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Comment by TheCapeGreek | Hacker News Reader

I think it's less about being underpowered temperature wise and more in the results. You have to fiddle with a few more settings to get the results you want with an oven, especially when trying to make things crispy (or at least I do). Air fryer simplifies it down.

I know nothing of the technologies involved but I suspect the air fryer makes things easier because it's easier to get the desired effects in a small heating area (the basket) than the oven.

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Yeah, to get things extra cripsy i put my food on a rack and use a pan on the bottom to catch the fat. That way the air hits the food on all sides and it doesn't get soggy because moisture is trapped underneath.

My impression is an air fryer is an otherwise ordinary convection oven with better splatter containment for use with a basket. It's interesting how little changes like that can lead to such huge benefits.

Both use convection. But the difference is the circulation. Convection oven pushes it over the food where as air fryers push it on the top of food. Later being much more effective. It does actually make a difference.

Yep, you got it. “Air fryer” is just a marketing term for a stronger convection oven. My “air fryer” has a toaster oven form factor and the splatter containment is awful, so the basket design really helps with that, from what I’ve seen.

Air Fryer recipes can apparently be used unmodified in a standard convection oven with an air frying basket, so that seems to be the case.

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