It has a number of other settings too, including bake, roast and dehydrate settings. In total, there are sixteen presets; we haven't even had time to test them all. We had a bake-off afternoon, using the Proscenic to whip up a superb apple pie (we used an enamel pie dish sitting in the basket) and a savoury quiche. No soggy bottoms in sight, as the heat was evenly distributed.

The Vortex Plus is a great deluxe choice for fussy families as it allows you to cook two dishes simultaneously. Its aluminium and Teflon basket was good quality and generous in size, with enough room to cook for the whole family. It's an easy one to get around, however: as presets have a shake reminder, we just selected one and manually adjusted the time and temperature from there. Sorted! We found it really simple and easy to use from the get-go: our first attempt at perfectly crispy spring rolls had us hooked, it was easy to clean afterwards and we loved the addition of the recipe book which has some really tasty-looking breakfasts, sides, desserts and more.Lara explained: "Air fryers have come a long way over the years and they’re not just for chips: you can bake, roast and even dehydrate ingredients too, depending on the model." With temperature settings up to 200 degrees, we got a real crunch to that coating, prompting one tester to say she was giving up on Colonel Sanders and going homemade from now on – praise indeed!

With air fry, roast, grill, bake, reheat and dehydrate functions, plus two separate fryer baskets, you could air fry potato wedges on one side and roast a small joint on the other. She added: "The hot air system cocoons your food in heat, cooking it evenly. The stirring paddle keeps things moving, so there’s no need to shake or stir. It’s hands-free cooking at its finest, leaving you to do more important things." Can you put foil in an air fryer? If you're looking for an air fryer that does more than just fry, let us introduce you to the Salter AeroGrill Pro.

We particularly liked the "sync" function that sorted out cooking so everything was ready at exactly the same time, even if we pre-heated only one basket. The machine told us when to add food and if we opened one side to move things around, the other side would pause cooking. It looks great too, and is going to be one that’s staying on our kitchen worktop until Alexa tells us it’s time to go on a diet. If you’re cooking chips, for example, you only need about 1 tablespoon of oil for 1kg of sliced potatoes," she explained. "The machine helps the oil coat them thinly so there’s not too much oil to saturate your spuds; no more submerging your chips into deep vats of fattening oil." The basket is easy to remove and clean, which was a concern that was immediately alleviated with a push of a button. It also holds 5.5 litres which can feed up to six people. One of a growing number of air fryer models in the Tower range, the Tower Vortex 7-in-1 Air Fryer is a combi-steam machine that offers a generous 7-litre cooking capacity, lots of features and functions in a stylish-looking design. It’s a reasonably chunky thing, with dimensions of 42.7D x 31.9W x 38.7H centimetres and weighing in at 6.65 kilograms, so it’ll dominate your worktop if you’re in a galley kitchen. However, the square-ish design lines also means the appliance can be stored fairly easily once it has cooled down and been wiped over.

verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ The AeroGrill Pro also comes with a comprehensive instruction booklet as well as a recipe pamphlet.

What is the best air fryer?

Air fryers are best for things you want crisp up, and while you can't use them for batter, there are plenty of other uses. Make sure anything you use is kept away from the heating elements though as otherwise it can be a fire hazard. Are air fryers healthy? It's true; airfryers really do change the whole cooking game. This Breville offering is unbelievably straight forward to use, with predetermined categories handily represented by diagrams that include chips, poultry, vegetables, red meat and fish which are pre-set to the exact time and temperature each one needs. We tested some of the best air fryers on the market. Read on for our verdict. Best air fryers at a glance:

Adjusting the temperature and timer manually is just as straight forward, with clear plus and minus signs that you simply tap to change. Considering its dinky size and simplicity, it would be a great choice for uni students and elderly family members who sometimes can’t find their way around complicated gadgets.

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This is a posh choice that claims to cook 30% faster than conventional ovens and it certainly made us think we’d see ours go out of action if this was on the worktop. The pre-heat time is only 90 seconds on this model and that’s good news for your leccy bill, compared to using the main appliance. We liked the green pre-heating light, which pinged off to show us when the time was right to place ingredients in the "fry pot" drawer, which had an optional crisping tray for extra crunch. With a bit of jiggling, we ended up with a lovely moist Sunday roast — cooked thoroughly and with crispy skin.