The Best Air Fryers of 2026, Tested and Reviewed
We cooked over 100 batches of fries, wings, and vegetables to find the best air fryers at every price point.
Air fryers have evolved from a novelty gadget to a kitchen essential, and for good reason — they produce crispy, satisfying food with significantly less oil than deep frying. After cooking over 100 batches of food across 15 models, we recommend the Instant Vortex Plus 6-Quart for most kitchens.
Why You Should Trust Us
Our kitchen editor, David Chen, has reviewed over 200 kitchen appliances in his career. For this guide, he spent six weeks cooking identical batches of french fries, chicken wings, roasted broccoli, and reheated pizza in every air fryer, using a digital thermometer and consistent timing to ensure fair comparisons.
Best Overall: Instant Vortex Plus 6-Quart
This air fryer consistently delivered the crispiest french fries and most evenly cooked chicken wings in our tests. The 6-quart basket is large enough to cook for a family of four without overcrowding, which is essential for proper air circulation and even browning. The touchscreen controls are intuitive, and the preset cooking programs produced excellent results for common foods right out of the box.
In our temperature accuracy tests, the Vortex Plus maintained within 5 degrees of the set temperature throughout cooking — better than models costing twice as much. Cleanup is simple thanks to the nonstick basket, which released food without any sticking even after weeks of use without seasoning.
Best Compact: Cosori Lite 3.7-Quart
For smaller kitchens, couples, or individuals, the Cosori Lite punched well above its size. It heated up in just 2 minutes — faster than any other model — and produced surprisingly even results. The square basket design maximizes usable cooking space compared to round baskets of similar volume.
Best Splurge: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro
If counter space and budget are not concerns, the Breville does everything. It air fries, bakes, broils, roasts, dehydrates, and even slow cooks. The Element iQ system uses five independent heating elements to deliver precisely controlled heat, and it showed in our tests — every dish came out evenly cooked with beautiful browning.
How We Tested
Every air fryer went through the same battery of tests: frozen french fries (timed to crispiness), fresh-cut fries, bone-in chicken wings (checked for internal temperature and skin crispness), roasted broccoli (evaluated for char and tenderness), and reheated pizza (judged on crust crispness and cheese melt). We measured internal temperatures at multiple points, timed each cooking cycle, and photographed results for side-by-side comparison.
