Best air fryers 2026, tried and tested for healthy home-cooking

Like many people, I’ve come to know how useful air fryers can be. These days, their features are more advanced, too. From smart cooking that means you can control the appliance from your phone to stacked air fryers for cooking multiple dishes at the same time, these convenience kitchen gadgets have more than earned a spot in our kitchen.

Helpfully, they take the guesswork out of meal prep by offering presets for specific foods, from fries to bacon. Meanwhile, some models come with glass baskets so that you can keep an eye on your food as it cooks. Plus, many can do much more than air frying, with cooking capabilities such as roasting, baking, dehydrating, and reheating in their repertoire.

Having tested countless models, I’ve found an air fryer for every home cook. When testing, I considered cooking versatility, capacity, cooking speed, maintenance and cleaning, appearance, and additional cooking functions — and below you’ll find the models that passed my tests.

I put the full features to test, including cooking presets (Alex Temblador/The Independent)

The best air fryers for 2026 are:

• Best air dryer overall — Kalorik vivid 7-quart air fryer: $163.97, Amazon.com
• Best budget air fryer — Cosori lite 2.1-quart air fryer: Was $59.99, now $49.99, Corsori.com
• Best compact air fryer — Gourmia 7-quart fry ‘n fold digital air fryer: $79.99, Target.com
• Best double-stack air fryer — Ninja doublestack XL 8-quart two-basket air fryer: Was $219, no $189.95, Amazon.com
• Best for versatility — Bella 4-quart trizone air fryer: $89.99, Amazon.com

Kalorik vivid 7 quart air fryer

Rating: 5/5

Best: air fryer overall

Why we love it

• Large see-through basket
• Defrost capability
• Touchscreen with colored images
• Shake reminder and Ready Alert
• Lots of cooking presets with set times and temperature

Take note

• No steam infusion technology

When it came to choosing the best air fryer overall, it had to produce delicious foods in the easiest way possible. The Kalorik vivid 7-quart air fryer delivered on both fronts.

Unlike the other air fryers I tried, Kalorik’s model has a colored touchscreen to navigate the cooking presets (of which there are more than 200, broken down into 12 different categories, including red meat, frozen faves, veggies, fish, chicken, bake, and vegan). In one test, I selected seafood followed by crab cakes, and the air fryer automatically set a temperature and time depending on the number of crab cakes I was cooking.

You can manually set the temperature and time using DIY mode, but it is easier to use the pre-set cook settings, which are very accurate. I tested this with a variety of meats, including steak, pork, and chicken, and even tofu, and the results were impressive.

This air fryer got top marks for ease of use and cooking ability (Alex Temblador/The Independent)

In fact, the Kalorik vivid 7-quart air fryer is equipped with lots of settings to make the cooking process easier, from a defrost option (which is not common) to a notification to remind you to turn halfway through the cooking time.

If all that wasn’t enough, it’s $100, which feels like a steal for a high-tech air fryer that produces fantastic food.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 5.68-inch x 11.47-inch x 13.36-inch
• Weight: 11.22lbs
• Size: 7-qt
• Temperature: 90F to 400F
• Cooking presets: 202

Cosori lite 2.1 quart air fryer

Rating: 4/5

(Cosori)

Best: budget air fryer

Why we love it

• Compact
• Automatic shut off
• Easy to use design
• Four color options

Take note

• Limited cooking presets

The Cosori lite 2.1-quart air fryer is perfect if you want something affordable and compact. The first thing I noted was how quiet it runs and how easy it is to store away.

This one suits a solo chef (Alex Templafor/The Independent)

The size and price mean it comes with the fewest cooking presets of any air fryer on this list — the four options include air fry, roast, bake, and reheat, and you must manually set the temperature and timer.

The basket is small, so even though I could fit two drumsticks or a handful of fish bites with ease, I couldn’t pack vegetables — such as a large sweet potato cut into fries — without remembering to shake the basket halfway through the cooking process. I found that the vegetables wouldn’t cook evenly if I didn’t do this. That said, for just $60, the Cosori lite 2.1 quart air fryer is easily the best budget air fryer.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 10.1-inch x 8.3-inch x 10.5-inch
• Weight: 4.87lbs
• Size: 2.1-qt
• Temperature range: 170F to 400F
• Cooking presets: 4

Gourmia 7-quart fry ‘n fold digital air fryer

Rating: 4.5/5

Best: compact air fryer

Why we love it

• 10 cooking presets
• Preheat and turn food reminder
• Transparent glass bowl
• Foldable design for easier storage

Take note

• Bits of glue was visible
• Glass bowl is not completely nontoxic

The Gourmia 7-quart fry ‘n fold digital air fryer features a glass basket that fits onto a base. When not in use, the top part of the air fryer can be turned upside down and slotted into the glass basket, which halves the unit’s size, making it easy to store.

This air fryer delivered crisp and even cooking (Alex Templador/The Independent)

The 10 cooking presets include typical settings you expect, such as air fry, bake, roast, dehydrate, reheat, and keep warm, as well as more unique presets, including bacon, wings, and fries. The setting for wings was most impressive and resulted in crisp, evenly air-fried wings to perfection down to the exact minute. The preheat and turn reminder notifications were especially helpful, and after testing lots of different air fryers, I’m surprised that this feature isn’t on every one.

I was, however, disappointed to see a reflective plastic, mirror-like piece on the bottom of the glass basket with glue coming out of the edges. That aside, this is an excellent choice.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 14.57-inch x 12.87-inch x 11.85-inch
• Weight: 5lbs
• Size: 7-qt
• Temperature: 90F to 400F
• Cooking presets: 10

Ninja doublestack 8-quart and two-basket air fryer

Rating: 4/5

Best: double stack air fryer

Why we love it

• Narrow and space saving design
• Smart Finish and Match Cook settings
• Can use different cook presets in two baskets
• Stackable meal racks let you cook 4 foods at once

Take note

• Baskets aren’t see-through
• Takes time to figure out how to best cook with racks

I’ve been using the Ninja foodi six-in-one 10-quart two-basket air fryer for years, and while I love that I can cook meat on one side and vegetables in the other, I always found the design a bit bulky. That’s why I was excited to test the Ninja doublestack air fryer.

The vertical design is a game-changer, giving you more space on your countertop. Each basket has a capacity of 4-quart, making it perfectly sized for multiple large pieces of meat and enough vegetables for the whole family.

This is ideal for feeding a family (Alex Templador/The Independent)

Beyond having two baskets, it also has two stacked meal racks, so you can cook four different dishes simultaneously. From testing, foods placed on top of the meal racks seemed to cook faster. It took some trial and error to find the best cooking spots and which cook times and temperatures worked best, so all four foods cooked evenly. While the meal racks are great, they’re not the easiest to remove from the baskets when they’re hot — oven mitts are necessary.

For an air fryer with such a high price tag, I was surprised that it has only six cooking presets — air fry, broil, reheat, roast, bake, and dehydrate. It does, however, have match cook and smart finish settings: match cook copies the temperature and time settings from the top to the bottom basket. Smart finish lets you choose different cooking settings with different times, but ensures the two baskets finish at the same time.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 11.25-inch x 17.79-inch x 15.14-inch
• Weight: 21.28lbs
• Size: 8-qt
• Temperature: 80F to 450F
• Cooking presets: 8

Bella 4-quart trizone air fryer

Rating: 4/5

Best: versatile air fryer

Why we love it

• Stylish and compact design
• Two baskets with a removable divider
• Sync button finishes two foods at same time
• Ceramic nonstick coating is free of toxins

Take note

• Louder than you expect
• Seems to cook slightly hotter than the set temperature

Bella is a brand that prides itself on creating easily storable and aesthetic kitchen appliances, and you’ll find that to be the case with its 4-quart trizone air fryer.

It has two baskets (both with a 2-quart capacity) with a removable divider, so you can cook two dishes separately or remove the divider and use the large 4-quart space, which makes it a very versatile machine.

This one looks great on my counter top (Alex Templador)

When cooking in dual mode, you can use different cook settings (roasting, air frying, baking) and temperatures for each basket and then sync them up so that food finishes at the same time. When the middle barrier is removed, and you cook in the 4-quart space, the dish cooks faster than when cooking with two separate baskets.

I was impressed by how well this air fryer cooked different meats, perhaps more so than vegetables, which seemed slightly overcooked in comparison.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 10.91-inch x 13.27-inch x 9.99-inch
• Weight: 11.02 lbs
• Size: 4-qt
• Temperature range: 90F to 400F
• Cooking presets: 6

Fritaire self-cleaning air fryer

Rating: 4/5

Best: non-toxic air fryer

Glass air fryers are becoming increasingly popular — and after testing countless, the Fritaire self-cleaning air fryer is the best option to buy in this category. Rather than a ceramic or aluminium base, the Fritaire cooks food in a glass bowl, resulting in a Teflon-, PFAS-, and BPA-free cooking experience.

The top of the air fryer uses up to 400F hot convection technology for the six cooking presets — steak, chicken, seafood, french fries, baked dishes, and de-hydrate. There is quite a lot of setup required for this air fryer, due to the accessories — an air fryer stand, rotisserie spit and rotisserie motor, and tumbling basket — needed for cooking. The rotisserie spit and motor were the most confusing to set up — but once I figured it out, I was able to evenly cook chicken legs to perfection. And with the tumbling basket, I made delicious sweet potato fries and crispy catfish bites.

The self cleaning feature is a big bonus (Alex Temblador/The Independent)

The Fritaire is the only air fryer I’ve included within this guide that has a self-cleaning feature. While this sounds like a nifty feature, in practice, it didn’t work as well as I hoped. Essentially, I filled the glass bowl with water and soap. The air fryer uses a hot air stream circulator to heat and move the water to break down tough stains. Unfortunately, I still had to clean the glass bowl and the accessories by hand. In fact, hand-cleaning the tumbler basket was not easy at all. Not only that, but you have to dry it immediately so it won’t rust.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 10.8-inch x 13.9-inch x 12.6-inch
• Weight: 16.17lbs
• Size: 5-qt
• Temperature range: Up to 400F
• Cooking presets: 6

Our Place wonder oven

Rating: 4.5/5

Best: air fryer toaster oven

Why we love it

• Retro design
• Four accessories
• Six cooking presets
• Glass window and interior light
• Steam infusion technology

Take note

• No pause button
• Requires manual preheating

Our Place’s wonder oven may have a stylish retro look, but this isn’t your grandma’s toaster oven. With six cooking functions (air fry, bake, roast, toast, reheat, and broil), I was able to roast or air fry larger items (including a fair-sized turkey leg) and watch it cook through the front glass panel with the interior light.

Most air fryers have a max temperature setting of 400F, but the wonder oven can cook up to 450F. Like a regular oven, you must preheat it before using it, but the preheat time is not built into the presets (likely because the air fryer features dials rather than digital buttons). Setting the time was a little difficult — I could easily set the dial to 10, 20, or 30 minutes as these numbers were printed, but finding 14 or 42 minutes was not as easy because numbers are indicated by tick marks.

Although the settings were more fiddly, the wonder oven is eyecatching (Alex Templador/The Independent)

The cooking presets don’t come with predetermined times either, so I often guessed how long to cook something. For instance, I air-fried chicken legs and squash on 400F for 12 minutes, but then had to cook them for another 15 minutes because the chicken legs weren’t cooked. Baking was a little easier to do and seemed to result in shorter cook times than if I were to use the oven.

That said, the steam infusion technology is a game-changer, resulting in crispy exteriors and fluffy interiors, especially when reheating leftovers or when toasting bread.

Key specifications

• Dimension: 11.6-inch x 10.6-inch x 11.5-inch
• Weight: 11.6lbs
• Size: 13-qt
• Temperature range: 200F to 450F
• Cooking presets: 6

Dreo chefmaker combi fryer

Rating: 5/5

Best: smart air fryer

Why we love it

• Cook probe
• Water spray system
• See-through basket with light
• Wi-Fi connection, app, and smart cooking
• Three cook modes with 48 cooking presets

Take note

• No touchscreen
• No turn notification

Wifi connectivity and app controls are slowly being incorporated into air fryers, and the Dreo chefmaker combi fryer is a clear example of this — it takes the title of best smart air fryer in this guide.

Not only can you control the air fryer through the Dreo app, but you can also cook with online recipes, monitor the cooking process, and receive notifications when your food is complete. If that didn’t sound good enough, it features 48 preset programs broken down into three modes (classic mode, chef mode, and probe cook).

I found the smart features handy for multitasking (Alex Templador/The Independent)

Classic mode allows you to set the time and temperature for basic air frying presets (including reheating, air frying, and roasting), while probe mode utilizes a thermometer to measure the internal temperature of meat and alerts you when cooking is complete. Chef mode automates the cooking process by using a cook probe that’s inserted into meat to sense temperature and moisture. It also automatically adjusts the time, water atomization, and heat convection for the perfect meal. Unlike the other settings, chef mode cooks virtually silently — I almost had to double-check that it was working. I had the most delicious salmon thanks to chef mode, which I could watch cook via the see-through basket and the interior light.

With all of this tech, be prepared to shell out a decent amount of cash for this air fryer.

Key specifications

• Dimensions: 10.59-inch x 15.67-inch x 14.65-inch
• Weight: 15.36lbs
• Size: 6-qt
• Temperature range: 100F to 450F
• Cooking presets: 48

What is the best air fryer?

The best air fryer after my testing was Kalorik vivid touch 7-quart air fryer. It features over 200 cooking presets that set the time and temperature for pretty much any type of food you’d want to cook. It makes the whole process easier with a touch screen and turn notifications. While the Kalorik is fairly priced, you could save big bucks with the Cosori lite 2.1-quart air fryer (the best budget air fryer in my tests), which offers the basics among air fryers without sacrificing quality.

How do air fryers work?

They circulate very hot air around your food, which dehydrates its surface, leaving it nice and crispy.

Are air fryers healthier than regular frying?

Yes, if you’re avoiding cooking with oil, then air fryers are a healthier option.

Do you need to preheat an air fryer?

Generally, no, you don't have to, though pre-heating for even just a couple of minutes can reap crispier results.

How I tested and selected the best air fryers

I tested the same dishes in each of the air fryers. I used the provided accessories, rotating through the units’ preset cook buttons: air fry, roast, and bake, as well as other settings that synced cook times. I paid close attention to how evenly and thoroughly the preset functions cooked, took heed of food turning notifications, and tested cook probes or thermometers. Don’t worry — I also assessed the cleaning process for every air fryer. Eight air fryers were chosen that feature a variety of designs, range in their ease of use, and have helpful settings for every type of cook.

I considered the following testing criteria to find the best models:

• Cooking versatility: To understand how versatile each air fryer was, I put it through its paces by cooking items such as meats, vegetables, and crab cakes.
• Capacity: If you have a small household, you’ll want a capacity of around 1.3-quart to 1.7-quart, while larger households would benefit from a capacity of 3-quart and above. I considered cooking capacity when forming this list of the best, identifying who each air fryer is suited to.
• Cooking speed: A good air fryer can be twice as fast as a kitchen oven, so I paid attention to how quickly they cooked and preheated.
• Maintenance and cleaning: I considered how easy each machine was to maintain and clean after use. I favored the models that could go in the dishwasher.
• Appearance: Air fryers can look cumbersome on a countertop, so I took design and style into my evaluation, rewarding those that I’d be pleased to have out.
• Additional cooking functions: Air fryers can now do a lot more than just air fry, so where I could, I tested every additional cooking function. I paid close attention to how evenly and thoroughly the preset functions cooked, took heed of food turning notifications, and tested cook probes or thermometers.

Why you can trust IndyBest U.S. reviews

IndyBest U.S. is the ultimate destination for product reviews from The Independent, all of which are a result of real-world testing. Alex Temblador is a consumer journalist, specializing in researching and reviewing cooking appliances, including the best cookware, best grills, and more. She has earned a reputation for finding the gadgets that actually perform. Her experience is why you can trust her verdict on the best air fryers. Alex hasn’t just spent years conducting extensive research, but she’s also used these appliances in the same way you would.

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.