Both an air fryer and a convection oven cook healthy food. These appliances use the same method to cook food.
They circulate hot air using fans that produce heat and let it flow uniformly throughout the device.
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When comparing both appliances in relation to health, air fryers are quite healthier. The reason being, they eliminate the need to add any oil to your food items at all.
Conversely, you may want to add some oil (although a little bit) when using a convection oven for baking to ensure food has some moisture.
Additionally, because air fryers are able to attain higher temperatures than an oven, they come with shorter cooking time and procedure.
This means your food will not dry up and lose all the important nutritional value. Using a convection oven to cook will usually slow down the process.
This leads to the loss of numerous healthy nutrients.
What is a Convection Oven?
These are also portable appliances that you can place on the countertop and use with almost any kitchen power source.
Some of these devices are a lot bigger and stand-alone; however, these are generally used commercially instead of in the house.
Convection ovens can be created with metal or plastic; however, metal types are trendy.
Though convection ovens function similarly to air fryers, they are rather different as well.
The appliances use a heating coil for cooking or other radiant heating elements, which might be on the outside or inside of the cooking area.
A fan will help in hot air circulation all over the appliance to cook the food items simultaneously all-around.
What is an Air Fryer?
This is a kind of kitchen appliance that you can place on your countertop and plug into almost any power outlet.
An air fryer is not a stationary item; however, you may rather move it around easily as required.
Air fryers are generally created with hard-wearing plastic and have separate, detachable cooking racks, trays, or pans.
These products function by heating the air inside the device fast to high temperatures. Once it heats the air inside, an internal fan will circulate this hot air around the food items, cooking it from the bottom to the top and all the sides simultaneously.
The outcome is tasty, crispy food items with the best texture without you having to cook your food in huge quantities of butter, oil, or other fat.
Some of these appliances will fry without oil at all.
Its popularity is because of the healthy food that you will enjoy so that you can prevent obesity and other problems, which might come with it.
You most likely know that deep-fried food items have high caloric content because of too much oil level.
By using the method of air-frying, you will minimize the unhealthy calories as well as fats that deep-frying causes.
You can enjoy your preferred snacks and treats; however, with no adverse effects that might put you in danger ultimately.
Differences between an Air Fryer and a Convection Oven
Before deciding, you should understand all facts about the two appliances. Here is information about the effectiveness of the appliances, cleaning, pricing, functions, and much more.
Temperature Control
Some of the popular convection ovens are good at even heat distribution within.
These appliances will automatically adjust the temperature immediately you place your food items inside.
This is beneficial as you will be able to try out several recipes in the appliance without worrying about your preferred temperature.
What’s more, you don’t have to worry about your food items left underdone also. The reason being, the even hot airflow will make sure that heat will seep through your food’s middle part.
But air fryers usually reach a higher temperature that will make using this appliance for baking ideal for delicate food items like desserts.
It might not be the best idea to use a convection oven for baking as it can be a little harsh on these soft meals.
The Way They Function
Both an air fryer and a convection oven use circulated air. However, you need to know about the performance difference and outcome that you will get later.
In the air fryer, the heating element is on the top, while in a convection model, the bottom area holds the heating element.
This is an important difference due to the heating elements at the top are near the food items, and you will get crispier results when it comes to the air fryer.
Using air fryer can help you minimize the overall cook time for about 20 percent.
Convection oven, conversely, does circulation with fans, meaning that you can bake things like bread and cakes without your favorite crispy finish.
Cooking Capacity
Convection models, because of their big size, feature a larger cooking capacity too. In short, they let you cook large amounts of food items simultaneously.
What’s more, it will also mean you will easily place big food chunks in your oven without needing to chop them into smaller pieces.
In contrast, an air fryer, thanks to their compact size, features a quite smaller cooking capacity; however, this does not prevent them from doing their work efficiently.
The majority of air fryers have deep chambers that allow you to place large quantities of food inside, like French Fries.
They might not let you put other specific large food chunks, like if you plan to roast lamb legs.
Similarities between an Air Fryer and a Convection Oven
Both air fryers and convection ovens use airflow techniques to generate heat that can cook your food.
This is an efficient process as you will have crispy treats fast, particularly when compared with other cooking methods.
These appliances are compact so that you can place them at the countertop without any additional issues.
In comparison with other products available on the market, these specific ones have a small footprint, and you will still get outstanding efficiency.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it will be good to have both an air fryer and a convection oven in the kitchen.
When choosing between both appliances, it will come down to personal preference.
Do you want a deep-fried finish with no added calories and fat of a deep fryer? Then air fryers are the best option to suit your needs.
But if you want to cook bigger meals and are not worried about getting a deep-fryer, then a convection model may be the best option to suit your needs.