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Why are air fryers called air fryers? (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 days ago by Mothra@mander.xyz to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca
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Since they don't technically fry... Or do they? They're basically mini electric ovens. What's the difference between an air fryer and an electric oven, other than size and energy consumption?

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[-] CameronDev@programming.dev 8 points 3 days ago

They fry with hot air, the alternative being to fry with hot oil.

Functionally, they are the same as a fan force (convection) oven, but smaller.

[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago

I’m struggling to find a source that defines “frying” as anything other than cooking in hot oil.

[-] CameronDev@programming.dev 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

After writing the comment, I remembered pan frying exists, so that adds a third mode :/

Wikipedia has some conflicting info:

Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat

Frying techniques vary in the amount of fat required, the cooking time, the type of cooking vessel required, and the manipulation of the food. Sautéing, stir-frying, pan frying, shallow frying, deep frying, and air frying are all standard frying techniques.

So I guess 0 is an amount of oil that satisfies the frying definition :D

[-] MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago

It's to achieve the desired outcome of frying. There's no reason to use oil, it just happens to be the only way that works normally.

this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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