For roasting or crisping vegetables, meat and other foods, choose an air fryer if its usable capacity suits your portions and it won’t simply duplicate your oven. For one-pot meals, consider a multicooker instead. If you also want to chop, mix or knead ingredients before cooking, compare cooking food processors, checking their accessories, capacity and recipe access.
A good place to start is the meal you often make after work: how it’s cooked, the preparation involved and how many portions you need.
If your ingredients are already prepared, an air fryer could be a good choice for roasting or crisping food. For a saucy or steamed dish cooked in one pot, take a look at the programmes offered by a multicooker instead.
Compare your usual portions with the shape of the basket or cooking pot. The stated capacity alone won’t tell you whether everything for dinner will fit in one batch.
If chopping, blending, grating or kneading is a regular part of your recipes, look at the functions and accessories of a cooking food processor. Check what’s included with the specific model you’re considering, rather than relying on features advertised for an entire range.
Worth considering if: your meals mainly involve roasting, grilling or crisping food, without needing to process the ingredients.
The trade-off: it won’t prepare your ingredients and may duplicate your oven’s fan-assisted cooking, as Que Choisir points out.
Worth considering if: you mainly cook one-pot dishes, steamed meals or slow- or pressure-cooked food, depending on the model’s programmes.
The trade-off: its cooking programmes won’t replace the accessories needed for chopping, grating or kneading.
Worth considering if: you’d like one appliance to handle some of the preparation as well as the cooking.
The trade-off: functions, capacities and accessories vary by model. Que Choisir also recommends checking the terms for accessing recipes.
Once you’ve chosen the type of cooking you need, check how much space it requires, how many portions you can realistically prepare and how much cleaning is involved after a meal.
| Consideration | What to check | What I need |
|---|---|---|
| Meals you usually make | List three recipes you make often and identify whether they need fan-assisted cooking, one-pot cooking or ingredient preparation. Check the functions and accessories of the specific model. | Do my dinners mainly include roasted food, saucy dishes or recipes that need chopping and mixing first? |
| How much hands-on work is involved | Look at the programmes, guided steps and settings needed before and during cooking. If you’re cooking two components, check whether the zones can use separate settings. | After work, I’d rather know which steps I’ll still need to do myself than choose an appliance based on its programmes alone. |
| Portions and space | Compare the basket’s surface area and shape, the cooking pot’s usable capacity and the appliance’s dimensions. For air fryers, Que Choisir recommends at least 6 L for a household of four and 9 L or more for households of more than five. Always check what will fit in one batch. | I want to prepare my usual portions without cooking multiple batches, while keeping enough space on the worktop. |
| Cleaning and accessories | Check which parts are dishwasher-safe, which accessories are included and whether recipe access is free or paid. Que Choisir notes that these details vary between cooking food processors. | An appliance won’t make weeknight cooking easier if its parts take ages to clean or the functions I need require additional accessories. |
Que Choisir highlights the risk of buying more equipment than you need: both an oven and an air fryer can cook using circulating hot air.
Make a note of the meals you’d cook in your new appliance, then compare the portions, format and any separate cooking zones with what your oven can already do.
Que Choisir warns that, with large-capacity air fryers, the stated volume doesn’t guarantee that a large item will fit in the basket or that a whole meal can be cooked at once.
Compare the basket’s usable dimensions, the number of drawers and the size of the food you regularly cook.
A multicooker’s cooking programmes won’t, on their own, meet the need to chop, grate or knead — tasks a cooking food processor with the right accessories may be able to handle.
If these are regular parts of your recipes, compare the functions and included accessories before choosing between the two types of appliance.
Otherwise, you’ll still need to do these tasks by hand or use a separate appliance.
According to Que Choisir, functions, capacities and recipe access vary from one cooking food processor to another; its accessory tests cover the accessories actually supplied.
For each model you’re considering, check the usable capacity, included accessories, parts that need cleaning and terms for accessing recipes.
These brands offer examples of different set-ups; their ranges can’t be summed up by the specifications of a single model.
The range includes Cookeo multicookers for one-pot cooking and Companion cooking food processors that combine food preparation and cooking.
According to Vorwerk France, the Thermomix TM7 combines food preparation and cooking functions with guided recipes via Cookidoo.
According to Magimix France, the Cook Expert range combines cooking with preparation tasks such as chopping, grating and mixing.
Ninja air fryers with multiple cooking zones may appeal to households that want to cook different parts of the same meal at the same time.
This selection includes cooking food processors for preparing and cooking food, multicookers for one-pot dishes and a dual-drawer air fryer for fan-assisted cooking. Compare each appliance with the recipes and portions you make most often at home.
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Worth considering if you want one appliance to prepare ingredients and cook. Compare the bowl’s usable capacity with your portions, then check the number of recipes, voltage and plug type before buying.
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This cooking food processor is worth comparing if on-screen recipes are one of your priorities. Before choosing it for your usual dinners, check the bowl’s usable capacity, how the parts are cleaned, and the voltage and plug type.
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If you make meals in one pot, compare its programmes with the dishes you cook regularly. The stated capacity is 5,7 L; if worktop space is limited, check the appliance’s dimensions too.
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Compare its stated 7,1 L capacity with your usual quantities and the space you have available. If you’re considering it for one-pot meals, check its cooking programmes and plug compatibility before buying.
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The two drawers may suit a household planning to cook two components of the same dinner using circulating hot air. The product title lists six functions and dishwasher-safe baskets; check the usable space in each drawer, the overall dimensions and plug compatibility.
No. Both appliances can cook using circulating hot air, and Que Choisir advises against buying two appliances that do the same job. Compare the portions and types of meal your oven can already handle with the specific use you’d make of an air fryer.
Start with the food you want to cook together and the usable space in the basket, not just the stated capacity in litres. For a household of four, Que Choisir recommends at least 6 L; for more than five people, its guide is 9 L or more. The shape of the basket is still key to knowing whether your meal will fit in one batch.
Choose a multicooker if you mainly need to cook one-pot dishes and prepare the ingredients another way. If you also want to chop, grate, blend or knead with your new appliance, look at the functions and accessories of a cooking food processor.
No. Que Choisir recommends checking whether recipes are included and whether access is free or paid. Guided recipes may be important if you want to follow the steps on the appliance, but you should also check its capacity and whether it has the accessories your recipes need.
Distinguish between your statutory rights and any commercial warranty offered by the seller or manufacturer. The DGCCRF reminds consumers that when buying a product they benefit, in particular, from the statutory guarantee of conformity and the guarantee against hidden defects. Check the terms of any advertised commercial warranty separately.