to put it through its paces.
The ActiFy promises to deliver a fried experience without needing to deep fry. Like many other air fryer appliances out there it promises to cook things nice and crispy without all the fat from a typical fryer. Instead, it uses only a tablespoon of oil and through the use of a blower and a paddle it rotates items around so they get nice and super crispy.
According to the manual, ActiFry can also be used for sauces and chili as well - I have no doubt that it can, but what I have used it for is Wings and Fries!
Normally when I make these two items it involves a HELL of a MESS with a Pyrex pan in the oven that is hard to clean and certainly not dishwasher friendly with the burned on oil or pieces of chicken skin.
ActiFry works by blowing hot air over the items and under the metal pan to get that up to the perfect temperature as well.
In a traditional fryer, you have to drop the food in the pool of oil, but with ActiFy, the oil is used more as a lubricant and as a coating to make the items crispy.
As you cook, the central spindle pushes the items around and rotates them so they don't stick and all sides are perfectly coated.
With both the fries and wings, I normally have problems with them being over seasoned or the seasonings burned because it is in the oven too long.
With ActiFry however, I don't have to worry about these things!
After they are nice and fried, I simply add the seasoning and let the cooker rotate the items around getting them perfectly coated.
That gives me perfect looking wings that don't require a lot of clean up.
I swear that T-fal designed ActiFry for guys - not only does it cook up great treats but it is ridiculously simple to clean up as well.
All of the parts that touch food are dishwasher safe and that makes cleanup SUPER SIMPLE compared to other solutions.
Also, because this only requires a standard power plug and no buckets of boiling oil like a deep fryer it is ideal for using in the basement / mancave / garage as well as tailgating or a hunting cabin.
Summary of ActiFry Review:
The Good: Produces great tasting wings and fries with minimal use of oil and is SUPER easy to clean up.
The Bad: Priced at $249.99 it isn't cheap - but it is well made. Also because of the hot air blower it is very loud.
