A True Game-Changer.
I was not particularly sold on the concept of air-fryers, which is why I did not consider purchasing one when they first became popular a few years ago. Recently, after a family member was in hospital for a while and I was doing the daily 3+ hour commute to see them, my healthy eating habits slowly went out the window in favor of quick meals because I was too tired to prepare anything in the evenings.Two separate nurses who were caring for them mentioned to me on different occasions how good their air fryers were for getting quick and healthy meals ready fast.

I purchased this Cosori Smart Air-Fryer four days ago after a lot of research. I wasn’t expecting that much — maybe it would be able to cook some frozen stuff faster than my oven, but I didn’t expect it to revolutionize the way I made meals.

Yet it absolutely has, after only a few days.

Set-up was very easy. I took the air fryer out of the box, gave the inside of the cooking chamber a wipe with a warm soapy cloth and washed both the top and bottom air fryer baskets in warm soapy water, rinsed them and dried them well. Pro tip: You can finish drying your air fryer baskets in the air fryer once you’ve given them an initial dry with a clean tea towel. I do mine at 200C for 5 minutes.

First thing I cooked was a medium sweet potato I had on hand. I love roasted sweet potato, but I would usually save making it for when I am making a Sunday roast dinner. The Cosori air fryer was able to take my sweet potato from raw to perfectly roasted in about 13-15 minutes. I peeled the sweet potato and cut it into 1 inch cubes, tossed it in a teaspoon of olive oil and seasoned it with little salt. I lined the air fryer basket with parchment paper that I had snipped little cuts in to assist with air flow and cooking. I cooked the sweet potato at 200C for about 14-15 minutes. Halfway through the cooking cycle, I opened the basket, gave it a good shake and replaced the basket to finish the cooking. The result was a sweet potato that was deliciously tender in the middle and lovely and roast-y on the outside. I have also cooked frozen mixed peppers in the air fryer (200c for 8-10 min) with similarly excellent results.

Next thing I tried cooking was scrambled egg. Some mornings when I want a breakfast that will keep me going through until dinner, I will have a protein rich meal like scrambled egg in a breakfast burrito. I beat two eggs well, and added them to a shallow dish that I had greased with a little bit of olive oil. I cooked the mixture at 175C for about 3-5 minutes, stirred it and put it back in for another 3 minutes. When the cooking was complete, I noticed that the eggs were ever so slightly overdone for my liking. Doing this much egg for one person was the only thing I have found that took longer in the air fryer than on the stove top. I would normally cook my scrambled egg in a tiny 5 inch, two-egg sized pan and it takes all of three minutes to get it just how I like it. I would only cook them for another minute when making this again, but it was still very serviceable if the air fryer was your only way of cooking.

I tried hash browns next. I love hash browns as a treat sometimes, but I HATE how greasy they can be with deep frying. The Cosori handled the hash browns with ease, and gave me perfectly golden, crunchy and fluffy hash browns in around 12 minutes at 200C.

I was nervous about using an air fryer, but the simplicity of making meals in the Cosori air fryer has re-awakened my love of trying out new dishes. The display is easy to read, bright, and clearly set out, with no superfluous buttons that would confuse or frustrate first time air fryer cooks. I’m the sort that will read the manual cover-to-cover, but if you’re more of a fly by the seat of your pants type, you can easily dive in here without much preparation. I will say, however, to make sure you follow the directions on the machine stickers that tell you to remove ALL the plastic wrapping/stickers, etc from the air fryer, including the plastic inside the basket before cooking. Another safety must: NEVER PUT ANY PAPER OR FOIL IN THE AIR FRYER DURING THE PRE-HEATING CYCLE. It can catch fire and would be extremely dangerous if left unattended. (I can’t believe the amount of foolish people who have written reviews of air fryers and said how surprised they were when the PAPER they put in their machine without any food on it CAUGHT FIRE. )

I like nearly everything about this machine and what it does. As someone who is very sensitive to loud noise, I normally go out of my way to find products that are on the quieter side, especially those that have the QuietMark certification. I was very relieved when I first used the air fryer to realize that the noise it makes when it is cooking is manageable for me, and not overly loud. (Watch my short video for an idea of how it sounds when cooking).

The only thing that I haven’t found that useful (yet) is the smart feature. Having already owned an air purifier made by Cosori’s sister company, LEVOIT, I was really jazzed to see that I could add the air fryer to the VeSync app for my and take advantage of the smart settings. So far I haven’t been able to get the app to connect to my air fryer, but I think it’s more an issue with my router’s persnickety 2.4GHz network than any issues with the air fryer or the app.

So after only four days, I’m 100% in the “air fryers are great!” camp. I’m looking forward to trying out more favorites in my Cosori Smart air fryer in the coming days and weeks and I will update here with more information as I become better skilled at cooking with this fantastic little machine.