The key difference between air fryer and convection oven is that air fryers can cook food faster, whereas convection ovens can cook more amounts of food.
Both air fryers and convection ovens serve the same function – cooking food using a heat source. Although an air fryer can rotate air more quickly inside it, which speeds up the cooking process, food cannot be spread inside it due to lack of space. In a convection oven, there is enough space to spread food and get them cooked evenly.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is an Air Fryer
3. What is a Convection Oven
4. Air Fryer vs Convection Oven in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Air Fryer vs Convection Oven
What is an Air Fryer?
An air fryer is a small, portable, convection oven. It is tall and resembles a coffee maker. Since it is small, it can be stored easily and does not require much space. It has a removable bucket with a handle and inside the bucket, there is a removable basket. Food is kept in the basket, and then the bucket is slid into the air fryer. After turning it on, it starts to cook. Since it is small and the fan is fixed closer to the food, this can give a higher heat to the food that is in the small basket. Therefore, cooking food in an air fryer is quick and time-saving. However, the amount of food that can be cooked at a time is less – it is about two servings. This makes cooking for many people time-consuming since the cooking has to be done several times.
Since the space in an air fryer is less, food cannot be spread on it evenly, and it has to be stacked. This hardly makes the space for hot air to rotate inside it and affect the process of cooking. Even when cooking onion rings or French fries, periodically shaking the basket is necessary to make sure they are cooked evenly. This requires physical exertion and time. In addition, the food inside an air fryer is not visible while it gets cooked. Moreover, the sound created by an air fryer is around 65 decibels, which is noisy. In addition, cleaning an air fryer is difficult because it has both a basket and a bucket.
What is a Convection Oven?
A convection oven is a rectangular shaped oven that has a fan to blow hot air. It also has a front door that opens on a hinge that is at the bottom. A convection oven is like a standard toaster oven. The movement of hot air inside the oven is called the convection effect. The convection effect makes cooking faster because it transfers high temperatures onto the surface of the food. This not only quickens the cooking process but also increases the brown colour and the crispiness of the food.
The inside of the convection oven is spacious enough to fit a sheet pan. It has a perforated interior rack to fit the sheet pan. The perforated type will give the maximum airflow. Because of this wide rack, food can be spread on it easily without keeping it stacked. This allows food to be cooked evenly and all around.
What is the Difference Between Air Fryer and Convection Oven?
The key difference between air fryer and convection oven is that cooking using an air fryer is time-saving. Although an air fryer can rotate air more quickly inside it, speeding up the cooking process, food cannot be spread inside it due to lack of space. In a convection oven, there is enough space to spread food and get them cooked evenly.
Below is a summary of the difference between air fryer and convection oven in tabular form.
Summary – Air Fryer vs Convection Oven
An air fryer is small in size and portable. It has a bucket and a basket to keep food. Since it is smaller than an oven, the hot air rotates inside it quickly, and the food gets cooked easily and fast. But the amount of food that can be cooked per time is less. Food cannot be evenly spread inside it because of less space. Because of this, they have to be periodically shaken to get them cooked evenly. A convection oven, on the other hand, is spacious and has a rack inside to fit a sheet pan. Because of this, food can be evenly spread on it and gets cooked evenly. Unlike in an air fryer, the food inside a convection oven is visible while cooking. Thus, this is the summary of the difference between air fryer and convection oven.
Reference:
1. Stetzel, Sue, and Teddy Nykiel. “This Is What an Air Fryer Really Does to Your Food.” Taste of Home, 17 June 2021.
2. “Convection Oven.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 July 2021.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Philips Airfryer XXL with Smart Sensing Technology to Smart Sensing technology for homemade food” By Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
2. “Light shining on pastry baking in the oven.” By Nenad Stojkovic (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr